Vouchers and Values

* Re school vouchers: It is impossible for a democratic government to properly run schools. As a parent, I insist that teachers base their instruction around values that I find important. As a citizen, I insist that my government take no position on questions of values. Governmental value-neutrality is the essence of freedom of speech and of religion. The government must not tell its citizens what to think, but that is a teacher’s primary function.

The results of the conflict are manifest: unresolvable debates over evolution, prayer, sex education, discipline, testing, educational standards, integration of sexes, etc. Public schools cannot operate in ways that promote the values of all of the parents. A voucher system is the only solution consistent with society’s interest in a universally educated populace.

T. DAVID ESTES

San Clemente