Why School Vouchers?

When the public schools in our country were first proposed, it was said that this should be done so no American child would be without an education. The new country needed educated people to insure its success and growth. At the time, the only real education was for those who could afford it, and most were sent overseas because what few schools we had were insufficient.

People like Jefferson argued for American schools because he felt that the American children educated abroad were indoctrinated against the idea of democracy and they would return only to undermine what we were building here in the form of what is now the greatest nation on the planet.

Educators were hard to find though and many of the best came from religious institutions. As this country was formed with religious principles, (never intending to separate Church and State, but instead prevent government from establishing a national religion,) and most state constitutions required a representative to be of good moral character, (meaning a member of a church in good standing,) many of the schools were run by the various denominations, and supported with monies collected from the citizens for such purposes.

Today in many states, taxpayer monies are given in the form of vouchers for religious based private schooling. This includes Michigan where taxpayers are actually paying for a charter school run by Muslims, and specifically for Muslim students. The school even includes a Mosque where the students are required to worship several times each day.

In San Diego, taxpayers pay for Muslim students to worship and be taught by Islamic teachers right in the public schools while at the same time Christian observances are prohibited. Taxpayers are even paying for prayer rugs and Korans, yet Bibles are against the law!
(I believe an argument can be made that this constitutes an establishment of a government sponsored religion and thereby unconstitutional.)

Our taxes are taken from us and we have no choice but to pay them even if we have no children in the public school system. We are not even given much say in how our monies are spent. This is about as close to taxation without representation as we can get without actually crossing the lines. I would actually like to see a case brought before the Supreme Courts.

As a free American, I have no problem requiring our children to obtain a good education. This is for the benefit of the children and the country as a whole.

But as to how this is done should be my choice as a parent. I should be able to direct the monies taken from me for this purpose so my children can be educated the way I want them educated. If this means private school or even home schooling, it should be my choice and my money should be used toward this end.