Oh man, the pledge of allegiance and vouchers, I don't know where to start.

The Pledge: Forcing children to recite religious phrases in a school that they are by law forced to attend (unless they can afford otherwise... we'll get to that) should not be allowed. Allowing children to say it? Sure. By force or coercion? Nope. The pledge of allegiance is about the country, not about god.

Vouchers: I've been to both public and private schools, so I know the difference. I've visited downtown oakland schools with one white kid in a class of 30. I spent middle school in a class with 20 odd white kids and one black kid. (This is the reason I love Token on south park...). The fact that amazes me the most is that private schools charge LESS tutition than public schools get per student. There are very few people in private schools for whom the tutiton isn't some sort of hardship, yet their parents make the choice that it's worth it. There are some for whom $12,000 doesn't seem like much, but those are few and far between.

Public schools are a mess of beauracracy, and letting kids who can't afford private schools attend private schools seems fine with me. Perhaps a few of us spoiled rich kids would get the discount too, but we do pay the taxes that go into supporting schools, right?

Matthew