School Vouchers: Blessing or Curse---
The public education system in the United States is full of problems. After watching an episode of 20/20 I started to think. Of course had school vouchers been available to myself I may have attended a private school, although the public school I had access to was above average in terms of test scoes, GPA, suspension/expulsion rates, attendance and graduation rate, a better private institution with a wider assortment of courses would have been very appealing to me. At the same time had school vouchers been available where and when I went to school a very good friend of mine would have ended up at a Fundamentalist Christian Private school, and many others I went to school with, including the top 4 students to graduate in my class would have ended up at similar schools. It seems odd that any republicans would support school vouchers, since such programs would tend to help the lower-class. Many republicans care nothing for the lower-class, they don't donate to their campaigns after all. They typically care very little for the youth of America, but then again that applies to all politicians. It becomes clear after a little thought why some republicans would support school vouchers. Vouchers would allow for any student to learn, or more correctly be indoctrinated, according to the belief system of such politicians. Any private school could get the vouchers, including schools that refuse to teach science and schools that teach hatred of any kind. Fundamentalist Christians and Neo-Wahabist Muslims both believe a system where students either learn from parents or in a non-regulated environment where they could be taught anything! Imagine if you will, the Eric Robert Rudolph institute...students learn about Christianity and how to build bombs to blow up clinics. Or the Kent Hovind School of Evangelical Creation Science, where students are taught science is just a bunch of stuff people made up to disprove God, except for the science that we like, and even those we aren't sure about. Or maybe the Warren Jeffs Tabernacle School, where they make sure your 15 year old daughter can pleasure her 45 year old husband and obey him. If you think Islamic Terror Schools in the middle east cause problems here imagine what such Christian schools could do here with government funding. Imagine the "mega"-churches making mega schools, all the children of members of the congregation attending, now being brain-washed 6 days of the week to believe everything their preacher says. Then imagine all those vouchers, being converted into cash by the mega-church, you are talking a big chunk of change at this point. Combine that with collection, tithes, and not having to pay a cent of tax....if such a mega-church made a mega-school under a school voucher situation the church could easily become a force to be reckoned with, not to mention the church already having an army of its own.
A civil war is the end result of such a situation. A church taking over a state...taking over a region...finally pushing to take over a nation. Sectarian violence is something in America's near future, and it will, in the end, be funded and supported by the government as it slowly is overrun with more supporters for one sect or another.
posted by Wakim @ 7:13 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Wow you're really something with your sweeping generalizations with no evidence to support your radical statements. Did you know that products of private schools, christian schools, and children that are home schooled produce the highest SAT scores in this country? They get into some of the best universities, get the best jobs and make the most money.They're not being brain-washed, they're being educated. Obviously well enough to beat out the kids who are learning about your "real science" in the public system. I've been a part of both schools. I went to a private Christian School when I was younger and finished out in the public system. When I transferred I was TWO GRADES above that of the rest of my classmates. Maybe you should do a little research before you're so quick to criticize and maybe you should look at little deeper into your aparent party of choice. You're liberal democrats claim to be for the poor minority, but it is the conservitive republicans who seem to be helping them the most.
Yes if you lump all students of homeschooling, private schools, private religious (non-fundamentalist)schools, private religious(fundamentalist)schools, and students of private schools loosely affiliated with churches together you get higher test scores and I'm sure in some fields all of those options provide a better education (specifically reading, rhetoric, English and possibly other languages) My main issue is with any type of Fundamentalist school and with parents who homeschool their children specifically to make sure they don't learn science or history that those parents just don't want their kids to hear because they consider them heresy. A very good friend of mine did attend a Christian school for a short time. That school was extremely fundamentalist and focused very much on behavior modification. We all know kids do and say inappropriate things at times, but after only one minor offense he was expelled. Of course that is the story he told me, and no one in his family ever refuted the story when he told it to me around them so I'm guessing it was fairly accurate (this friend doesn't tend to lie very well). He did recieve a good education, he was infact ahead in his reading ability and rhetorical skills. I won't disagree that reading and rhetorical skills are probably taught much better outside the public school system, but when it comes to my experience with persons who have gone all the way through the high school level in Fundamentalist schools or through homeschooling where subjects that the school or parents find "heretical" are not taught usually end up behind in science. Universities of course will probably still accept these students, even good universities, but those students typically do not do well in a college level science course where something that that student was taught was "heresy" is taught. I have seen it many times in Biology and Astronomy classes in college and a student will repeatedly question the professor about Evolution in biology classes or the Big Bang in astronomy classes saying "well you can't seriously base that on anything." The professor then politely says "well we can base it on___." The student says, "But what about ___" Usually by this time the professor says "well we need to finish this lecture and I can talk to you after class about this." About half the time the student actually does talk to the professor, the other half of the time the student never talks to the professor about it and drops the class. Those that drop the class typically try to continue the arguement through the whole class period, eventually playing the martyr card as though they are being "persecuted". Sorry, but when I don't understand something I ask a question, if I still don't get it I ask one more question, after that I go see the prof. in office hours or refer to another source (textbook, other professor, classmante, TA, internet, or other book on the subject. Not argue and complain that I don't understand.
Also don't be so quick think you know I'm a liberal democrat. Yes I'm a democrat, but a Liberal? Well most people who consider themselves Liberals deeply disagree with me on many subjects, and many conservative deeply disagree with me on many subjects also. I tend to agree with the Liberals about 40% of the time, and Conservatives about 40% of the time, the other 20% of the time I think both sides are just plain nuts and typically they believe the same about me in that 20% of the time.
I don't know what your smokin but you need to give it a rest.By the way conservatives are by far more charitible than liberals
Wick, I haven't smoked anything in a very very long time. Yes I do admit I was a little out there in this posting, and did reach a little further than I had originally planned on reaching when I sat down to write this. I am unsure as to who is more charitible personally, conservatives, liberals, or moderates, but in terms of class the working poor give a larger percentage of their income to charity than any other group. Politically it seems that the liberals and many moderates seem to be more for the poor than the conservatives.
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