Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 79F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..
Tonight
Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
When I first saw a recent op-ed on the Hope Scholarship and textbooks, I was expecting an anti-Christian rant by someone who had little understanding of the issues. In fact, the op-ed was well written and appropriately researched.
After learning that some schools whose families receive a Hope Scholarship use textbooks from Bob Jones University, the author makes the case that those dollars shouldn’t cover education using textbooks from such a staunchly fundamentalist institution.
I am compelled to respond by challenging the basic underlying assumption that tax money belongs to the government. Actually, it belongs to the people. Therefore, it is entirely appropriate for some of the money to be used to serve a large portion of the population who seek educational choices different from the ones provided by the government. Parents of those using voucher programs are merely saying, “please allocate a portion of the money you would have spent on my child to me so that I might pursue an alternative.”
Certainly, some of the examples the author uncovered as to questionable requests for Hope dollars to cover (from trips to Disney World to chicken pluckers to Hulu subscriptions) are disheartening. And I concur that public schools must scrupulously avoid promoting one religion over another. If you check, you will find the school discussed in the op-ed, Bible Center, is accredited, the faculty members are credentialed and the students excel.
Outcomes are more important than processes. If a student has gained the tools to continue learning, how to think critically, how to develop a meaningful world view and how to be a valuable member of society, the issue of which textbooks are used becomes much less important.
