OPINION & EDITORIAL
Racism lies at heart of school vouchers
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Also by Chris Dols:
- Scapegoating immigrants (April 15, 2005)
- Protest far from treasonous (April 20, 2005)
- Socialism needed for egalitarianism (April 28, 2005)
- Help for hurricane victims stuck in Iraq (September 15, 2005)
- Flaws in Beckstrom argument again (October 14, 2005)
Related Stories:
- Vouchers don't solve MPS woes, but incentives can (October 31, 2007)
- Vouchers work, and they're constitutional too (February 20, 2002)
- Letters to the editor - November 25 (November 25, 2003)
- A choice to expand opportunity (November 24, 2003)
- Letters to the Editor - 2/15/02 (February 15, 2002)
by Chris Dols
Thursday, February 24, 2005
School vouchers may be the most disingenuous and hypocritical program produced by America’s right-wing ideologues since their attempts to portray Martin Luther King, Jr., as an opponent of affirmative action (Read King’s discussion of compensatory treatment in “Why We Can’t Wait” in 1964 for his defense of what wasn’t yet being called affirmative action). Vouchers for private schools divert funds from public education, subsidize unaccountable private — and often religious — schools and uphold racial segregation.
Since 2001, more than $75 million has been diverted from public education into voucher advocacy — a public-relations campaign to lay the ideological groundwork for spending tax dollars on private schools. Vouchers’ proponents uphold the importance of choice in education. But the increased opportunities for the few who benefit don’t match the detriment faced by the majority left unaddressed in crumbling public schools.
No Child Left Behind, Bush’s education plan, seeks to punish failing schools by not funding them. NCLB doesn’t prioritize teaching kids, but rather testing them to prove that they aren’t being taught. The logic alone is a sick joke. It gets worse when you consider that NCLB itself is underfunded to the tune of billions of dollars each year. Thus NCLB, as an unfunded mandate, leaves public schools in massive disrepair. Vouchers are then presented as the solution. The ideologues who previously trumpeted personal responsibility instead of accessible, well-funded public education now herald vouchers as the golden gate of opportunity for America’s poor. The prophecy becomes self-fulfilling and soon private schools (which are free from such shackles as Constitutional law, certification of teachers and data collection of racial composition) are free to discriminate on the basis of religion or ability. Meanwhile, public schools become a babysitting operation for those who are “unqualified,” instilling discipline above education for the poorest Americans.
Vouchers, because they can be used for religious schools, violate the First Amendment. Worse, these schools — as private institutions — are free from legal recourse, despite receiving public taxes. They are free to reject students who need additional attention due to lack of academic qualification or physical and mental disabilities. Further, many retain the right to fire teachers for religious reasons, lifestyle — such as being gay — or for one’s support of abortion rights. Vouchers were ruled unconstitutional in the 1967 court case Poindexter v. Louisiana. Because of the unaccountable nature of private schools, the Supreme Court correctly wrote the following: “The United States Constitution does not permit the State to perform acts indirectly through private persons which it is forbidden to do directly.”
The greatest hypocrisy of the voucher movement is its claims for racial integration. By making private schools more financially accessible, the argument goes, minorities will be better educated and integrated with white students. The first assumption, that private schools do a better job educating students than public schools do, is a widely held myth. When considering income levels and race (a consideration defenders of vouchers rarely make), publicly educated students perform at the same level as those privately educated. The central assertion, that vouchers help desegregate schools, is plain disingenuous. Milwaukee has the longest-running voucher program in the country (since 1990) and is in competition for the title of America’s most segregated city. More than 60 percent of Milwaukee’s public school attendees are black, yet fewer than 5 percent of the students at Milwaukee’s top three Catholic schools are black. Only 38 percent of the private schools in Milwaukee provide bussing, putting the poor and black at a further disadvantage. By tokenizing the occasional black student, Milwaukee’s private schools get away with disproportionately educating the white and the well-off under a banner of integration.
Show your opposition to the destruction of public schools by starting with UW. Join the rally against tuition hikes today at noon at the State Street corner of the Capitol Building.
Chris Dols (cdols@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in civil engineering and a member of the International Socialist Organization.
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 9:05am):
This may be the worst column ever written.
