But if you put 8 or 9 in there, they start changing the culture of the school. And the easier you make it to put kids in there, the less effort parents have to make, and you start getting more of the less motivated parents, who think this is a quick fix ("Oh, just put them in private school. They'll take care of everything!")
Now add vouchers that make it tempting for private schools to drop a lot of hardline discipline policies in order to keep the warm bodies there (and the money it brings.) Look, I'm not trying to stop this process. It's going to happen. I'm just telling you, I've already seen this in my area. There's nothing magic about private schools. They just are able to keep the worse students out. If they become greedy for voucher money, that will vanish, that's all.
Thank you for your posts!
It would be different. What would happen would be that inner city or near inner city private schools would “spring up.” Locals who have done well could run them. They could still be choosy about their student body, choosing the brightest, the hardest working, the best behaved. But it would be an individual effort with motivated staff, inspiring curriculum, all on the local level. Of course their can also be lousy schools run by charlatans too. Caveat emptor.