[analog31]

Indeed, the question is whether emulating the current college system would be considered a success or a failure. I'm thinking more in terms of the middle and working classes, who will simply end up trading one bad school for another one that's also 40 miles away.

Also, it would remain to be seen if K-12 schools stay in business long enough to gain a reputation without becoming franchises of one or two giant nationwide corporations.

[AtlasBarfed]

The for-profit colleges are the worst segment of the already degenerative upper education system. That fact alone indicates we should pause on full-on free market vouchers.

I think the problem is that, at least at the high school level, a school under 1000 kids starts to suffer in terms of services: not enough smart kids, not enough activity participants, not enough special needs for the special teacher. Perhaps "specialty" schools would help a bit ...