Educational Delusions?: Why Choice Can Deepen Inequality and How to Make Schools Fair

Conclusion: A Theory of Choice with Equity

255 Choice sounds good but can mean a myriad of very different things. There are choices that produce life-changing gains and bad choices that seem good but lead to disaster. The idea that any kind of choice will produce good results is something no parent or teacher would suggest. similarly, there are markets that have powerful and creative results, like the computer market, and markets that are profitable but destructive, such as those for cigarettes, gambling, and illegal drugs. Wise choices in good educational markets can increase opportunity, but betting the future of students in devastated communities on the idea that offering any kind of unregulated choice should be the top priority in educational reform is absurd. The central challenges of policy making are to clarify what we mean by choice, to create the conditions under which wise choices can be made, and to provide educational opportunities that are truly worth choosing. At a time when American education seems stuck and needs to be stronger and American society is increasingly nonwhite and unequal, we have to get this right. Fortunately, we have models that have produced clear benefits in the past, which we can use to construct a more powerful theory of choice and determine the policies that will make it real. All major choice theories claim to expand opportunity for those previously locked into inadequate schools. Choice is a potentially powerful force that can disrupt patterns of school opportunities for good or for ill. Different forms of choice lead to very different results. Because differing approaches are based on fundamentally different assumptions about how choice works, it is important to clarify the theory and specify the policies needed to make choice function as a real tool for expanding equity. it is clear from the studies in this book and other Conclusion A Theory of Choice with Equity Gary Orfield and Erica Frankenberg 256 Orfield and Frankenberg research reviewed here that the integration theory offers the greatest promise and the pure market theory the most serious risks for disadvantaged students. Choice policies must be constructed around an adequate understanding of how choice actually works. The history of failures and successes should guide policy. Choice systems that ignore social stratification have failed because they fundamentally misconstrue both the choices the market provides and the ability of people in a very unequal society to make equal use of choice. Unrestricted choice systems tend to further intensify inequality. integrated schools are better for both individuals and communities. We have learned, through half a century of often painful experience, what conditions of choice systems increase equity, bring people together in positive ways, and expand opportunity. The fact is that most of our political leaders and some of the most important philanthropists have been ignoring these realities for several decades and that theories about perfect markets continue to be used to expand poor choice systems, making challenging the premises of current policy and broadening the debate over choice all the more important. The reality is that the civil rights choice policies worked—not perfectly, but much better than the alternatives. The simplistic version of choice that assumes that something lacking all of the essential elements of a market will produce better and more equitable schooling in a stratified society is wrong. in our society, the experience of many failures of unregulated markets has produced powerful regulations to assure safety and quality and protect the environment. schools are very complex and important institutions that offer limited choice and need regulation to guarantee good and fair choices. This chapter reviews the basic lessons of the experiences and research reported in this book and outlines the argument for the integration theory of choice. WHAt is sCHOOl CHOiCE? Calling something school choice only signifies that it will give some people another option or options under some circumstances. The options may be better or worse or not real options at all. Choice may be genuinely available to all or realistically available to only a few. There is nothing inherent in school choice that guarantees that the choice will be real and feasible or the new options better than (or even as good as) the assigned school in the regular public system. research clearly shows this. Contemporary choice advocates tend to see choice of any sort as better than none, despite the fact that the most highly regarded schools are often in areas with little or no choice. Choice is not an educational treatment, only a system of decentralized management...