First of all, School funding for public schools in Milwaukee has increased over the last 5 years, not decreased. They are unrelated amounts.
As for the "harm" caused, have you been inside a Milwaukee public school? With the exception of a few MAgnate schools and Rufus King, they were uniformly horrible before the voucher system ever showed up, and as we sometimes say, you can't fall off of the floor.
Two of the largest demographics of people sending their children to private schools are government officials, and teachers. We call those "revealed preferences."
It is racist to support public schools. FIrst of all, Milwaukee has been segregated since...segregation really. Blamin choice makes you either an idiot or a liar. YOu see, cause must come before effect. Anyway, forcing minority students to attend public schools funded through lower than average property taxes is much more racist than giving those same students the option to attend better schools (notice that all of my ideas contains words like "options" and "choice" and "freedom").
THe true greatness of choice though comes from its treatment of failed schools. Under the choice system, failing schools close, and new, better schools open up reflecting the strategies of the succeeding school. Markets do not produce perfect products right away. Markets are systems, and they excel at eliminating failures. Failing public schools receive more money. This only serves to reinforce irresponsibility.
Howver, my single greatest argument is as follows:
Let's say that you're the parent of an elementary school child living in a poor area of Milwaukee. Do you want A. your kid to attend the local public school, or do you want B. to chose between a variety of private schools?
If you chose A, you're either an idiot or a liar. And of course, most parents of inner city kids in Milwaukee prefer B.
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 9:06am):
Hey, you're the same guy that lied about protest warrior last week, right?
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 9:20am):
Ahh, Chris, it is amazing that we are still struggling with problems that the workers paradise of North Korea fixed long ago, isn't it?
As inconcievable as it must be to you, the 20th century has seen proof (not hope or theory or wishing) that competitive societies in which those who strive and excel are rewarded, produce THE BEST STANDARD OF LIVING FOR THE GREATEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE. You likely know this concept as utilitarianism, having seen it hijacked in the past to justify your pinko idiocies.
If you and George Soros and the Kennedy family and Maureen Dowd want to pool your resoruces and pack the Milwaukee school system to the rafters with cash, you are free to go right ahead.
For my money I'm happy to give the 20% of kids in these schools that have the tools and desire to learn what they sorely need- a way out.
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 10:30am):
Does anyone think it's ironic that the group that funded publication of the Bell Curve, which called black people inherently less intelligent than white people, also funds the Black Alliance for Educational Opportunity, the black face to a Republican wet dream of eliminating public schools? That's right, ladies and gentlemen... The Bradley Foundation is behind both! So, they hate black people normally and think they're stupid, but when it comes to using them to advance a right-wing fantasy of eliminating public schools, there's nothing like a little affirmative action!
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 10:55am):
"the Bell Curve, which called black people inherently less intelligent than white people"
Did you read the book? I haven't, but there sure are a lot of interesting comments on Amazon. The intro blurb seems to say that smarter people are getting ahead - well duh.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684824299/qid=1109263519/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-3470229-1487055?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Breaking new ground and old taboos, Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray tell the story of a society in transformation. At the top, a cognitive elite is forming in which the passkey to the best schools and the best jobs is no longer social background but high intelligence. At the bottom, the common denominator of the underclass is increasingly low intelligence rather than racial or social disadvantage.
The Bell Curve describes the state of scientific knowledge about questions that have been on people's minds for years but have been considered too sensitive to talk about openly -- among them, IQ's relationship to crime, unemployment, welfare, child neglect, poverty, and illegitimacy; ethnic differences in intelligence; trends in fertility among women of different levels of intelligence; and what policy can do -- and cannot do -- to compensate for differences in intelligence. Brilliantly argued and meticulously documented, The Bell Curve is the essential first step in coming to grips with the nation's social problems.
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 11:35am):
Yes,one of the things the bell curve said was that the evidence shows that blacks on AVERAGE are less intelligent than whites. It also broke down differences between other races and ethnic groups, but the most striking differences were between Asians and blacks and whites and blacks, even when socioeconomic status was controlled for. Actually, some of the differences widened when poorer people were compared.
The bell curve has nothing to do with school vouchers, which are just an attempt to give some people a chance at a better life and education. Face it, more money is not the answer. I have been through many MPS schools that are newer and better and have higher paid teachers than suburban schools, and yet they still lag. The reason is not because of funding, I will guarantee that.
