PaAC: I've had an idea.

[velvetpage]

I was discussing the homeschooling debate with my dad just now, over steeped tea and donuts at Timmy's, and he pointed out that Canadians who want a religious education have an alternative to secular public schools, in the form of the Catholic school board. (At least, they do in most provinces.) We discussed alternative schools within the boards of education, and I had an idea.

It is quite common now for school boards to offer alternative or magnet programs within the public school framework. That is, a school will be geared towards high-level athletes, or towards the arts, or towards science. These schools are generally opt-in; that is, there is no real catchment area other than living within the confines of the school board itself, so no one is forced to attend these schools because of what street they live on.

Why not offer a magnet school for mainstream Protestant education? That is, an opt-in school, under the public umbrella, that gives kids the religious education they would otherwise be homeschooling or charter schooling to obtain. It would be staffed by teachers within the school board who followed the same creed, and those teachers would have all the same employment standards as their counterparts in the rest of the public board. The one and only difference would be the Christian focus.

In some areas, particularly the Bible Belt, you'd probably end up with two separate systems under one umbrella. That would be fine, as long as the public, secular schools continued to operate and were reasonably located to service the population who attended them. It would give parents and students a choice within the public system, so it would no longer be necessary to go outside the public system to get a religious education. The key here is that it has to be opt-in. So long as students and parents have a choice, it doesn't violate any rights. It's only when that choice is denied that there is a violation.

Thoughts?

Comments

[melstra.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Gotta say that while that sounds good in theory, I generally agree with paka and stress_kitten on this one. I wouldn't mind protestant-based education for my child...but then again, even that is a broad brush and who's to say what flavor of protestantism it is? Down here in the Bible Belt, I can guarantee it wouldn't be MY brand of liberal protestantism. And then of course, there's the great head of "separation of church and state" to contend with. Magnet schools for arts or sciences are marginally tolerated here (I think they're a good idea, but I'm sure there are some who find them unfair) because they're seen as promoting important skills. Religion, on the other hand, even in its broadest sense, is only taught at a handful of US public schools (and we're talking comparative religion/philosophy, not specific doctrine), so there would definitely be a cry about the idea of advocating religion in the public schools-- opt-in or not.

Furthermore,say people agree. Only people who opt-in are in this new school. The old school continues. All are happy. Then the religious school starts to do REALLY well. Kids are getting great grades, the school is raised up as a beacon of good education, etc. Someone is now going to cry foul because suddenly the education at schools x and y is no longer equal.

You get the general idea. In the US, the proposed solution to this problem is to provide vouchers to parents which would subsidize school choice--even for religious schools. It's one of those campaign platforms that come and go. I myself am not sure about the idea, because I tend to see school choice as a difficult issue. I think that we should try to improve ALL schools, not just flee the bad ones like a rat from a sinking ship. However, at least vouchers help parents who can't afford private schools to have a few more options for their children.

Ok, I've blathered enough. ;)

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Upon reflection, I think I agree that it wouldn't fly in the States. I'm not convinced, though, that it couldn't fly in Canada, as an alternative to the dual system we have right now in Ontario where Catholic schools are funded but other faiths are not. I know several families that send their kids to the Catholic schools, on the grounds that they can't afford the Protestant private school and the Catholic school is closer to what they want than the public school is.