Undermining America's Cornerstone.

As the son of a political refugee and the head of a national consortium of public schools, I have watched this past year's debate over education vouchers with considerable interest. The defeat of proposals such as Initiative 173 in Washington state is good news for those of us in public education, but we cannot afford to be complacent.

While state after state has seen voucher resolutions introduced, we in public education sing about the virtues of our schools. In this chorus, however, one crucial voice is either missing or downplayed: the importance of public schools as cornerstones of democracy.

As the voucher debate rages, we sometimes forget that our strongest case is not test scores or student performance but a moral argument that comes from the very heart of our democratic society. As voucher advocates continue to gear up their initiatives, we need to speak more loudly and passionately about the link between democracy and public education.

We must emphasize the three essential missions our schools perform: educate every child; serve as an information source for every citizen; and prepare all children to participate in society. Even more importantly, we must stress that in carrying out these tasks our schools must listen to every voice and answer all critics, using the democratic process.

Universal Service

Democracy rests on well-informed citizens. If we write off any child, we write off America. That is why our schools are charged with meeting the needs of rich and poor, high and low IQ exemplary and incorrigible. This must be done so it respects each child, yet also meets community objectives. Educators must identify and teach to a variety of learning styles while creating consensus about what should be taught and how to teach it.

It is no accident that many public schools have the words "educate every student" in their mission statements or that they have adopted a strategy of inclusiveness to carry it out. Schools do not always do this perfectly, but they remain the only American institution uniquely responsible for overcoming our chasms of diversity by building bridges of knowledge.

Non-public schools turn this principle upside down. Instead of building bridges, they dig moats. They do not aggressively recruit the students with discipline problems that plague the public system because no one requires them to. They have easy decisions. If students require special services, non-public schools can refuse to provide them, charge more, or deny these students admission.

Future Citizenry 

Besides educating all students, our schools have a crucial second mission. They are the only American institution that must provide open and unbiased access to information and training in how to access it. For students to become active citizens in a digital democracy, they will have a crucial need for such "infosections" on the Information Highways of the future. If non-public schools, corporations, or others usurp this function, the next generation may be thumbing for rides or using unreliable vehicles.

The third important role public education performs that vouchers would undermine is to prepare all children to be functioning citizens. Because they are inclusive, only public school classrooms can truly teach children their first lessons in how to function in a larger community by communicating, compromising, and collaborating. Studies such as the Secretary's Commission on Necessary Skills, or SCANS, report tell us that students will need to cope with sudden career shifts, comprehend increasing amounts of new information, and master rapidly changing technology in a diverse world with instantaneous communication.

To function in the future, students will not only need the ability to get along with those who are different, but also learn to understand the interconnectedness of ideas and institutions. They will need to do this using many lenses. They will need an objective understanding of how each lens colors what they see.

Non-public schools can use a distorted lens of orthodoxy without having to answer to anyone. If they wish to teach creationism or that the world is flat, no one can shut their doors or fire their teachers.

Convenient Answer

Those of us in public: education must understand that as we strive to meet the demands of the next century, nothing less than the shape of American society is at stake. By substituting a consumerist attitude toward democracy for the hard job of maintaining our institutions, vouchers offer a convenient solution: don't fix it, just toss it.

Voucher advocates are fond of the word "choice," but their choice would produce Bosnia-like enclaves of income, race, ability level-ethnic cleansing by statute rather than by bayonet. This is what my father came to America to avoid. He fled Nazi Germany ahead of a death sentence that came for my grandfather for speaking out against intolerance, ignorance, and indifference.

The framers of the Constitution noted that American democracy is an imperfect system, but it is the best system we have. We could say the same for public education. To fragment the role of our schools--as vouchers surely would--is to profoundly misunderstand our past and sabotage our future.

The debate over vouchers offers a sobering lesson: if we allow legislation to take the public out of schools, we take the public Out of America.