Why Public Schools are Unconstitutional
This is my husband's answer, for those who asked:
When opining about the unconstitutionality of public education, you can only speak of the federal constitution, as many state constitutions explicitly provide for public education. This observation should be enough to make a case against the federal role in public education under the 10th Amendment (any powers not explicitly given to the federal government by the constitution are reserved to the states or to the people (when not given to the states)).
If the framers intended the federal government to have a role in educating youth, they would have granted Congress the authority to regulate it. However, they did not and, as such, the power remained with the state governments, or more specifically, with the people to give to the state governments. Interestingly, in light of the fact education is not provided for constitutionally (federal), Congress originally had to insert an education funding mechanism into a military appropriations bill in the 1950s (or thereabouts) to scoot around their impotence to directly fund/regulate education. It is through the continued use of funding mandates that Congress “regulates” education—unconstitutionally so, I might add.
When opining about the unconstitutionality of public education, you can only speak of the federal constitution, as many state constitutions explicitly provide for public education. This observation should be enough to make a case against the federal role in public education under the 10th Amendment (any powers not explicitly given to the federal government by the constitution are reserved to the states or to the people (when not given to the states)).
If the framers intended the federal government to have a role in educating youth, they would have granted Congress the authority to regulate it. However, they did not and, as such, the power remained with the state governments, or more specifically, with the people to give to the state governments. Interestingly, in light of the fact education is not provided for constitutionally (federal), Congress originally had to insert an education funding mechanism into a military appropriations bill in the 1950s (or thereabouts) to scoot around their impotence to directly fund/regulate education. It is through the continued use of funding mandates that Congress “regulates” education—unconstitutionally so, I might add.
posted by Crystal Paine at 1:09 PM
24 Comments:
so, the solution is?
Well, this sounds like a case of it being *outside* the constitution, rather than *against* the constitution.
And, yes, I'm with Jessica. What do you see as the alternative solution?
Just thinking some more on this now....
So, what I hear you saying is that anything that we have going on today that is funded either by the federal or state governments that was not specifically provided for within the constitution is therefore unconstitutional, and therefore a bad thing. Is that right? Close?
And, as you mentioned, you are a Christian first and an America second. Seems to me that meeting the needs of the masses is inheritantly Christian. Is it not? Matthew 25. If an education provided to all who need it and cannot receive it privately is not to be done, what is? Also, because of this, I would have to also challenge your comment that public education is diametrically opposed to Christianity. Some of the methods used may be (just as some methods used in home education might be anti-Christian), but overall, I disagree with your comment. Can you support your statements?
Parents are to see to it that their children are educated by taking an active role in their education. It would make a whole lot of people more responsible for their actions instead of just relying on the government to take over where they have failed. If parents directly invested both time and money into schools of their chioce(funded by the parents or non-government organizations)or homeschooling...it would make teachers and schools more accountable...because who would choose to send their children to a school with unqualified teachers with low expectations and morals? The schools would build themselves up as to not loose students(money)thus the quality of education would be better and parents would have their rights(responsibility)back. How we get there? Start by making our children OUR priority.
Danielle
As for those who cannot afford or need help with educating their own...Christians should help by all means by donating time(experience)and money.
Just because there are poor amoung us do we lower our expectations and ideals for our own?
Danielle
Danielle,
You make some good points. I think it would be lovely to see churches developing Christian schools that are free to underprivileged children, or other ways to practically minister to those who have no better alternatives. I have never heard of this happening, although I have heard of plenty of churches developing Christian schools that their own church members send their kids to. Huh.
I wanted to add,That though there are people who need these after school programs(which churches,families, and individuals should be providing)Many times these are abused. I,for example, grew up on those breakfasts at school.My Mother thought she didn't have to get up in the morning to fix me anything then because the school offered it to us. Instead she slept in and took the money to get her nails done. Also kids would take advantage of the free meal tickets even though their parents could afford it esp. if they would stop the partying,mine included. At school I witnessed drug abuse,sexual harassment,bullying, and a serious lack of morals. The girl who changed next to me in locker room was a known lesbian. Altough I feel for these children, I will not support my children going because of all I have witnessed and have happened to me in the public school system. Parents are often very unaware of what really happens. I wouldn't call this a charity. Feel free to ask more questions.
Danielle
Well this is good to know.
I do still think that parents that place their kids in private schools and homeschoolers should still pay taxes towards education. After all, it would not be good if schools closed! Think of how the crime rates only would rise.
Also, I would NEVER put my child in a typical private school, Chrisitan or not. Around here children that get kicked out of publics schools just go to the private ones.
