There was mention of school vouchers (on Lou Proyect's Marxism list) as a wedge issue to divide public school advocates (hopefully all of us, whatever our criticism of the AFT and NEA union and school administration bureaucracies (and as a former substitute teacher for 4 years in Oakland, California, lemme tell 'ya...) and parents of color.
A recent opinion piece in In These Times, Nov. 14th, by John Gardner, a new member of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin School Board, "Why the Left Is Wrong On Vouchers, " and a debate in the left-liberal, "American Prospect," at http://www.prospect.org/ by Richard Rothstein, Peter Schrag and Jeff Coons, should be of interest. http://www.prospect.org/webarchives/99-11/controversy/index.html
Michael Pugliese P.S. Don't miss lbo'er Max Sawicky on WTO in the American Prospect. Max had some good comments on blocking with the right on lbo, re: "No" China WTO admission, to, strengthen the hypocritical, but tactically useful corporate liberal Clintonite center on environmental/labor and human rights standards. Methinks whatever agreements that NGO's on the inside wiggle out of Clinton/Gore are worth less than yesterdays newspaper, and that what set the WTO et. al. towards a better outcome was the masses of unionists in Seattle, loud and clear and much less nationalist than of old, and of course, the anarcho/punks that whether we like it or not, for all the reasons offered far and wide, here and there,before, during and since, did focus the mind shall we say of the Clinton admin. and the WTO attendees representing capitalist and governmental interests.
M.P.