Idol could be heard outside the theater yelling something related to his "not being a professional actor." Duh! Of course, all of this comes one year after Idol was arrested on stage in Chicago for attacking the show's playwright.

So anyway, those poor actors came out on stage and gave their final bow, tickets for the remaining performances were refunded, and all of us got to file past the scene outside the theater with Idol, the director of the show and five police officers.

Steven
Port Orange, Florida

School Voucher Systems

I find the voucher system objectionable…because of tax money being diverted to religion. Sorry. Religion is a private endeavor, not one in which the government needs to nor should become involved with. (If you want to fix the public school system, drop the goddamned property taxes and start funding them with state-wide taxes that apply across the board, go towards a central pool, and are distributed proportionately. The property-tax system is the bane of an equal and fair public school system…

Quick run down on public school funding. The vast bulk of funding comes from property taxes. The more expensive the real estate in a certain school district, the more money goes towards that school. If you live in a moderately affluent suburb, anywhere from the half-acre lots worth about $150,000 to the postage stamp lots on the side of a golf course worth around $250,000, you've got some very expensive real estate, and a relatively low number of students.

People live in the suburbs because they're tired of urban life, and those who can afford to do so move away. So who remains stuck in the cities? The poor.

The inner-city has very poor real estate, and thus the revenue generated from them is minimal. Yet at the same time, you also have a much higher concentration of students within a smaller area. The result? Less money and more students. That is why some areas have only "bad" schools.

That is the reason why a voucher system will fail in forcing public schools to get their act together. Those schools -want- to be better, but they quite simply don't have the resources. You can't squeeze blood from a turnip, it just isn't going to happen.

And it isn't about being anti-religion. I happen to be very pro-religion. But one of the things we're -SUPPOSED- to be so proud of in the US is the diversity of our ethnic, racial, and religious composition. Religiously affiliated schools all too often do not appreciate that diversity and stress conformity, an idea to which I most strenuously object.

Religion is a very personal matter, it is about an inner connection to a greater or more universal power, however that power is defined. Yet, given the choice between a school that is literally falling apart, has rain water falling through holes in the ceiling and chips of cement cracked away in the halls from gunfire and a religiously affiliated school which is voucher supported, and sane parent will choose the religious school. And that's a problem. Not because they're doing what's best for their child's education, but because the public school system has failed them.

The voucher system is a quick-fix idea dreamed up by the politicos in our capitals and nothing more. It's a lot easier to create some mysterious slip of paper that will solve everything than to restructure a broken and fucked up tax plan because the constituents will freak when they hear the word "taxes".

Carl

Australia's School Voucher System

In Australia we have, apparently, the highest ratio of students in private schools of any country in the western world - around 30%. The reason is simple. About 35 years ago governments realised that it was cheaper to subsidize private schools (especially poor Catholic parochial ones) than to have those students end up in the state school system where the state would have to pay the whole cost of their education.

Over time, however, subsidies have achieved what they always do. The proportion of private school expenses borne by the state has grown steadily, while fees for most schools have proportionately gone down. The number of private schools has mushroomed. Now every sect and fundamentalist group is busy opening its tinpot little schools all over the country, with the blessing of the Federal and State Governments.

Frankly, it's not something you should try to emulate in the US. Over time this rapid growth of sectarian schools is going to cause great harm to the fabric of society. Instead of having the vast majority of students learning to live with their neighbours in a state school because all students have to go to them, students are now growing up in educational ghettos where they never get to meet students of different backgrounds. All the Greek Orthodox are over here, not mixing with all the Jews in that corner, who never talk to the Muslims over there or the Catholics down the street.

Vouchers have now been proposed as an alternative to government subsidies, for both schools and universities. They're still very controversial, and are unlikely to come in for the time being.

Ozzie in Australia