Vouchers: They're Child's Play

Part of the "Saving The World" series.

     It is an understatement to say that we face an educational crisis in America today. The intention of this article is not to go into the specifics of the dangerous “education gap” that exists between America and other competing countries across the globe. Instead, we are going to examine concrete solutions that will quickly and effectively solve problems.

     In order to ensure that America remains scientifically and militarily superior to the developed and developing world we need to increase the emphasis that today’s primary and secondary educational institutions place on math and science. Additionally, it is important that America remain culturally vibrant and informed, where every member of society can make intelligent decisions at the ballot box.

     There are three realms of discussion within education reform. First, there is the issue of private school vouchers. Second is the question of which level of government is responsible for which aspect of education. Finally, we have to determine the way to handle the diverse levels of potential and achievement that is found within our children. The latter two items are for another day; today we shall look at the wonderful world of vouchers.

     Private school vouchers are a good idea. There is no logical argument against them, there is no downside to implementing them and they should no longer be in debate. In a system that includes vouchers, instead of the state (or whatever level of government) spending x numbers of dollars on a student in the public school system; a parent will instead receive a “voucher” which they can then present to an accredited institution who can redeem it for cash from the state. Before we get into the benefits, lets look at what people claim are the downsides.

     Senator Hillary Clinton had nothing but praise for the voucher system. "First family that comes and says 'I want to send my daughter to St. Peter's Roman Catholic School' and you say 'Great, wonderful school, here's your voucher. Next parent that comes and says, 'I want to send my child to the school of the Church of the White Supremacist ...' The parent says, 'The way that I read Genesis, Cain was marked, therefore I believe in white supremacy. ... You gave it to a Catholic parent, you gave it to a Jewish parent, under the Constitution, you can't discriminate against me.' So what if the next parent comes and says, 'I want to send my child to the School of the Jihad? ... I won't stand for it."

     The concept of a ‘School of the Jihad’ receiving government funding is laughable. It is a poor example and as a criminal organization would not be accredited, because accreditation is an important part of the voucher system.

     As far as the ‘Church of the White Supremacist’ goes, while I admit that I have never been anywhere in the deep south but Florida, I have flown over much of it, and I do not think that there is an organization of any significance with that name. The likelihood of such a school coming into existence is nearly nothing, and even if it did, the likelihood that the community it is located in would stand for it is even less. If, despite this extreme unlikelihood, there did exist a school where ignorant racists can teach other ignorant racists about what it means to be ignorant then let them have each other, let them hire each other for all I care, because they won’t find any jobs outside of their fellow idiots. I would never hire one.

     The only other people besides Senator "out-of-this-world" who oppose public school vouchers are the hack leaders of the teachers' union. Their reasoning: it would cause some teachers to lose their jobs. But wait! If anything, the voucher system would lead to a reduction in class sizes. Does that not mean that for a given number of students, you will need more teachers? So you mean the teachers' union really means that it will cause some of the teachers' union's members to take non-union jobs? Oh, that is horrible and cannot happen. But of course if the teacher’s union is doing such a damn good job, the private schools will just unionize themselves right? Right… The British have it right, their national teachers' union is simply called the "National Union of Teachers," and they abreviate it NUT right on their home page.

     So now we see that I was right when I said that no one of significance, I mean intelligence, actually opposes a voucher system. A cardinal rule of public finance that everyone loves to ignore is that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If a free market does something, why do we need government intervention? The Soviet Union proved that there is very little the government can do better than the private sector can; The Los Angeles Unified School Bureaucracy (LAUSB, they changed their name, didnt you hear?) proves that government cannot do education better either. In fact, if we implemented vouchers today, there would still be a system of public schools; however, those schools would have to clean out all of their unnecessary bureaucrats and administrators in order to compete on an adequate level with private schools. Where is the problem with this, it sounds perfect to me.

     Implementing a voucher system is not only the most effective way to give our children a better education; it is the easiest and quickest system to implement and is something we can do today to immediately brighten the future for our youth and for our country.

-Raphael Hythloday