Okay...I'll stop adding after this unless their are questions(Ishould get my own blog, sorry Chrystal!
I taught at a church that had a private school. I was paid very little, my salary barely covered my gas and car insurance. I looked at it as a ministry. The church charged very little and was free to those in need. It had to be strict to keep order, but it worked well to help those who were overburdoned, including some single moms. The parents were required to be members of our church or another church in good standing in order to keep accountability. I think it worked out well. Although i'm now married I would love to do something like that when my babies are grown.Just my two cents.
Danielle
lol! sorry about my spelling!Thats why I taught history and math!
Danielle
lol! sorry about my spelling!Thats why I taught history and math!
Danielle
Danielle, thankyou for your comment. My sister went to a Christian school. A local church started it. The staff were paid very little and a lot of moms and dads donated time. They had excellent standards and very strict rules. However, after one of the principals left, the school started to loosen their restrictions and started accepting "problem" students who were being expelled from public schools. Very quickly the class average dropped and the Christian families pulled their kids from the school. Kids need structure to learn and they need boundaries. Needless to say the school closed. Public schools are in horrible shape which, I believe are the parents fault, not the tax payer. My parents are not rich but they payed thousands of dollars a year to send my sister to the school of choice but also had to pay the high taxes in our area for the failing public school. Our local highschool is one of the worst in the state. The teacher's answer to the problem is to build a new facility and throw money at the kids. Fortunately, we have a lot of people who don't want their taxes raised even more to support some huge mega school. It has been voted down 6 times but once again the school board is going for seven. I was homeschooled and did not have the luxury of a huge auditorium, or the latest computers. My classroom was my bedroom and old rickety desk. I went on to a very good college and became a nurse. Our class graduated number one in the state of Massachusetts in nursing. Money was not the answer to my education. It was my parent's faithfulness, discipline, support, and love. BTW, what ever happened to Bush's voucher idea? The teacher's union shoot that down?
-Zan
"I think it would be lovely to see churches developing Christian schools that are free to underprivileged children, or other ways to practically minister to those who have no better alternatives. I have never heard of this happening"
Actually historically this did happen. For instance, Geneva during the reformation under John Calvin, developed a system of schools for the purpose of Christian education, if I'm not mistaken.
Dollymama, my aunt's church (Greater Grace in Baltimore) does run such a school that is free or discounted based on income thanks to donations from church members and the volunteering of many of the staff.
Also, I'm generally for the disengagement of federal interference and funding from education; the federal gov't's habit of "policy without pay" is detrimental to many state-supported institutions.
For another example of how the federal gov't is interfering in local public education, one of my youngest brother's friends (another former homeschooler) went with my brother to register for classes at our local community college (Pima CC in Tucson), but was rejected for enrollment in classes (despite his application being acccepted earlier this summer)- their reason was that the Dept of Homeland Security had not approved him for enrollment at a public educational institution. Has anyone heard of this happening to others, particularly homeschoolers, and does anyone know why?
Danielle,
I can certainly support you not wanting to send your children to public school after your experience! Sadly, many similar bad things happened at my Christian school that I attended. I wasn't recommending public schools to anybody. Just pointing out that there doesn't seem to be many alternatives. I support making the public schools as good as possible.
I discussed this in a recent post as my own blog dollymama.blogspot.com and mentioned that I understand that sometimes the programs are used by those who do not truly need them. My point was that it takes money to regulate programs, so sometimes it is just more efficient all the way around to leave things to the parent's conscience and hope for the best. Also, I acknowledge that oftentimes there are true needs that cannot be reflected on an income statement or whatever.
All:
It is encouraging to hear about some schools that do offer Christian education to those who would not normally be able to afford it. I wish there were more! Unfortunately, it seems that there is a lot of kind of snobby sentiment out there that says, "Everybody pull out of public schools! Let them all just sink or swim!" It's hard for me to imagine that this is the choice Jesus would want us to make.
I know that there are public schools that are really going down the tubes. I guess I am just really blessed, because this is not what I am seeing in my area.
I wish that Dollymamma would explain how Matthew 25 applies in context to the idea of greater education. Also, let's not remember that while the church does have duties to its members and in some specified ways to those outside the church, that there is no authority in Scripture for a church to fund, plan, or operate a secular school. This is outside the realm of the church's duties. It is not the church's responsibility to oversee the education of children in America - we have much greater tasks to heed to! Please keep in mind that while some things may "sound good" or even work well - if it is outside of God's plan for the church then it is not an acceptable solution!
My point in bringing up Matthew 25 is that when we see needs we are supposed to meet them. It doesn't even say that we are supposed to do it along with handing out tracts, singing hymns, or presenting the gospel to anybody.
