15. The other major problem with the voucher system is consumer ignorance. Unless he knows what he is buying, a consumer cannot choose rationally. Yet, in the social action area, it is very difficult for him to find out anything about the quality of a service before he uses it. Moreover, the costs of shopping around or sampling the merchandise of a hospital or a school may be prohibitive. In the medical area, they are obviously disastrous; one cannot shop around for a surgeon. But even in education, trial and error may be very costly. Parents cannot move a child around from one school to another until they find one they like, without endangering the child’s educational and social progress. Moreover, even educated parents have trouble judging whether their child is progressing as rapidly as he could in school. How much greater, then, are the barriers to accurate parental judgment in the ghetto, where parents have little experience with books and learning.