Saturday, June 23, 2012

Public Schools: The Battleground of Ideology

Conservatives like to point to two events that marked the decline in the quality of public education in the US. The first was the Scopes Trial, which paved the way for the teaching of Evolution in the public schools; and the second was the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Engel Case, which outlawed mandated prayers in public schools. To this day, the call from Christians to "put God back into the public schools" continues, loud and clear. Consider this petition, for example, which has over 21,000 signatures as of this post. Or consider this proposal, or Pat Robertson's words on the matter before the US Senate.

Liberals, on the other hand, are equally interested in seeing to it that subjects that many consider anti-Christian are taught in the schools. Climate change; sex education that includes birth control; evolution; acceptance of GLBT lifestyles, and other topics often work their way into public school cirricula, to the consternation of vocal Christians.

Both sides claim absolute authority in their claims. Conservatives claim the holy Word of God, and this nation's supposed "Christian heritage," while liberals claim science and the needs of modern culture. And these debates continue to play out in state and local school boards across the country. Should schools teach the kids about creation, evolution, or both (see here)? Should  their Sexual Education cirriculum be based on abstinence, protection methods, or both (see here)? Should the kids be taught that a family based on a married mother and father, and children is the ideal family unit, or that the definition of "family" is fluid and may include single parents, gay parents, unmarried parents, or other arrangements (see here)?

The reality is that these debates aren't really about what is scientifically right vs. what is scientifically wrong; or what empowers the kids with knowledge vs. what burdens the kids with confusion; or what instills values in the kids vs. what leads them down the path of moral decay. Really, these debates are about which side is going to win the right to indoctrinate other peoples' kids with their own ideology, and with public tax money. These debates turn the whole concept of public education into a chess match between competing worldviews, where the schools are the chess boards and the kids are the pieces.

When a Christian high-school student wants to lead her graduating class in prayer at graduation, and an atheist enlists the ACLU help put a stop to it, both sides of the debate are bringing their ideologies to court - both the court of law and the court of public opinion - to see which side wins the right to indoctrinate kids. The kids themselves are merely pieces in the game. When a Christian student wants to wear a shirt with an anti-gay message and the courts (both of law and of public opinion) are brought in, it's just another battle for the right to indoctrinate. Every matter in which the religion or culture of one student (or her parents) in a public school butts up against the religion or culture of another student (or his parents) in a public school, and the matter is brought before the courts, it becomes just another battle for the right to indoctrinate. And the kids always lose.

The belief that we don't want anyone else deciding what our kids are taught is one of the principal reasons libertarians, minarchists, voluntaryists, and other small-government types oppose the very idea of government education. If we want to teach our kids x, and someone else wants to teach their kids y, then the way to assure they're taught what we want is to do it ourselves; not to make our local school board do it for us and bring everyone else's kids along for the ride. We need to detach ourselves from the idea that we have any say in what other peoples' kids are taught in school, just as no one else has any say in what our kids are taught in school.

So how are we to accomplish this? Let me make a few suggestions.

1. Advocate for home-schooling/un-schooling. The only way to have absolute, 100% control over the education your kids receive is to do it yourself. Homeschooling, which started out as a fringe movement (and is still regarded by some as such) has now gained grudging acceptance, and conservative parents and liberal parents alike have warmed to the idea that a child can receive a good education solely from their parents. Un-schooling takes the idea a step further, letting the kids themselves direct their own education (see here for an extreme example). The downside to this is that it requires a huge commitment, of both time and money, of one or both parents to be successful at it. In today's economy, it's simply not a workable solution for many Christian parents.

2. Advocate for educational cooperatives. If full-time homeschooling isn't workable for your family, there are likely several other families in your community in the same boat. While by yourself you may not be able to accomplish your goal, with the help of other parents you may find that, collectively, you are able to pull it off. Parents can cooperate together to see that their group of kids share in the educational experience. Where one parent can handle matters of music or art, and another can handle matters of math or science; or where one parent can facilitate the group's education on Mondays, and another can facilitate on Tuesdays; where parents cooperate with each other to achieve their goals, the government is taken out of the education equation, yet the burden doesn't fall squarely on one's own family.

3. Advocate for educational vouchers. Private education remains an alternative for parents who want a say in what their kids are taught. The fact that it's private means that parents have the power to vote with their feet if they are not satisfied with the education their kids are receiving. Unfortunately, that power is denied to parents who cannot afford the cost of private education. For this reason, I support a system where parents are offered a refund on their tax burden that would otherwise go to public education. With a voucher system, parents are given a credit that could be applied to the cost of a private education of their choosing. This saves parents who choose private education from the financial burden of having to pay both taxes for public education and the cost of private education.

Remember, having liberty means allowing others liberty as well. My beliefs may differ from yours, sometimes in dramatic and startling ways. But I have no more right to demand that my beliefs are taught to your kids than you do to demand that your beliefs are taught to my kids. Let's stop making the schools the place where my ideology fights it out with yours. This is the only way that the kids will win.

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