Place Your Web Page Title Here

School Vouchers: a Modest Proposal

There are many folks who believe the public school systems are doing a dismal job of educating the nation's children. We hear complaints about dumbed-down textbooks, "politically correct" course materials, emphasizing our differences in the name of "diversity", dope dealing in the hallways... the list goes on.

The answer that is being touted is the school voucher. I oppose vouchers in any manner. There are several reasons.

Government schools should be abolished. We did not always have them, and yet our nation turned out fine thinkers with good minds from all walks and classes of life.

Do you have kids? Why do the rest of us have to pay to educate them? As our laws are now written, the more kids you have, the fewer taxes you pay to support programs that benefit them. The young, single, and childless folks are compelled to make up the difference.

What the government gives, the government controls. In effect, schools that accept vouchers will be required to meet government standards and practices. Many of those standards are promulgated by the NEA and the AFT, and by local pressure groups with ideas and agendas with which you may disagree. This puts the parent with the voucher right back at square one: use a voucher, get the same standards, restrictions, admission requirements, textbook quality, and other things you are trying to avoid in the first place.

A common viewpoint is that those who favor school vouchers consist mostly of religious fanatics who want their children kept away from classes in which evolution is taught, or away from children with the "wrong" skin color, surname, or belief set.

Rubbish!

Nothing is absolute, folks.

I used to travel extensively in Oregon's Tri-Counties area performing lighting energy management surveys. I went into many schools, both public and private. The private schools looked good, but they had no monopoly on well-behaved students and good teachers. I saw kids in public schools staying after class to work on science lab experiments or other activities. They stayed to chew the fat with dedicated instructors who cared about the kids and who seemed to genuinely enjoy their profession. I also saw some pretty dismal places, public and private, where no kid should have to be for 7 hours a day.

I have no problem with parents wanting their children to have a fine education. I believe that parents and their children should determine what is good for them rather than the State. I am sorry, Mrs. Clinton, but neither you nor Donna Shalala nor your "village" know what is best. The village of the neighborhood is the best.

I also see no reason for parents having to put up with educational doctrines or theories with which they do not agree. An example might be the Mexican or Asian mother and father who do not want the power of the State used to force their children into bilingual classes when their kids already speak fluent English. This is done when the school feels that children need to stay in touch with their heritage. Should that not be up to the parent?

Another might be the parents who have taught their kids that "folks are folks", only to have the school bring separatism into the picture in the name of "diversity".

My biggest bone to pick is with the way vouchers are being touted. ALL of the power is being placed in the hands of the parents. This is not right. There are many people in our nation who are childless either by choice or circumstance. I am one of those people. As it stands now, we who are childless are compelled under threat of arrest or property seizures to pay the taxes for medical care, transportation, recreation, and finally, education, for other peoples' children. Because schools are funded through property taxes, businesses of all sizes are compelled to pay taxes, too. Businesses do not, by their very nature, have children.

Those persons and entities that pay property taxes are the ones who should be granted the vouchers, not just parents. As a business owner, I would like to see students leaving high school able to compose declarative sentences, add lines of figures without a calculator, and knowing something about the history of our nation. They should also know the Constitution and the Bill of Rights inside and out.

I would like to make sure my money does NOT go to a fundamentalist or Afrocentric academy where children are taught intolerance for those who are not like they are. I do not want my money in the hands of the local diocese. I also want to deprive the local public schools of moneys used on Ebonics and other junk courses dreamt up by teachers unions and the holders of degrees in education.

A Modest Proposal

How about a voucher system based on the property taxes we are compelled to sink into schools? I can just about hear the sniveling from folks on the left hollering about the big bad nasty "trans-national"* corporations using their vouchers to fund schools that turn out compliant little drones. If it means a factory worker or office person who can understand enough English and math to do the job right, I am all in favor of it. I remember my own time in government schools. Fold your hands in front of you, no talking, question nothing, the man with the club and gun is always your friend, and be a "good little citizen". Be a good, compliant little drone.

I for one do not think folks like the presidents of Cypress Semiconductor, Sun Microsystems, or Hewlett Packard want compliant little drones in the first place. Their companies got where they are today with folks who can think. When it comes to the tax dollars taken from me I demand nothing less.

"trans-national" has replaced "multi-national" in the Whiner's Lexicon of All That is Wrong in the World

Click here to view more commentaries.