There are three main justifications for school choice. The first and second have received quite a bit of attention in [Society for Quality Education's] School for Thought blog – namely, the social justice angle (how it isn’t fair that only savvy, affluent parents are able to choose better schools for 
their kids) and the competition angle (the fact that monopolies are inefficient and unresponsive – but improve their service when competition is introduced). The third justification is often ignored – but it is the most compelling as far as I am concerned. It concerns the rights of parents - indeed their responsibility – to determine their children’s education.
Canada is a signatory to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26 (c) of which states: “Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children”. When I visited the UN in New York a few years back, I read these words in big letters on the lobby wall, and it sent a chill up my spine. It’s serious!
Parents are responsible for all aspects of their children’s upbringing – and of course education is one of the most important elements of this responsibility. When parents are prevented from determining their children’s education – by being forced to send their children to the school assigned by the school board, even when the school is harmful to their children – in effect, these parents are being prevented from carrying out one of their most important duties.
Parents know and love their children and are thus far more likely to make good decisions about their children’s education than school board bureaucrats who have never laid eyes on them. Most children will be better off if their parents can choose their schools.
[This article was written by Malkin Dare, President of the Society for Quality Education. The SQE is a group of parents and educators focussing on children's success in school.]
