Imagine if stores only sold one size of shoes and clothing and government regulations didn't allow other sizes to be available. While this may seem a little absurd or exaggerated, it is exactly what is happening to our education system. As Americans we tend to enjoy freedom of choice, and to our delight, that involves choosing which shoe size or clothing size we like best. But let's just take a moment and look at our public school system. For many years, the public school system has employed and utilized a unique approach to educating our nation's children. As the 21st century approached, the disadvantages of this system began to emerge. The number of students who began to fall behind began to increase rapidly with the introduction of personal computers and later the Internet. This obviously presented a need for a change in the system and soon after many people began pushing for new and improved educational programs so that students could move with the times, so to speak. This marked the genesis of the “school choice” movement. School choice is a term or label given to a wide range of programs that offer students and their families alternatives to public schools, to which students are typically assigned based on family residence. School choice initiatives allow parents the freedom to choose personalized education options for their children who are excluded from the “one size fits all” public school system. School voucher programs and charter schools are examples of such initiatives. A school voucher is a government-issued funding certificate that can be used to fund education at schools of parents' choice rather than the public school to which they are assigned. A......medium of paper......used for many years. “In addition to the urban poor, other groups, not mentioned, can benefit greatly from a system that allows individual schools to focus on the most gifted special education or teen pregnancy programs” (Chub). Choices in schools allow for a more personalized fit to education for students in one or all categories. School choice represents change, and as previously mentioned, there will always be those who resist this change and prefer to stick with the dinosaur that is the old system. The National Education Association is, to date, the most active opponent of this school choice initiative. “Representing the 'dinosaurs,' the NEA is the largest union in the United States, boasting more than 3.2 million members” (NEA). They benefit from maintaining the status quo and exercising strong political power. At stake are changes in accountability for job performance