Microeconomic short essay
Read the following article: •Boudreaux, D. J. (2011, May 5). If supermarkets were like public schools: What if groceries were paid for by taxes and you were assigned a store based on where you live? The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online(dot)wsj(dot)com/article/SB10001424052748704436004576299571015982098.html?mod=djem_jiewr_EC_domainid Analyze the ideas presented in the article and write a short paper discussing the following: •Is the market for public schools monopolistic? •Are public schools free? •What is the effect of teachers’ unions on the quality of education? •Would a competitive market for elementary and secondary education improve the quality of education? That is, should we move to a voucher system for education? Compose your paper in 1–2 pages, double spaced, with 1-inch margins. Include at least one resource in addition to the textbook. Be sure to cite appropriately and include a reference page for all resources used. Compose your work in a separate Word document and proofread it for spelling and grammar before submitting. Remember to save your work! Include the title
Microeconomic short essay
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The author presents an analogy where the department of education is likened to the ‘department of supermarkets’ for selling groceries in a satirical way (Boudreaux, 2011). It indicates that the department of education does not pay attention to the specific needs of the children in different counties. It provides generalized education service that is not customized to meet the specific needs of the respective schools. The department places a restriction that students in a particular county can only attend schools within their districts except in few rare circumstances. This system promotes inequalities where wealthier counties have access to better education resources than the poorer counterparts. This inequality in the quality of education would see many from poor counties desire to move to wealthier counties in order to enjoy better education resources (Boudreaux, 2011).
There are private schools that offer the quality education of choice albeit at a charge (Boudreaux, 2011). The calls to have people in different counties choose the preferred schools have continued to be rejected. Efforts to separate the state from the education system would be criticized. Grocery sales are a vital aspect of daily life just like education. In the analogy, the monopolization provision of grocery by the state through ‘departments of supermarkets’ would deprive certain families of important nutritional value. Many would advocate for a private and competitive system for supplying grocery-retailing services. Public schools in the US are funded from tax revenues and are considered as free and education system is deemed to be monopolized (Coulson, 2010). It is also widely acknowledged that underfunding in some public schools is catastrophic.
Teachers unions and political allies have been strong critics of a system of education controlled by the market forces. They claim that improvement teachers unions make an important contribution towards better quality of education (Coulson, 2010). Teachers unions in public education have been engaging in collective bargaining for improvements in teachers’ compensation, working conditions and employment security. This has raised the cost of providing education by fifteen percent (Eberts, 2007). Studies indicate that students benefit from unionizing teachers. This is because unions increase productivity by reducing worker turn...