Education Views of Bush, Clinton

I am disturbed that no one has stepped forward to challenge President Bush’s dangerous distortion when he claims that the proposed school voucher system will give parents the right to choose their children’s schools.

The principle involved is simple: everyone in the United States is entitled to a decent public education. Those parents who can afford to are free to send their children to private schools, but this choice does not release them from their obligation to support public schools through their taxes. The President implies that we pay taxes only to educate our own kids, not everyone else’s; but it’s obviously in everyone’s interest that we have an educated, employable populace. What we don’t spend on education we’ll be forced to spend 10 times over on crime, welfare, and a crippled, non-competitive economy. Not only is it obvious, it’s a fundamental principle of democracy.

If parents across America, whether rich or poor, no longer understand why they should pay their share to provide decent public education for all, then we are forgetting what it means to be Americans.

BILL ELLIOTT

Pacific Palisades