There are many religious conservatives in this country who want their children to attend private schools where organized prayer and Christian indoctrination are legal, but don't want it badly enough to pay the tuition expenses out of their own pockets. What to do, what to do ? Out of this dilemma was born the school voucher movement, which theoretically requires us to not only support the public education system with our tax dollars, but subsidize private school tuition for religious conservatives as well. The greatest support for school vouchers always comes from the right wing; that in itself raises red flags in my mind. Anything they're for, I'm usually against and vice versa.
I have nothing against private schools, but they're allowed to play by different rules than public schools and aren't held to the same accountability standards, so I'm not interested in using public tax dollars to support them.
The argument used to sell voucher programs is they're intended to help poor kids in failing public schools, and competition from private schools will cause the public schools to improve. Cowpies. As repeatedly noted, success of the conservative political agenda is completely dependent on the gullibility of American voters, and vouchers are additional proof.
The issue arises because Utah is holding a state referendum next week on a voucher program narrowly passed by its legislature earlier this year. According to news articles I've seen, the Utah voucher plan is one of the most expansive to date, and if it holds up, will be a model for others around the country.
In an earlier post about Sen. Larry Craig, I presented an argument that Idaho, based on its voting record in the 2000 and 2004 elections, was the third most useless state in the country. The top two most pointless states are Utah and Wyoming, and I can't see that either has anything to offer the civilized world. They've given us Orrin Hatch and Dick Cheney. Need I say more ? An EMF to Utah and the horse they rode in on.
PS: To give credit where it's due, the Utah referendum election resulted in defeat of school vouchers. An estimated 62 percent of the vote went against vouchers. It's believed the defeat resulted from an absence of private schools in rural Utah. Whatever.
Dad,
ReplyDeleteWell, as a Title One public school teacher (and proud of it), I couldn't agree more. Almost unfailingly, whenever a new student is enrolled into our school, or any public school for the first time after having attended only private schools, the child lags academically and socially, and often can't pass the state mandated test. This is because the level of accountability among public and private schools is different, as you were saying. I am not a great supporter of standardized testing, however where taxpayers' dollars are concerned, the playing field needs to be even. The sad irony of voucher programs in my opinion is that the parents of the students I teach who are by and large living at or below the poverty line, may be having to fund the education of people who think their children are too good to go public school.
What a load of crap, indeed.