Thoughts from
San Diego on Law, Politics, and Culture

 
Are state schools a good idea?
By Tom Smith

The most interesting thing about this editorial is that it appears at all in the MSM.

I'm not sure I have a coherent position on this one. It does seem likely to me that the benefits of a voucher system would far outweigh the costs. But here in California, even reducing pre-tenure years for public school teachers from 5 to 2 is controversial. Merit pay raises more eyebrows than sodomy. So vouchers may be a pipe dream, anyway.

I also think that some pretty unreasonable people are driving this debate. It's perfectly reasonable for parents not to want their 6 year olds to be exposed to official indoctrination about homosexuality. At the same time, it's nuts to think that biology or geology should be taught in a manner consistent with the proposition that the earth is 10,000 years old. Way too much of this debate is driven by rights talk, and excessive concern for ideological minorities. I mean, if you can't stand bible-thumping Christianity, maybe you should consider moving away from Cowpie. Similarly, maybe you should consider that whatever saying God just dropped the comet in mid-orbit is, it ain't astronomy. My kids go to a Catholic school and still get exposed to all kinds of rubbish, such as that the ultimate ethical act is recycling. In fact, most recycling is an utter waste of time and money. Here's what you do. You sit your cute little beggar down on your knee, and you say, "Son, recycling is bullshit. But remember to be polite to your teacher." Most indoctrination problems can be taken care of this way. You want to teach them to be pretty questioning, skeptical sorts, anyway, lest they become Howard Dean supporters. But if you really want your kids to reject a large part of modern science, I think it is a lot to ask that the public schools help you.
posted by thomas at 6/24/2005 11:29:00 AM