The Failure of School Choice The summer before my freshman year of high school, my suburban school district decided to implement a new school choice program developed for the state of Massachusetts. It's a limited choice program similar to many others across the country. Schools offer a certain number of places in each class for "chosen students", i.e. students from other cities who wish to attend the school. Students apply and participate in a random lottery system. If they are chosen, they become regularly enrolled students at the new school. The costs of the program are covered by the child's hometown or subsidized by the state. The rationale for the program (and all other elective programs) is that it gives students the chance to attend schools that are better than those in their hometowns. School choice is lauded as the great white hope of American education. “Let's give those guys a chance!” “Let's take control of our children's education!” Proponents argue that school choice will not only save our students, but it will also save our schools. Schools will be forced to improve their programs to remain competitive. Soon all students will attend the schools they want, and all schools will be worthy of their students. School choice is the panacea for America's education problems. Or at least that's what supporters of the program tell us. Unfortunately, they leave out some crucial points. School choice will not save the American mind. It's a desperate attempt to fix the problems in our system by giving some students a new option and calling it salvation. A great juggling act comes to mind, where if some students are moved here and there, we may not notice the others falling to the ground. Pay no attention to the man behind the scenes. . .I would like to emphasize that I do not speak as a bitter product of the system who feels that school choice has harmed his or her educational experience. When it was first installed at our school, numerous parents, students and community members were outraged. They took a “not in my backyard” approach to the situation, lamenting the influx of students from “bad schools.” They thought the innocence of our city would be lost as students other than our gated community would be admitted.