Many of the reforms that have been pushed through in education in the recent past have gained wide acceptance among both elected officials and the public because they were billed as "free market." 

But are things like school voucher programs and charter schools truly free market?  And do we even really know what free markets are anymore?  Can we recognize them?  Or are we inappropriately labeling some of these initiatives within education today?

The answers are important for several reasons. First, because "free market" has become such a polarized--and polarizing--term. Depending on where one falls along the political spectrum, one likely either embraces the concept without question or rejects it out-of-hand. Second, free markets ostensibly provide real choice for the consumer. If we're going to spend public moneys on vouchers, charter schools, and related measures, we need to know that the outcome is actually going to yield the choice we want. Otherwise, we will not only have wasted taxpayer dollars, we'll have potentially created greater damage rather than fixing anything at all.

In this latest segment of a recent dialogue between Marsha Familaro Enright (Reason, Individualism, Freedom Institute) and Resounding Books Founder and Editor-in-Chief Kirsten Lombard, Enright brings clarity to the issue.

Whether you identify on the political Right, the Left, or somewhere in the middle, this portion of the discussion between the two women is bound to be of interest. Ultimately, it benefits us all to have our terminology straight so that our lack of insight can't be leveraged against us by those who would prefer that we all keep misunderstanding one another. Knowledge continues to be power...