School Choice Essay Shows Why Freedom Matters in Education
Who should control a child’s education: families or the government?
That fundamental question is at the center of a new essay by Northwood University Economics Professor Dr. Alex Tokarev and Northwood alumna Kristin Tokarev featured by the Acton Institute.
In “School Choice Is the Market Key to Education Success,” the authors argue that debates over education should extend beyond standardized test scores, funding formulas and partisan disagreements about curriculum. At its core, they write, school choice is about limiting concentrated government power and recognizing that families — not politicians or bureaucracies — should direct the education of their children.
The essay examines how greater educational choice allows families to select from district, charter, private, religious, microschool and homeschool options based on their children’s needs and their own values. Rather than forcing families to compete politically for control of a single approved curriculum, a diverse educational marketplace makes room for different approaches while encouraging schools to earn the confidence of the families they serve.
That argument reflects a principle familiar to students of economics: Competition creates incentives to improve.
Tokarev and Tokarev cite research indicating that well-designed school-choice programs can increase academic achievement and college completion while also encouraging nearby public schools to improve. The authors acknowledge that choice cannot guarantee that every school will succeed. Instead, it gives families the power to leave institutions that are not serving their children and rewards schools that deliver meaningful results.
The essay offers an important application of The Northwood Idea, Northwood University’s guiding philosophy. The Northwood Idea recognizes that societies flourish when individuals are free to make choices, accept responsibility for those choices and pursue earned success. It also recognizes that free enterprise encourages innovation, efficiency and responsiveness by dispersing power and allowing individuals — not centralized authorities — to determine which institutions best meet their needs.
At Northwood, these principles are not confined to economics textbooks. Students learn to examine public policy and social institutions through the lenses of individual freedom, personal responsibility, limited government and market incentives.
The Acton Institute essay itself demonstrates that approach. Dr. Tokarev acknowledged research conducted by students in his Economics of Public Policies course, showing how Northwood students contribute to serious discussions about issues affecting families and communities across the country.
Dr. Tokarev has taught at Northwood since 2012 and serves as an associate professor of free-market economics and classical liberal philosophy. Kristin Tokarev earned both a Bachelor of Business Administration in economics and a Master of Science in business analytics from Northwood. She is now a producer for John Stossel at Stossel TV and continues to mentor Northwood students and contribute to the university’s free-enterprise thought leadership.
Their work illustrates what distinguishes America’s Free Enterprise University: Northwood prepares students not simply to enter the marketplace, but to understand the ideas and institutions that allow free people to create, compete, innovate and prosper.
Students seeking an education grounded in liberty, critical thinking and the importance of free enterprise can explore Northwood University’s academic programs and apply today.
Those who believe these ideas deserve a stronger voice in American education can support Northwood University’s efforts to prepare new generations of principled free-enterprise leaders.
Read “School Choice Is the Market Key to Education Success” at the Acton Institute.