A recent Burlington Free Press editorial suggested that including independent schools in choice options goes “against the very idea of public education.” But in 1925, the United States Supreme Court held that “the fundamental liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the state to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only.”
The Founders espoused the need for an educated citizenry, but did not imagine a bureaucratic system to serve a nation built on individual liberty.
The Brigham case pointed out that while the Vermont Constitution requires a town to have a school for its youth, it does not specify a formula for funding the school. Creating a publically funded educational system by providing equal funds to each family in Vermont for the education of their children would more fully coincide with American beliefs and the legendary Vermont commitment to independence of thought and action. The current public system increasingly reflects the policies of political parties and labor entities. The very system on which we depend to develop citizens who understand self-governance is not self-governed and does not provide a model for such.
The Free Press concludes that school choice that extends to independent, self-governing schools “works against the interest of Vermonters.” I disagree and offer the following idea posed by Professor Stephen Arons, Legal Studies Professor at UMass Amherst, at a 1999 forum in Vermont on the issue of democracy and school choice.
“Freedom of choice has always been the foundation of strength and unity in a nation whose governments rule by the just consent of the governed. For us, equality and liberty are mutually dependent . . . equality of school choice is essential to the preservation of democratic self-government, not antithetical to it.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think it's strange that Vermonters would think like that - we're one of the more progressive states and challenging the idea of independent schools seems counter intuitive to the Vermont way of life. I feel like Vermonters would be more supportive of something like this - at least a true Vermonter would.
ReplyDelete