School Vouchers and Creationism

Let me start by saying that I have long supported vouchers.  I believe in school choice, for a variety of reasons that aren’t relevant here.  I am also one of the many Louisianans that are embarrassed by the State’s obsession with Creationism (by whatever name).  It is only slightly less humiliating than the 1925 Tennessee prosecution of John Thomas Scopes for teaching evolution in the infamous “Monkey Trial.”  Notwithstanding my quasi-religious upbringing and church-affiliated high school education, I can’t for the life of me understand how anyone can seriously dispute evolution. 

So what do I do (intellectually) when these two strongly-held beliefs collide, as they have now apparently done in Louisiana’s new voucher program for students in failing schools?  According to The Advocate’s article, a number of the schools which will enroll these fleeing students are taking the extreme position – not that Creationism is an alternative theory, but that it is the ONLY theory.  

I am no expert on the teaching of Creationism, and I’m frankly skeptical (as I’ve said before) of The Advocate’s ability to present a balanced view of an issue.  Nevertheless, the article quotes one school’s course description as saying that “the learner will be expected to defend creationism through evidence presented by the Bible versus traditional scientific theory.”  Somehow, for me at least, this crosses the line.  This really amounts to an attack on the scientific method itself.

Many will say that parents should have the right to chose what their children learn.  Okay, I think I can agree with that in theory.  But what should a society do, if anything, about parents who insist on handicapping their children by imposing ideas that render them functionally illiterate in a key area of their lives.  Imagine parents who think that the multiplication tables are invalid, and therefore insist that their children not learn them.  

Other random thoughts on this issue come to mind.  For example:

• Are the un-scientific beliefs of the parents who select these schools a small price to pay for children raised with all of the advantages of a (presumably) deeply moral and committed family? 
• Are these children not still better off than those learning evolution in a failed public school?
• Is this really just an issue trumped up by voucher opponents who are desperate to discredit the system? 
• I really don’t believe that this is an issue of separation of church and state.  Remember that taxpayers have been paying for parochial school bus service for decades.
• Opponents of evolution will sometimes retort that since I personally can’t prove it, my belief in science is as much an act of faith as believing in Creationism.  This, of course, is just a tactic.  I can’t personally prove that matter is made of molecules, but I understand that others have proved it. 

I long ago stopped believing that my views are unique.  Frankly, I think that I’m probably just an example of a great many Reagan-era conservatives who believe in small government, lower taxes, strong defense, and personal liberty.  We “Reaganites” are, I suspect, mostly appalled by this philosophical dilemma – what happens when privatization (because that’s what vouchers are and should be) drifts into fanaticism?  According to the article, Superintendent of Education John White said that “if students are failing the [LEAP] test, we’re going to intervene, and the test measures evolution.” Ironically, I suppose I’ll have to trust in government to curb the extreme.  On balance, I guess I still think that vouchers are worth the risk, but my excitement over the new system has cooled appreciably.