Re.: Vouchers--(and another)one more thing...

[Chris Brady <cdbrady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Curiously, at the same moment as the conservatives (and Jose) perpetrate
and institute the voucher scam at the federal level there has been a
concurrent slashing of state budgets for education across the land.  As
so often in American history, the issue of responsibility is obscured by
political actors? portrayals of  impotence in the face of the division
of powers.  We are now presented with the surreal apparition of the
?compassionate conservative? or perhaps a more apt (if just as absurd)
description would be the ?bleedingheart capitalists.?

But this grotesque scene also offers opportunities for incisive Marxists
in the struggle for public services.  Always terms of discourse should
be confronted so the meanings and realities described are not
appropriated by the opposition, and because it stimulates attention to
higher levels of thinking and critical praxis.  The wonderful opening
offered by the voucher debate is the chance to reveal the dynamics of
class.

First examine the ostensible motivation for conservatives? ardor for the
voucher solution: fairness and concern for the poor.  There are also
links to religious freedom (ironically), and parental authority (when
they talk of ?the family? we know what they mean [another topic for
critique]), but fairness and concern for the poor are the most familiar
and oft-stated arguments for vouchers, or ?school choice.?  Of course,
for us as Marxists, such avowals beg the question: can this
socioeconomic system really provide genuine, general fairness, and
salvation of the poor?  It is ludicrous to even consider.  This should
be noted.

It should also be noted that vouchers are a ploy to distract attention
from the facts of further class polarization.  Put simply, the rich are
still getting richer and the poor poorer.  A little more realistically,
capitalists are profiting (as they should and must in the capitalist
system), and the working classes further immiserated.  This contradicts
fairness and helping the poor.  Even if vouchers were tossed around like
chump change for the masses to dive after, the conditions of life for
students would remain the same.  There would still be a shortage of
textbooks, supplies, and qualified and motivated teachers.  There would
still be an alienation of students from an education in and for the
capitalist system.  We would still have (cost-efficient) huge,
impersonal school buildings with pro-patriotic curricula and managerial
operational prerogatives.  We would still have limited democratic
involvement at any level.  All these factors must be addressed, and all
of them can be resolved better under a system that privileges people
over profits.

In the western states, property taxes that support school expenditures
have been cut?to the great benefit of those who own the most property.
However some folks were pulled along by the beguilements of a couple of
hundred extra dollars a year.  This is how vouchers are panning out: the
mass of gold will go to the privateers with some crumbs for a few more
in the middling classes.  And still the rest of us will be stuck with
the problem:
How are school vouchers supposed to ameliorate the funding crisis?
There is no money for schools?  Why not?  Hey, we know the money is
there.  Where?  The rich have been getting richer.  How do we get it?
Who runs this show?  --Of, By, and For whom? The rich?  TAX THE RICH!
It is a slogan but it puts it in a nutshell.  And makes us discuss what
wealth is and means.

All the voucher battle really does is distract us from the real issues.
If we want schools that serve our interests as parents and children, and
benefit us as people, we are eventually going to have to realize that
schools need to be socialized in a socialized economy.  That is our
school choice.

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