Milton Friedman was one of the greatest intellectual minds of the 20th Century.
He won the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economics for his achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, monetary history and theory, and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had this to say about Milton Friedman: "Among economic scholars, Milton Friedman had no peer. The direct and indirect influences of his thinking on contemporary monetary economics would be difficult to overstate."
Indeed, Friedman's contributions to the field of economics helped reshape modern capitalism. It is hard to find an area in economics where Friedman's ideas do not shape the economic debate.
A proponent of free and competitive markets, Friedman argued that economic freedom is key to prosperity. In K-12 education, for example, Friedman offered a free-market-based solution to solve the problem of deteriorating standards within public schools. In his 1955 seminal paper, "The Role of Government in Education," Friedman argued for greater freedom for parents to choose the school their children will attend, be it a public school in their own district, a public school outside their district, or private school.
This resolution became known as the education voucher system. Under this system, the funds the government allocates for the student's education follow the student to the school the parents choose for their children.
Milton Friedman argued that competition for students among schools can bring about improvement in students' performance. Parents and guardians in Arkansas, especially those in school districts that are in academic distress, should be interested in what the Nobel Prize winner had to offer.
The past school year saw the Arkansas Board of Education take over the Little Rock School District because the school district continued to fail to achieve its education goals. Failing schools put the future of our kids in jeopardy, and unfortunately, many of the students in the state are confined to those failing schools because they lack quality choice.
As we celebrate Friedman's birthday today, let us be reminded that the ideas of the father and founder of modern school choice live on.
In recent years, pro-school-choice Arkansans have pushed for the inclusion of the private-school option. It is encouraging to note that in its last regular session, the Legislature passed the Succeed Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities, which allows parents of students with disabilities to send their children to private schools. This is a step in the right direction toward allowing all parents in Arkansas, especially those in failing schools, to access the private-school option.
Happy Birthday to Milton Friedman!
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Dr. Mavuto Kalulu is a Policy Analyst at the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics (ACRE) at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
Editorial on 07/31/2015