In the specific case of Matthew 25 it addresses basic needs like clothing, food, water. Jesus says that the way we treat those that are so needy as to not have these things, is the way we are treating Him. I do not think that Jesus is talking about only treating other Christians this way. It's for those that have needs.
I am not saying that it is the church's job to run secular schools. I am pointing out that the people who seem most likely to complain about public schools, seem to think that everybody can just stop using public schools and instead homeschool. The sentiment seems to be that if you can't do things The Right Way (AKA the way the homeschool person does them) then too bad for you. And then No Credible Solution is offered.
Turning our backs on those in need is wrong, as far as I can see from Jesus' words in Matthew 25.
Is our society out of step with God? Yes! Is it parent's responsibility to take care of their children? Yes! Can we fix it all by just shrugging our shoulders and telling everybody they are doing it all wrong? No! We have a situation here that is not so good. What we need is actual workable solutions. Throwing in some compassion would be a plus, too.
It's so simple-Daddy goes to work, Mommy stays home and Teaches her children as she does her day to day chores (life), school is not necessarily sitting in a chair reading for eight hours, the Bible says to teach your children in everything we do-that is education. The only reason Home Ec is in public schools is because it is trying to replace what Mommy should have taught at home. And if women were not in the work place we would not have to worry about men being seducted, seduced, families separating. It is a simple umbrella of protection, God, Husband, Wife, and then the children, if everyone stays under their umbrella then they are out of Satan's way. Ofcourse every situation cannot be like this because of sin but God DID have a perfect plan.
I agree that it is not the responsibility of the Federal Government to fund or sponsor education per Amendment X of the Constitution. So this is definitely a state and local government, not a federal issue.
As to the state of the schools in the United States, we have seen as almost a universal constant that children that have parents involved in their education, in both private and public education will be more likely to succeed. However in the schools that constantly fail we see a constant mantra to throw more money into the schools, that is always the government establishment answer, more money. I have heard that some school districts spend upwards of 10,000.00 dollars per student per year. I know that if that money was availible to a parent to put their child in a private school they would spend half per student per year. Unfortunately there is never enough money to replace proper and good parenting.
As to the quality of education, I think that there is an abhorrence in school boards and teachers unions to review quality and to introduce competition, say in the form of school vouchers. Teachers unions, by and large, are interested in two things; protecting their monopoly and teaching an openly liberal agenda.
So where does this leave many of the children of America? Stuck in the middle, between uncaring and/or uninterested parents and a liberal, monopolistic Public Education system that is interested in preservation of the status quo, and teaching to the least common denominator.
Real change will only come in two forms; the change of peoples hearts and the availibility of education alternatives to everyone.
Just one question for you Crystal ... and this in not related to this post:
Is that position you said you needed taken yet? I don't wanna apply if it's already been taken. Can we have an update on that please?
I think it is taken. I had a lot of interest and am praying about which person is the right "fit." Email me if you are interested, I may have more than one slot to fill, depending on how much marketing I decide to do.
Ah,yes, the umbrella of protection. Well, it is a great idea. But, as I keep saying--what about all the people in America for whom this ideal will never be reality? Is it ok for us to just say, "Well, God had a perfect plan. Too bad for you that you can't live it."?
It is NOT simple. It is nearly impossible for families to live on one income and home educate as you suggest. We do it, and my husband has a decent job, and I am frugal, and we do not live in an expensive area, we do not use credit cards or drive new vehicles, and yet we are always teetering on the edge of financial disaster, because it's just not really enough money to do *well* on.
Do you all think that Jesus was exclusively educated at home?
Joshua,
I think you make some very good points. I would definitely be in favor of school choice, vouchers, and so forth. I think there are plenty of places that need that "kick in the butt" to improve. Sadly, I think some places would not be able to improve under a system like that, and at-risk children would be the ones stuck in an even worse situation. I wonder if that is one of the big hold-ups for something like this not going through. What about the children who get left behind?
Joshua, it was a pleasure reading your comment. Thankyou.
-Zan
I am personaly in favor of a complete seperation of school and state.
And in favor of Private or home schooling.
Reasons are as follows...Taxes and burocracy.
I would like to see us move back to traditional schools. wherein the first school was in a church and the bible was used as a moral guide.
I believe in limited government or constitutional republic.
One can argue that public schools are constitutional or unconstitutional. Personaly I believe even on a state level it would be unconstitutional.
View it as a form of welfare.
I went to public schools untill 12th grade. I have learned more on my own then i ever have in public schooling.
I would like to see a movement for seperation of school and state.
more control over cost and education and out of the hands of burocrats.
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