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 12:54pm):
Anyone who has taken a high school level science class can tell you that the Bell Curve is plain and simple bad science. I, unlike the moron above, have read the book. I actually studied it for an entire semester. The theory behind the book is entirely racist (that blacks are genetically inferior to whites) and the whole study uses poor science to "prove" this theory.
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 12:58pm):
If you read the book and came away with that message then you lack basic reading skills. You attribute a motive that is simply not there, and draw conclusions based on your faulty premise. Where exactly did you come up with the "theory behind the book?" ANd can you give an example of the "poor science?" Is it poor, or do you simply disagree with it? If it is poor, some examples would be nice.
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 1:29pm):
One of the most important success factors for education is the "give a damn" factor. If the parents don't "give a damn" then the children will not do as well no matter how much money is spent. I would suspect that voucher proponents and users would score higher on the "give a damn" scale than those who send their children to school just to get them out of the house or because it's the law.
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 3:01pm):
See, Milwaukee's schools suck in great part because a bunch of well-meaning diversity hacks screwed them up with forced busing years ago. It all looked so good on paper - they thought they could just force white kids to go to black schools. Then, of course, the white parents went suburban or private.
Let's not make the same heavy-handed mistake this time around. Allow more kids to go to private schools. It is the Democrats who are preventing even MORE black kids from entering private schools, thus exasperating the segregation.
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 7:42pm):
Forced segregation is a bad thing, and I think everyone can agree on that. But ya know... maybe sometimes people just LIKE to be around people that are similar to them. It doesn't have to be whitey forcing them to go to all black schools every time. I went to a private christian high school because I wanted to be around people who believed the same things as me. Its the same thing. At least with vouchers people get to make that decision for themselves. Freedom... breath it in.
Anonymous (February 24, 2005 @ 8:03pm):
"More than 60 percent of Milwaukee's public school attendees are black, yet fewer than 5 percent of the students at Milwaukee's top three Catholic schools are black."
Of the 26.2 million blacks in the US (2002 census), only 2 million are Catholic. That is 7.6 percent. 7.6% of the 60% black population is 4.5%, so a higher percentage of blacks are going to Catholic schools than the black Catholic population. Do you expect all the non-Catholics blacks to send their kids to Catholic school? Don't cite statistics when you don't understand them.
Anonymous (March 16, 2005 @ 9:08pm):
"Hey, you're the same guy that lied about protest warrior last week, right?"
Yeah, that'd be him. Apparently his lies have spread to the administration of the school. We have reports of the sociology department of UW-Milwaukee discriminating against one of our members in the use of their public bulletin board, citing unsupported assertions that Protest Warrior advocates violence when it does no such thing. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has been informed; we'll soon see where that goes. Given FIRE's case history, I'd bet it won't be in favor of UW.
Woodrow Major
Protest Warrior, Murray State University
Rogue 9, Protest Warrior forums
Anonymous (June 9, 2005 @ 10:52am):
You apparently are uneducated in the Constitution as there is no such thing as seperation of church and state, in fact it came from a letter from the President to the baptist church in our American infantcy reminding them of just the opposite, that morals and God should never be taken out of the government. But once again, the Liberals have twisted the facts to make their desires legitamate.
You neglect to acknowledge that private and religious schools are on an averge doing a better job than the public system. You also neglected to see that many parents are fed up with what their children are learning or not learning in the public system. Sex education, condoms, alternative lifestyles are not something for a school to push or endorse, yet the mainstream has accepted this morally degradign attitude and feel not only the need but the urgency to posion our children with their un-Godly idea's.
If the voucher system was made avaiable, country wide, you would see so many public schools fight for students because parents are fed up but many do not have a financial choice, so their kids have to stay in a negativly moral situation. The public shools keep crying for more money as they remodel, build state of the art addidtions, sports facilities and the such, while grades decline, and children are passed on because people like Bill Clinton say its better to pass someone who is not achedemically deserving but the important thing is they should not feel bad about themselves.
Please put the pressure on your state legislatures to push for school vouchers so that we can change this country one child, one school, one community at a time.
Thank You
