School Vouchers: The Pros and the Cons Specific Purpose: To inform the audience of recent attempts by Governor Jeb Bush and President George W. Bush to implement a voucher program into the school system, and also to explain what a voucher is, how it works, and its pros and cons.Introduction I. Opening: There has been a large controversy over the past couple years over the use of what are called vouchers in the school system that would allow struggling students to succeed better in their studies.A. There are pros and cons for the voucher system.B. Many believe that vouchers take money away from public schools, while others believe vouchers give struggling students a fighting chance to succ ...view middle of the document...
Well, it comes directly from the school's funds.B. The money is taken out of the funds that would have been used for that student's public education and is put into a separate account that will be used for the voucher.V. Main Point: There are also very few limitations for vouchers under this program, which is one of the reasons that there is so much opposition.A. First, this system does not limit eligibility for vouchers to children of only low-income families.B. This means that even if a family could afford to send their child to a private school, they would not have to because the government would pay the tuition for them.C. Secondly, this system does not require the private school to offer a higher quality education than the public school the student would have attended.D. Seeing as how private schools are not subject to the system used to grade public schools and do not succumb to any other kind of state grading scale, it is very difficult to grade the quality of a private school.E. There is no real way to test how well a private school is performing.F. Lastly, if a student is granted a voucher and does attend a private school, the student is not required to bring his or her grades up.G. The student will be allowed to attend that school through graduation regardless of any change in his or her grades.VI. Main Point: There are some pros, however, to the voucher system that should be mentioned.A. First off, some believe that vouchers motivate schools to do better so they don't lose money.B. If schools realize that they may lose a student or group of students, they may try to improve the quality of education provided at that school.C. They believe that "consequences create ideas for improvement".D. Others say that vouchers would create a healthy form of competition between private and public schools.E. Supporters state that public schools will try harder to raise their standards to meet or beet private school's standards of higher education, creating a higher quality of learning for all students.F. One of the voucher system's biggest supporters is President George W. Bush who wishes to implement a national voucher system.G. Bush's plan states, ""¦any school that receives federal Title I funds must measure student improvement. If, after three years, student performance does not improve, the federal funds should be given directly to the parents to use as they see fit, including private education. Under my plan, the federal government will no longer pay schools to cheat poor children." H. Bush is working hard to pass his voucher system with congress.I. Although the voucher system has some viable pros and some very strong supporters, VII. Main Point: there are also many strong points opposing the voucher system.A. First, the voucher system is believed to be unconstitutional, as some say that it fails to separate church and state.B. Money is being taken away from public schools and being given to private schools.C. A large majority of priv...
