A Tale of Two World Views

A couple of education-related demonstrations occurred at the State Capitol in recent weeks. They represent contrasting views of not only education in Arizona, but contrasting world views, as well.

On February 10, a crowd estimated between five and eight hundred gathered on the lawn of the House of Representatives to hear musical presentations from a variety of private schools from Phoenix, Tucson, and outlying areas as they awaited a visit from Governor Jan Brewer and members of the legislature. The occasion was School Choice Day, and hundreds of well-behaved school children sported happy yellow T shirts that declared "Thank you, State Legislature." Some of the shirts were worn over "parochial school plaid" jumpers, and some of the T shirts were worn by head-covered girls from a Muslim school, who also entertained the crowd with Arabic folk songs when it was their turn to be on stage. Sitting near the stage, front and center, were yarmulka-capped boys from a Hebrew academy. Organizations supporting school choice and quality education had display tables with fun activities for the children as they waited for the governor's appearance.

Twice in January and once in March groups numbering from hundreds to, in one case, 4000, have assembled also at the state capitol to protest budget cuts to public schools in the state legislature. In one rally they wore red shirts (for blood, according to one informant) and in another they wore black, for "death" according to an ASU web site. On that same site a video of one of the events show scowling faces, and raised fists as they chant "Save Our Schools" over and over. Many of the participants are identified as teachers.

One group is being thankful that the legislature allows donors to voluntarily redirect their state income tax to school tuition scholarships (and public school extra-curricular activities). The other groups are demanding more and more funds from involuntarily conscripted taxes.

The confusion over numbers of dollars is a complicated subject that I will try to address in a future article. Just remember this: the average scholarship award from tax credit organizations is about half or less than typical private school tuition, which is almost always less (sometimes by half) of what the public schools are getting from publicly taxed funds. This means that the thankful people are paying both taxes and out-of-pocket funds for school tuition. And the ungrateful people are just paying their taxes.

I find that contrast pretty interesting, and thought you would, as well.