| FREETHOUGHT BOOKSHELF: BOOK REVIEWS |
| [click on the title or cover art to order] |
The Case Against School Vouchers by Edd Doerr, Albert J. Menendez, John M. Swomleypublished by Prometheus Books |
 |
|
The debate over whether public funds should be used to support nonpublic education has raged for more than a century. In the 1990s, the controversy centers on elementary and secondary school tuition vouchers, sometimes called "scholarships" that feature numerous plans with varying levels of aid. Each involves public funds being spent for nonpublic, often religion based education. Voucher advocates claim that it's only fair to include nonpublic schooling in public funding for elementary and secondary education, that vouchers will promote diversity, and that school "choice" will improve the quality and effectiveness of education. The Case Against School Vouchers confronts these claims head-on to help lawmakers, opinion leaders, and the public understand that vouchers not only drive up school taxes but threaten an already overburdened economy, religious freedom, the democratic structure of American education, community interfaith harmony, and the very core of American values. Religious bodies have the right to operate private schools and parents should be free to patronize them. But should government to be a party to a religious mission, should it support the selectivity rampant in nonpublic schools, and should taxpayers be forced to support religious institutions? The Case Against School Vouchers offers compelling arguments for just saying no to vouchers. Edd Doerr is the executive director of Americans for Religious Liberty and the author of Church Schools And Public Money and Religious Liberty And State Constitutions. Albert J. Menendez has served as a consultant to ABC and NBC news, and is the author of The Perot Voters & The Future Of American Politics, Evangelicals At The Ballot Box, The December Wars, and Church And State In Canada. John M. Swomley, president of Americans for Religious Liberty, is Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics at the St. Paul School of Technology and the author of eight other books. | |
| BUY YOUR BOOKS HERE AND THE ATHEIST ALLIANCE BENEFITS |