In this post I take exception to the majority of conservatives who believe that school vouchers (monies made available to those in public schools so that they might have the opportunity to attend private schools, generally recognized as higher quality) are a good thing for the future of America.  I emphatically do not agree with my friends in this area; school vouchers will only serve to pull down the level of education available in the private schools to the lamentable level of public schools today.

Let's face it, education in America today is pathetic.  It is quite likely that 70% or better of graduating high school seniors today could not attain a passing grade on a test designed for eighth-grade passage a century ago.  In the political arena, the knowledge is even worse, as it has been demonstrated that 3/4 of high school juniors cannot name the three branches of American government and their functions (a requirement for a foreigner wanting American citizenship, by the way).  The shortening and abbreviating of words and phrases known colloquially as "text-message English" is a travesty, and should never be seen in a legitimate piece of written work, yet it appears all the time on the Internet, even in forums where the length of the piece is unlimited.  When the ability to make monetary change without using the register computer becomes a point of comment, then it is obvious that the public school system has failed.

Yet conservatives boost school vouchers as a way to improve the school system in general by promoting competition and forcing the public schools to improve or lose all their students to the private schools.  My friends on the right side of the aisle are looking at the issue from the wrong end.  Rather than promote competition and improve the general schooling of American youth, it is my contention that the private schools will eventually come down to the level of the public schools...and THEN become even worse than they are today.

The problem is the curriculum in the public schools, and who writes that curriculum.  Objectives are set by the state school boards of the separate states, which in itself foments inequality, and those objectives are set in the main by people who have been in the education system, as teachers, administrators, or what not.  (We will leave aside for the moment the controversy surrounding the Federal "No Child Left Behind" mandate; the idea that the Federal Government should set minimum standards for education is bad enough, but the idea that our education levels are so horrible that the Government even considered getting involved should send a clear message that the system is broken.)  Since nearly all persons involved in the educational system belong to the National Education Association, we can pinpoint the source of the problem.  The NEA is a union, and as such is designed to get the most money and perquisites for its' members as possible, while exchanging as little work as possible.  Therefore, curriculums are designed to make teachers work as little as possible.  Of course, this means our public-school students learn very little, and this is more and more obvious every year.

Private schools do not have this problem.  While their teachers may still belong to the NEA, the curriculum is set by the individual school, or by a private organization that has NOTHING to do with elective government.  As such, the only persons to which private schools answer are the parents that pay the tuition...which is the ultimate in accountability.

So why take ill-served public school students, give them school vouchers, and send them to private school?  This will not help the public school student.  In fact, it will harm them, as this idea removes the student from their familiar confines, away from their friends and (very likely) neighborhood, and require them to catch up to their grade level or be set back 1-2 years (in itself a damaging concept, if you listen to child psychologists).

Finally, there is an old adage from the Middle East that goes something like this:  "Don't let the camel get his nose under the tent flap."  The idea is that if the camel gets started, he won't stop until his entire body is in the tent, which will cause the tent to collapse or drive everyone else out of it due to lack of room.

So it is with school vouchers.  Here's the Cold Hard Fact of this entry:  The instant you allow government monies in private schools, that government will begin to set the curriculum and standards, and private schools will degrade to the level of public schools.  This idea, rather than sparking competition and improving education, would serve to bring ALL schools, public AND private, under the government tent...and we've already seen the result of government-operated education systems.  School vouchers are an insidious big-government concept, and private schools should come together to ensure that THIS camel never gets its' nose under their collective tent flap.