This manuscript argues that two systems of metaphors have set the parameters governing the national debate over educational choice; proponents have relied heavily on laissez-faire metaphors and critics have relied on communitarian metaphors. The former invoke visions of free individuals whose actions are made harmonious via a beneficent market; the latter appeal to the civic role schools have in creating unified communities and a national citizenry. Proponents of choice have argued that markets will make schools more efficient and egalitarian, whereas critics of choice have suggested that privatization may further fragment the body politic. Once choice proposals are considered in the light of institutional racism, it appears that further segregation is a likely result of privatization. Discussions of choice proposals without the systematic consideration of economic and racial inequality threaten to legitimate the most drastic educational inequalities in our society.
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