Stop starving public education
I had not intended to rebut my friend Michael Gleeson’s column on school vouchers. But I have received several requests from public school educator friends who, for reasons of their own, do not wish to appear in print.
No one disputes that there is a place for the private school as an educational choice. What is in dispute is whether public tax money should be allowed to flow into private pockets, and whether that money should be allowed to inculcate religion by way of the public purse. It is no secret that the greatest beneficiaries of the state voucher program are the parochial private schools run by the Roman Catholic Church.
Before taking up this issue, let me say that no one is happier than I that Mike’s son is doing well in his studies. But while the University of Rochester is a private school, the University of Connecticut is a public land grant school. What is relevant however is that the success of any one student is dependent on many factors: genetics, social position, parental encouragement and others, as well as prior education. There is no evidence that private schools do any better job of educating all students than do the public schools. One might want to look up the article in the Indianapolis Star on “The Case for Eliminating Charter Schools.” And Thomas Jefferson did mean what he said about the mixing of religion and secular government.
The idea that Jefferson was in any way an orthodox Christian is laughable. For example he wrote: “Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on Man.” Jefferson was certainly for the right to the free exercise of every person’s religious convictions, but he did want a solid “wall of separation between church and state.”
Also, “In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.” And again, “The way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them.” But the most telling use of Jefferson’s concept comes in a letter to the Virginia Baptists in 1808. “Because religious belief, or non belief, is such an important part of every person’s life, freedom of religion affects every individual. Religious institutions that use government power and force their views on persons of other faiths, or no faith, undermines our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the ‘wall of separation between church and state,’ (Jefferson is quoting himself in an earlier letter) therefore is absolutely essential in a free society.
“We have solved by fair experiment, the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquires.”
The above statement has been used by the Supreme Court on several occasions to bolster their opinions on this subject. In addition Jefferson edited out all the miracles and references to Jesus being the son of God. He then published a book, “The life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.” The book survives along with two of the Bibles that Jefferson cut up, and it may be read. Please let us be clear. Jefferson was “anti-Christian and pro Jesus. He was anti-religion and pro God” (Waldman). So to assume that Jefferson of all people would approve of any tax money going to religious sponsored schools is ludicrous.
The simple facts are these. Charter schools and especially the voucher system contribute to the Balkanization of elementary and secondary education. The power to tax is a use of government power that is benefiting schools that inculcate religion by means of the voucher system. The public schools are charged with educating each and every child up to the age of 16. That charge includes every bright child, those of average intelligence and those of the most limited ability. They need the resources to do so. Every tax dollar that is used for these “Choice Systems” further starves the public schools of the necessary resources to give the finest education to all students. If one wants to enroll children in a private school, by all means do so. But no public money should flow into any school that is not required to educate all students and certainly not to any school that promotes any one faith over another.
Lastly, the current climate is hostile to teachers in particular. Again, according to the Indianapolis Star, teacher applications are beginning to fall precipitously. We have a climate where state funding constraints, testing pressures and “blame the teacher” mentality are causing students to stay away from teaching as a career. Enrollment at Ball State teacher education has fallen 45 percent. According to state teacher licensing authorities, applications for first time teacher licenses has fallen 63 percent. Many school leaders say the teacher shortage will only get worse (The Indianapolis Star July 13, 2015). We will face a crisis in teacher shortages. We must be careful and much more far thinking in our approach to education than assuming vouchers and charters are a panacea for all our educational problems.
Dan Booher of Crawfordsville contributed this guest column.Stop starving public education - journalreview.com: Opinion: