The contagion is spreading! Zack Kopplin has documented how vouchers abuse taxpayer investment in education in many places, not just Bobby Jindal’s corrupt little wanna-be theocracy.
Liberty Christian School, in Anderson, Indiana, has field trips to the Creation Museum and students learn from the creationist A Beka curriculum. Kingsway Christian School, in Avon, Indiana, also has Creation Museum field trips. Mansfield Christian School, in Ohio, teaches science through the creationist Answers in Genesis website, run by the founder of the Creation Museum. The school’s Philosophy of Science page says, “the literal view of creation is foundational to a Biblical World View.” All three of these schools, and more than 300 schools like them, are receiving taxpayer money.
Vouchers are nothing but a way to uncouple schools from a responsibility to meet educational standards, and the worst schools love ’em: they can get money for teaching garbage.
I would posit that there is a second reason for vouchers — one that, from a libertarian/modern GOP standpoint is far, far, far more important. The schools that get this money are non-union and the teachers are not public employees. So not only does this make for a more ignorant, less rational voting public, it also hurts the evil teacher’s union. Win-win for conservatives.
There is some perverse part of me which would like to just let these creationists have their way. Stand aside and let them get on with it. Hell that would be one way to get them to stop.
(I strongly recommend moving out of the US for the duration of the experiment, to watch things collapse from a distance. It shan’t take long.)
Not to mention the unconstitutionality of using taxpayer funds to promote religion.
But that is the vision of conservative America: Guns and religion in schools… the way to peace and prosperity. Yeah, right. Weapons and religion have always mixed so well.
Vouchers, so you can pick the stupidity you want your kids to believe.
Glen Davidson
Philosophy of science is the bible? Those IDiots at Liberty Christian owe me a cup of coffee and one physics students an apology.
I should never read one of these posts while the students are writing exams. It gets messy.
Why do only parents with kids get the vouchers? I am a taxpayer so I should get one too. If we had vouchers for other government programs, the people using the service would get to decide which department should spend the money. Truckers use the highways a lot so they should get vouchers to determine which roads should be repaired. Soldiers should get vouchers so they can decide which wars should be funded.
A lot of the private for profit schools are substandard, especially the fundie ones. Their science classes are more or less nonexistent.
They convert state tax money to profits by not paying much for teachers. One school I’m familiar with has all teachers as part time employees. No health insurance, no benefits, no retirement plan, low pay.
The kids will graduate but won’t learn much. Fundie xians set their kids up to fail in many ways. Then they fail.
Not having a good education in today’s world isn’t going to help the kids future.
…Hang on a second.
That’s Congress favoring an establishment of religion, right?
“the literal view of creation is foundational to a Biblical World View.”
That my be true, but it’s the pits when one tries to form a rational world view.
I understand why politicans scream about merit pay and testing teachers and then turn around and lavish tax dollars on wholly unaccountable private schools. But why do voters support it? There is a very simple way to stop these kinds of abuses. Simply hold the private schools to the exact same curriculum standards testing as public schools.