Do you think that the government should provide school vouchers for private/christian schools?

Question

My son goes to a private Catholic school. Not only because we are Catholic, but I do not want the government to be involved in his education.

Keep government out of our private schools. That is the reason that so many of us send our children there to begin with. Have you seen pulic schools since the inception of the Department of Education? No thanks...that is what we are trying to get away from.

If you can't afford private/Christian school, then I suggest you contact your elected officials or become involved in another way to improve the public ones. Don't drag the private schools down with you! Not to mention, if you are a member of the church that the school is through, then we will help you with tuition. I know that through our church, those that can't afford it ARE already being helped.

I am not trying to be nasty...but just as people don't want religion in their public schools, we don't want government in our religious schools.

FAIR IS FAIR!!

Answer 1

The only thing I don't get is why people who send their kids to private school have to play taxes for the public school. There should be some exception.

Answer 2

I think that as long as they gov't is unwilling to make any major changes to how the Dept. of Ed is run and how teachers are trained, evaluated and retained then vouchers are really the only way to help the kids who want a good education get one - and a solid education benefits all of society.

Personally I think that vouchers are dumb and the money spent on vouchers should go to fixing public schools. Ever see the West Wing? "Public schools should be cathedrals to learning." Absolutely. But until the gov't and the teachers unions and school administrators are willing to sit down and agree to actual solutions vouchers are the only thing that can help the kids who are in school now. However, I don't think it should be an open door thing - students should apply and earn spots at private schools. Why waste expensive tuition and limited seats on kids who don't want it or won't work for it?

BUT - I think that the vouchers should be given without strings, like a tuition waiver. The government shouldn't be allowed any say over how those schools are run - they screwed up public schools pretty well and shouldn't be allowed the opportunity to do the same to schools that work.

Answer 3

Not all low income families are reaping the benefits from the Government. If a family's income is just one penny over the allotted amount they cannot receive the help. And it is not just the money coming into the home that the system counts, there is also the property (house), vehicles, bank accounts, and any other equitable assets that are counted as money for the family. And not everybody is lucky enough to have a Christian school that will work with the parents to help pay for their child's schooling (such as my Christian friends did for their children by working for the school). The public schools are there so that today's children do not become tomorrow's society's burden. There many of those children who were helped out by the Government when they were growing up who have and are paying back to what society has given them. If a parent cannot afford to send their child to private schooling they can still teach their beliefs to their children. Many people do it everyday.

Answer 4

"If you can't afford private/Christian school, then I suggest you contact your elected officials or become involved in another way to improve the public ones. Don't drag the private schools down with you!"

This seems quite rude to me. I went to a private school, my parents could barely afford it. We were on the payment plan they offered and got every break we could. It was a Catholic school, and we aren't Catholic, so there were no breaks from the church. They were still paying off my high school education for the first 2 years I was in college. (I worked to get scholarships for college, and I held a job while still maintaining my grades and activities. None of this "mommy and daddy are going to pay for it" stuff.)

Do you think I was "dragging the school down"? I was in gifted program, participated (and placed!) in math contests, was on a winning Scholars' Bowl team, and much more.

Just because people aren't rich doesn't mean they shouldn't have the opportunity to get a good education.

Improving public education may seem easy, but it's not. There are so many hoops to jump though and so many silly programs and requirements. Even though my mother has been working at public schools her entire working career (she started as a teacher and is now a counselor) and my father has also been a teacher, they sent me to private school for a better education because they KNOW that public education isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Answer 5

The Catholic Church has a long and admirable tradition of public service, devotion to the poor, and devotion to mass education. The tradition of public education in the United States is both shorter and less admirable. While Jefferson had envisioned universal public education, most states were not able to afford it until the mid 19th century. While Jefferson may have believed that the purpose of public education was to teach everyone to read (how could the free press hold government to account if the lay person couldn't read?), those who instituted public schools in the various states believed the purpose of public education was to promote a common morality.

At the time the vast majority of Americans were Protestant, and so it seemed obvious that the best way to teach morality was to read The Bible. But it wasn’t long before millions of European immigrants, who were predominantly Catholic, started flooding our shores. They were delighted at the notion of publicly funded education but they had a small problem with reading The King James Bible, which claims the Pope is an evil and sinful man on the first page, every day at school. Catholics in many communities suggested a form of voucher system back then: Catholic students would receive funds to attend Catholic school, just as Protestant students received funds to attend Protestant schools.

Many Nativists hated the immigrants because they competed for land and jobs and they didn’t speak English. Even though the European immigrants came from diverse backgrounds, the Nativists identified them largely by their common religion. They told the Catholics to go ahead and shove their voucher idea and that Catholicism was incompatible with democracy. Many went so far as to pass Blaine Amendments in many states that expressly forbid the government from distributing any money to a school with religious affiliation. It was until a century later that this was interpreted to mean that money couldn’t go to Protestant schools either. Talk about one of the world’s worst all time back-fires.

A liberal voucher system would simply distribute education funds on a per-student basis wherever the child attended school. I like to call this ‘support without control’. Even if students attend religious schools this is not a violation of the doctrine of Separation of Church and State because the government does not direct the funds. Social Security sets the most obvious precedent to this where it’s perfectly constitutional to leave your entire check at the collection plate if you wish.

Your offer to provide assistance to the poorer members of your parish is very generous but it’s only practical if there are adequate numbers of wealthy folk willing to subsidize the educations of the poor. Not all faiths have this. The liberal voucher system is the best systemic solution to provide access to quality education for all children, regardless of their income or faith.

Answer 6

Educating the general public is the job of the government. If you choose a private, religious school then the cost of that is entirely your own responsibility. There should be absolutely no government subsidy for private religious schooling. The churches already get enough with not having to pay taxes.

Answer 7

I believe the government should not help private or christian schools. People who send their kids to schools private schools PAID for it on their own. Public schools are open to all who pay the local taxes. The government at one point a long time ago did give private schools money only if their were no religious textbooks and teachings. Obviously private schools didn't like that. They also shouldn't get the funding because of the separation of church and state. so to answer your question, no i don't think private schools should be entitled to government finding.

Answer 8

That's a strange viewpoint. Most people who have their kids in private schools WANT vouchers. Since you want the government out, I'm assuming you DON'T want the government vouchers.

I wish more people like you would contact my state rep, who is convinced that vouchers for the 1% of students in his district who attend private schools are more important than making sure our kids have enough money for the public schools! We've got great teachers and and great schools but the roof is leaky and they don't even have a working vaccum!

Answer 9

Amen. I homeschool my child b/c I can't afford a private school. If the government provide vouchers...they would be amazed to see how many children would leave the public school. BUT the government wants children in public schools for a reason, but that is another story

Answer 10

Absolutely the government should provide vouchers, people
that send their children to private or Christian schools are
taxpayers and the taxes they pay go to educate the children.
Why does that money have to go to public school, especially
when the teachings in public schools teach against what
the parents of private schools want their children to learn.
My oldest son, during junior high school, had a group of
gay, lesbian and bi-sexual people come in to discuss
their lifestyles, the TEACHER told the students that they
should not listen to what their parents tell them, they should
experiment with alternat lifestyles and then make up
their own minds.

I say that vouchers be given to all parents, then they can
choose the school of their choice to send their children.
I know that a lot of parents live in areas where the schools
are undesirable, a voucher would allow them to send
their children to any public school the wished and if the
school happens to be private or releigous the same
thing should apply.

I got sick and tired of public schools, my last 3 children
were all home schooled, I might add that I would put any
of my children up against any kid that went to public
school.

Parents, I know that some kids do well but most do not
even get basic skills to survive in the real world.