Fr. Dwight Longenecker6. Private Schools Can Specialize We have, for example, a choral scholarship program. We are always on the lookout for kids with musical talent. They receive special teaching, musical training and develop their talent. But we can’t afford full scholarships. Their parents still need to be able to afford the extra expense of private education. Vouchers would help us offer this program to the underprivileged kids in our neighborhood.
7. Vouchers Build Bridges Rather than seeing private schools as competition, public schools should see them as complementary. What would happen if all the private school students suddenly transferred to public schools? The public schools would be swamped. Vouchers will help the two systems work together rather than compete. Would money be drained from public to private schools? Sure, but let the government invest further in public education if necessary.
8. Vouchers Help Diversity – Too often the state educational system is monochrome and following the state secular ideology. Vouchers would encourage wide diversity in educational methods, styles and educational philosophies. This variety would be good for education–opening up a genuine exchange of ideas and educational philosophies and exposing more students to more varied ways of learning.
9. I’m For Subsidiarity A principle of Catholic social teaching is “subsidiarity” thats the idea that initiatives and solutions should be taken at the lowest local level possible. Big government is bad government. Devolving educational choices down to the local level, church level and family level is for the common good.
10. I’m for The Family Parents are the primary educators of their children–not the government. Vouchers give parents choice about the education of their children. This helps them take responsibility for their children’s education and helps them to be more involved, and it helps to break what many see as government, ideological domination of children.
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