Choose thou, whom will you serve? Forced imprisonment by the dictators, or freedom?
I think parents are free to chose the schools they send their children to and either actively or passively use that freedom. They choose which neighborhood they live in, and therby which school their children go to. They control whether or not they choose to homeschool, public school or private school.
Sometimes the choice is passive, they go where they are told because they don't give a rats behind either way. But in this case they still exercise their choice- their choice not to bother choosing.
Parents are NOT held hostage. Those who think their local public school is THAT bad find some way, anyway, to send their children elsewhere. If they don't then it obviosuly isn't that bad or that important. I have seen people work two, three jobs so that the children can go to private school or mom can stay home and homeschool.
Instead I hear a myriad of reasons of why someones public school isn't that bad and their child goes there. Sometimes it true and they do have a great school- sometimes its defensive, sometimes the parent just doesn't care enough to see.
My own mother is a prime example of the excuses. To our homeschooling she says "Well you went to public school and you turned out fine." It is a defense mechanism- she went with the flow without giving a thought to it. Our doing different is a condemnation tp her and anyone else who just sticks with the staus flow because it is the easy thing to do- it makes others stop and think about what they are doing- and some people dont like what they see when they do that thinking.
I don't think I have ever heard a parent say "My childs's school is just horrible. Somebody gets shot or stabbed every day, all the kids are high on drugs, the teachers are too busy dealing with behavior problems to bother teaching,he can't read even though he is in high school." Nope because if they said that then they would have to also admit that it is neglect to send their child to such an environment.
We homeschool. Its a choice. I love the IDEA of vouchers- I don't like the reality that vouchers would be. Yes public schools are wastelands and I wish they would no longer exist- but screwing up the good education choices we still have is only going to make the problem unescapable.