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The Voucher Quandary

Editorial Board Commentary: There has been debate about the pros and cons of school vouchers across the country for many years, and now that the often-discussed constitutionality issue has (at least temporarily) been resolved, it is likely that vouchers will expand beyond the three main areas that currently use them--Cleveland, Milwaukee, and a few districts in Florida. The question that still remains is whether this concept is the best solution to the problems we face within the current system. While we would love it if there was a magic button we could push to solve these difficulties, the fact remains that there is no easy answer, and at most, vouchers should only be a part of the education reform plan. After all, there will always be kids whose parents decide not to go to the trouble of participating in a voucher program (and so will end up in public schools) and because private schools are not required to accept all students, it's likely that more "difficult" students will not have the option of attending private schools. The point is that despite the inevitably large downsizing that will happen if lots of students switch to private schools, public schools will not entirely disappear, and that means that we must continue to improve and reform public schools. At this point, we're open to almost any reasonable proposal to improve education, so we do give some support to the voucher system. But just remember that we can't forget about the students stuck in the public schools.--Vinny's Education Coalition Editorial Board

Drug Testing: Great if You Don't Care About Effectiveness

Editorial Board Commentary: The idea of drug testing students who participate in extracurricular activities is ridiculous for many reasons. First of all, participation in extracurricular activities decreases the likelihood that a person will use drugs regardless of whether they are drug tested before participating in these activities. The fact is that most drug use occurs among students who spend a lot of time in unsupervised settings, and studies say that this mischief occurs most often between 3 and 6pm, right after school, but before parents get home from work. It just so happens that afterschool activities generally occur during those exact same hours, meaning these students would not be out in the community to participate in sex, drug use and crime. This is the reason we advocate for the expansion of afterschool activities because of their proven effectiveness at reducing crime. But if we choose to drug test students, we may have to reduce these beneficial afterschool activities because of a prohibitively high cost. According to the San Jose Mercury News, it costs $60 to test each student once. Where is that money supposed to come from? Unless some administrator wants to pay for this with their own money, we should just not fund it. In conclusion, while we don't support drug use, we don't feel that this combats drug use, instead, we find it to be a waste of money which could be better spent elsewhere. Devil's Advocate: You could probably get a more effective result by testing everybody in a school - and that could probably pass constitutional muster, too. After all, we already require injections into students (shots) before they're allowed to attend classes. What's the difference between that and drawing blood? But of course, that would also waste lots of money. How about testing students only when you have probable cause? After all, there are some students in schools who you can tell by looking at them that they've been doing drugs. Help them and leave other people alone.--Vinny's Education Coalition Editorial Board

Ban of Pledge of Allegiance Not Likely to Have Much Effect

Editorial Board Commentary: Technically, this ban might be constitutional. But in practice, the pledge will not cease in the nation's classrooms. This is because the majority of the people appear to support this pledge. And on a rather small issue like this, majority will win out, period. The Supreme Court will definately overturn the ruling if it gets to them. Congress made a big show of their support for the pledge. In summary, regardless of your view on this, everyone who is paying attention knows that this ruling will ultimately be ineffectual and has served mainly as fodder for talk radio hosts. But since the case is all but over anyway, let's move on to something else. Believe us, there are way bigger problems.--Vinny's Education Coalition Editorial Board

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