Have you ever seen the Lending Tree commercial that says, “When banks compete, you win”? Their slogan succinctly explains how competition benefits individuals.

The same goes for education. Competition in education benefits students and parents. Thus, “when schools compete, students win.”

Competition leads to innovation, higher quality services, and cost efficiencies in the private sector. Why not allow schools to compete for students and return the power of choice to parents?

The standard argument is that parents are not smart enough to choose the best school for their child. Defenders of the public school monopoly argue that government bureaucrats are better equipped to make decision. These educrats do not take into account an individual student’s needs when assigning them to a government school. In fact, “big brother” may view your child as a number and just allocate them to a school. Parents know best and lawmakers need to return to them the power of choice in education.

Monopolies are not unique to the United States. Countries all over the world struggle with monopolistic education system. Check out this British parody on their education system.

- Brooke Terry