Any country that aspires to be great must constantly reevaluate the preparedness of its youth for the challenges of the future. Today's youth cannot hope to be tomorrow's leaders, if they do not attain a superior education. Children require an education that develops their minds analytically, creatively, and morally. Recently we have noticed an unfortunate decline in the readiness of our youth to enter the workforce or higher education, as compared with other similar countries. To combat this, our parents and politicians have been desperately searching, for something, for anything, for the key to our educational system. It is my goal, through this paper, to make you aware of the issues, and a potential solution. This solution is the idea of school choice, or school vouchers. The main players in the solution are parents and private schools because the public school system has fallen short. Our public school system is decaying, despite the supposed best efforts of our federal, state, and local governments. While public schools have become a center for violence, drug use, and apathy, private schools have become the model of superior education, an education that is academically, creatively, and morally sound. Many of our private schools are religious, allowing teachers and administrators to complement and strengthen lessons taught in the home, instead of counteracting them. This is not meant to imply that only private religious schools have value, but to point out that parents and schools need to work together in the best interest of the students. The main problem with private schools is that they are out of reach to so many of today's families. The fact that so many children are denied the opportunity to attend the school of their choice simply because they cannot afford it, is one of the predominant shortfalls of our society. Of course this is not a new issue, and it is currently at the center of a large debate.
