$1-A-Week Private Schools, Mathare Slum In Kenya, And Pablo Escobar

One especially potent reason for the government to limit its involvement in health care and especially education is quality. Many well-to-do parents in high- and middle-income countries have been sending their children to private schools for years. They do so despite paying the taxes that finance the public schools. The reason is simple — the often-abysmal quality of public education. Since education is such an important determinant of success in life, parents are absolutely rational in giving their children the best possible education, if they can afford it. More often than not, avoiding public schools is not merely a matter of avoiding second best; instead it is avoiding the unacceptable, abysmal worst. In some public schools, there are even legitimate concerns about the safety of their children, let alone how much they learn. Sending those children to private schools is not just a matter of giving them a better education; it can be a matter of keeping them safe and alive…