In 1955 Milton Friedman penned an essay, “The Role of Government in Education,” that would launch the modern school choice movement. He argued that a case could be made for government policies that ensure universal access to education but that there was no justification for the government’s operation of schools. This volume reassesses the merit and relevance of that argument for the 21st century.
Liberty & Learning: Milton Friedman’s Voucher Idea at Fifty
From Liberty & Learning
“Choice is the precondition for the growth of a particular brand of school that seems to work best for at-risk kids. It’s the brand of schooling that seems most effective at instilling academic skills and knowledge while also promoting the ‘common set of values’ that Milton Friedman, 50 years ago, saw as essential to the survival of ‘a stable and democratic society.’ ”
—Abigail Thernstrom
“Milton Friedman once remarked that, during the 1950s, free-market thinkers ‘were a small beleaguered minority regarded as eccentrics by the great majority of our fellow intellectuals.’ Most unusual was Friedman’s assertion that public education could best be provided through the private sector. Thanks to a half century of accumulated research, we can now assess who was right: the intellectual majority or the ‘eccentric’ champion of market education.”
—Andrew J. Coulson
“The task set for contributors to this book was to assess whether Milton Friedman’s ideas on school reform have merit for the 21st century. My guess is that the Friedmans are bored with reading how right they are, so perhaps they will appreciate the effort if not the substance of my critical treatment here of the strategic prospects and needed tactics for advancing free-market school reform.”
—Myron Lieberman