In “School Choice and the Price Our Children Pay for Bad Ideas,” economist Thomas Sowell offers a sweeping critique of the American education system and the policies that have shaped it. Drawing on his personal journey from impoverished classrooms to academic prominence and decades of empirical research, Sowell argues that schooling in the U.S. fails to teach critical thinking and foundational knowledge and often serves as a vehicle for ideological agendas that harm students rather than help them. He highlights how public education, insulated from market accountability, resists self-correction and perpetuates systemic dysfunction. Throughout the discussion, Sowell touches on charter schools, schooling incentives, and the broader cultural consequences of educational policy choices, emphasizing that well-intentioned reforms often impose steep costs on children when divorced from sound evidence and incentives for improvement.

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