In their article "Rethinking the Market Metaphor: School Choice, the Common Good, and the National Football League," Brent D. Beal and Heather K. Olson Beal (this issue) promise to update some of the arguments made by Jeffrey R. Henig (1994) and add an interesting twist by proposing the National Football League (NFL) as a possible…

This article presents the author's response to Strathdee's "Reply to O'Neill: The privatisation of public schooling in New Zealand." Strathdee has alerted the editors to a basic arithmetic error in the author's paper (O'Neill 2011, 24). He also makes substantive criticisms. Strathdee's criticisms focus on the two cases that are used to…

The competing global forces of homogenizing commercialism and absolutist sectarianism continue to engender a regime of fear and have all but eclipsed what John Dewey called the democratic "habit of amicable cooperation." The values of cooperation are increasingly seen as "unrealistic" and even taken as signs of weakness in the…

The most common criticism of CEDA (Cross Examination Debate Association) debate tournaments voiced by coaches and students alike centers on the quality of judging. If the debater is completely unaware of the qualifications or credentials of the critic, he or she will be unable to fulfill the judge's expectations. Debates are then lost not on…

Including speech transcripts and judges' critiques, this book presents the results of the 1986 (1) National Debate Tournament Final Debate, sponsored by the American Forensic Association, including the affirmative and negative presentations; (2) National CEDA Tournament Final Debate, sponsored by the Cross-Examination Debate Association, including…

Analyzes persuasive strategies employed by 13 student orators in speeches delivered at Interstate Oratorical Contests from 1974-81 and published in "Winning Orations." (PD)

In the inaugural issue of the "Journal of School Choice," John Merrifield offers an important, insightful, and highly provocative critique of charter schooling in an effort to "get people to think about the issues...and seek additional evidence". In "Charter Laws: Disaster, Detour, Irrelevant, or Reform Tool?" Merrifield maintains that economic…

Discusses the difficulties of funding parental or school choice systems in public schools through traditional school finance mechanisms. It examines the parental-choice program as enacted in Massachusetts, and reveals that parental choice undermines local control over education. It also explores school choice and educational equity, arguing…