Educational realism
Sir: Mr Stephen Evans in his letter on education (September 27) shows a lack of information about his subject in saying that Dr. Boyson is unrealistic, particularly in his espousal of that "gimmick" the education voucher.
Mr Evans, of course, was unable to profit from a perusal of Dr Boyson's article on higher education in the same issue but, although not a Conservative, 1
would have thought that any examination of Dr Boyson's not insignificant writings and sayings on education would have demonstrated that he is above all a realist, in this subject more royalist than the king (or queen?)
The education voucher is such a flexible instrument that it can only be non-information that makes Mr Evans attack it. The argument that it cannot be introduced at a time of government penny-pinching is fallacious, for there are ways of taxing the voucher, 'charging' for it or allowing 'topping up' which would actually put more money into the public purse. That same public purse now has to disgorge more than 4,000 million a year on education. How much longer it can go on doing this without some expedient such as the voucher is problematic.
I do not know how Mr Evans proposes to raise standards by 'reducing choice'. An examination of consumer experience in other nationalised industries hardly bears out this pious hope. In fact, one of the voucher's main attractions in the view of economists and educationists is that it makes schools accountable to parents for what they do and teach. Why is there a difference between standards of attainment and behaviour in the private sector and the state sector? Is it because the private schools have 'nicer' children or because their _parents see to it they obtain value for money? The education voucher is taken seriously by eminent academics and scholars both in this country — Professors Blaug, Peacock, West, Wiseman and Rowley — and in the US from Professor Jencks and Friedman; and their views cannot be dismissed by someone who knows as little about it as Mr Evans seems to do.
It so happens that he can really learn about that "remote part of California" where they have run an education voucher system. In Ashford, Kent, on October 17, Mr David Mandel, a high official of the school administration and finance section of the State Department in Washington, is to tell a British audience of parents how the scheme works. On the same platform there will be a herculean debate on the subject, chaired by Professor Jactc Wiseman, followed by questions from the audience. The protagonists will be Liberal, Labour and Conservative Members of Parliament. It will be a great opportunity for Mr Evans and other sceptics to acquire information.
Marjorie Seldon Chairman, Friends of The Education Voucher Experiment in Representative Regions (FEVER.), The Thatched Cottage, Gedden Green, Sevenoaks.
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