In a perfect world vouchers might be a solution for our country but they have one major drawback. Children from low-income neighborhoods will simply not go out of their areas to take advantage of private schools (who seem to only build in the more affluent places). Vouchers generally handle tuition but not transportation costs - a big benefit to parents that have unreliable vehicles or rely on public transportation.

So your voucher system seems to only benefit the exact children that don't need the vouchers in the first place. How convenient.

No Scott, what I want is to put the schools back in the hands of people dedicated to education much as it was when I was a child in public institutions. I also want those teachers supported by public opinion and able to administer discipline to the students they're in charge of without fear of bullying parents storming in and demanding they be fired for hurting the feelings of their little spoiled brat. I'd like morons to stop disparaging people that devote their lives to the betterment of society and give up the trappings of the advanced degrees required of them.

I'd like an education system that stressed music and art again giving children a chance to enhance their creative side and offering an incentive for success for youth that might not excel at math and reading.

Private schools have their place in society but successful ones have existed and flourished for years without public funding. Why you suddenly see the need now to give them a government entitlement that challenges the very definition of free enterprise simply baffles me. Just as the separation of church and state is as much a protection of churches from the control of government as it protects the citizens from the power of church abuses, so does the concept of keeping private learning institutions private and free from government intervention protect those businesses.

No Scott, I suspect your choice here has nothing to do with your concerns about educating our children but instead you desire to advance your narrow view of the world. You know that an open public education is an impediment towards imposing your ideals on blossoming minds. My guess is also that your internal definition of private schools slants towards some religious theme.

I'm so happy your children will be going to elite private schools and kept away from my boys.

Art