Some school districts in Pennsylvania spend as much as $20,000.00 per student for their education. For their money, parents get a broad approach to education. Open mindedness, political correctness, tolerance and inclusivism are all proclaimed as benchmarks of a progressive and appropriate education. Most school districts operate in state-of-the-art facilities with modern technology and every convenience. All of this sounds great if you can be satisfied, not with buildings, classrooms and accoutrement's, but with the philosophical and ideological agendas of the faculty, administration, and leaders of the Department of Education. So, what is a parent to do? No one is debating the proper way to add two and two or the proper way to diagram a prepositional phrase. What is being debated is the morals, values, and ideals that are represented in the various classrooms around the Keystone State.
To clarify some thoughts, morals are the foundational beliefs of an individual, values are the guidelines of life that are built upon those morals, and ideals are the goals and expectations which one hopes to attain based on those morals and values. The bottom line is whose morals, values and ideals are chosen to train the children in Pennsylvania school districts and who chooses how your money is spent.
Based on the laws of this state, every family is required to initially consider the public school (provided based on the property taxes and other funds set aside in the state budget). Other secondary options require families to find the money for tuition and fees of private or parochial schools and finally, families might consider various options of "home" school. Unfortunately, when you choose an option other than the public school, your taxes still go to support the public schools.
The debate hinges on this basic supposition - the Department of Education takes your money, provides an education that they deem appropriate, and teaches the morals, values and ideals that they affirm. You are welcome to explore options, but we keep your money. This collectivism mentality diminishes competition and smacks of monopoly. Why shouldn't Pennsylvania families be allowed to direct their taxes to the schools of their choice? Consider that the Department of Education already publishes minimum guidelines for educational institutions that assure basic structure and order. School choice would not and should not change those guidelines. The Department of Education through PSAT's and other standardized tests properly evaluate the educational levels of all students. Charter, private, and parochial schools administer those tests as well and their students perform on similar (and often better) levels.
The most probable concerns of the Department of Education must then be control of three areas: Control of the money; Control of values and ideals; and Control of the students. Each of these areas are an infringement on the rights guaranteed us by the U.S. Constitution and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. An efficient system of public education does not imply control of all monies to educate nor does it imply control over philosophy and curriculum. It most certainly does not imply control of the actual students. The debate over school choice is problematic for the Department of Education for they do not want to relinquish control.
There can be no more basic understanding of the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness than that of control over your own family and no one should usurp that control, including the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
