Originally Posted by vvx

The main thing that vouchers could do would be to break up the "one size fits all" style of the public school system.

So you could have schools that focus on teaching the smart kids/have strict entrance exams. You could then have schools that focus on teaching the dumb kids using special teaching methods that are more effective for that type of student.

The primary argument I've heard against such a system is that separating the children will result in unequal education. That somehow putting a stupid kid in a class full of smarter children will help the stupid kid to learn. While that could be true I suppose (though I think a specialized school focusing on that kind of student would be more successful and not less), that would also imply that putting a smart kid in a class full of stupider children would hurt the smart kid. That would seem to be true as well. When I went through school teachers tended to have a "move at the pace of the slowest learner" philosophy.