Moral premises underlie every public policy discussion. This is true of all sides of the debate. Unfortunately, in most instances those premises—particularly the more nefarious and irrational—are only implicitly expressed. One must look beyond the bromides and slogans to identify the fact that these premises call for us to sacrifice the best and brightest.
An example can be found in a recent article on the Alabama Political Reporter website. The state legislature is considering school choice programs, which the article opposes. Using charter schools as an example, the article quotes Dr. John Petrovic, a professor at the University of Alabama.
The professor states that when charter schools open, particularly in school districts that are struggling, they immediately attract the “best and brightest” students.
According to Petrovic, this leaves the public schools with fewer children and less funding, which might superficially seem logical, but ignores the fact that different children have different needs and require different levels of investment. High achieving students generally require less funding while lower achieving students require more. When high achieving students leave, not only does it change classroom dynamics, it also means that there is less money in the bucket for those lower achieving students with greater needs.
In short, we should deny educational opportunities for high achieving students so that we can satisfy the needs of lower achieving students. The needs of the latter require us to sacrifice the best and brightest.
This is the ultimate result of any form of socialism, including government schools. Need has primacy, and the greater the need, the more we should do to satisfy it. In the context of education, the best and brightest should remain shackled to government schools so that more resources are available for those who have greater needs.
This is the moral code of altruism in action. Altruism holds that we have a moral duty to self-sacrificially serve others. We must subordinate our own desires, interests, and needs to the desires, interests, and needs of others. In the context of education, we must sacrifice the best and brightest for lower achieving students.