Charter Schools and Their Enemies

Why it’s on the list: Sowell compares charter and traditional public schools housed in the same New York City buildings — same neighbourhoods, same demographics — and finds the charter students substantially ahead. The second half argues the opposition comes not from parents, who flood the lotteries, but from unions and education bureaucracies whose position the comparison undermines.

Where I heard about it

• Brendan McCord — on his Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, under Evolution of Institutions and Public Administration, as the section’s live American test case of who resists institutional change. Full transcription: The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.

Connections

• Charter Schools — the subject.
• School Choice — the policy question behind it.
• Education — the institution being compared.
• Incentives — the book’s account of who opposes the comparison and why.
• The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the curriculum this came from.