This is election day in much of the U.S. In Utah, voters have a referendum on vouchers to take money from public schools to give to students to attend private schools. This is the first state-wide test of vouchers anywhere.
- The Polling, from William Hogarth’s series, The Election, oil on canvas, 1754; from The Tate Gallery, on loan from Sir John Sloane’s Museum, London.
I think vouchers will be voted down, but either way, I wish there were more, serious national coverage of the story in Utah. Public education has refused to back down from scurrilous and often false claims against the schools, and parents and educators have fought a gallant, fact-filled campaign against Utah’s voucher proposal. Utah voters are traditionally among the better-educated, better-informed, and better-voting people. Known as a conservative stronghold, Utah will probably vote to put this voucher program in the trash can.
The rest of the nation could benefit from knowing more about the reasons this proposal fails, if it does — or why it succeeds, if lightning strikes the way Richard Eyre prays it will.
Marchers protesting the Vietnam War in 1968 used to chant “The whole world is watching.” If only it were true today.
Vote today!
Whatever your views, go to the polls if there is an election in your town, and vote. Your vote will count, and it angers and frustrates the big money interests who hope you won’t vote, so their campaign contributions and, perhaps, outright bribes, will have more clout. Go vote.
- The County Election, oil on canvas, George Caleb Bingham, 1851; the painting belongs to the St. Louis Art Museum
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
School is the indoctrination facility society has for youth. The matter of vouchers is likely not just a matter of wanting control of that however : even if were only only for reasons of segreagating out leaders for special treatment. Follow the money! It’s another chance to fleece the population for profit.
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Didn’t “Whole world is watching” originate at the Democrat Party convention? A few months ago the chant was resurrected for a demonstration but the dissonance was extreme for me– neither the intensity nor the edge this time (certainly not the same import) almost like extreme sentimentality by those too young to know the original.
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I’m really still up in the air about the vouchers…and I have to go to the polls after work!
I can see pro’s and con’s on this issue. I think for the most part that it needs more work…it’s the right idea we just need to spend more time working it out.
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“In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. ” Mark Twain. As a former member of the board for one of the larger school systems in the country (70,000 students), I find myself wondering to what extent support for vouchers (and even charter schools) is due to disillusionment with the ability of school boards to provide competent policy leadership. Thoughts?
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[…] know about the issue I learned from Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub. Here’s his latest post: The whole world should be watching Utah, but search his site for “Utah” to get lots and lots of very good background. […]
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