Schools take kids to voucher rally

I saw a story about how schoolchildren on the East Coast are being made to sing the praises of political causes that their schools support.

This saga is unfolding in Washington, D.C., where several schools took kids to a rally to support vouchers for private schools.

The gathering took place outside the Capitol and featured a host of right-wing luminaries such as Bush's Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. This comes as Congress considers reauthorization of an ongoing private school bailout that cost $12,000,000 of federal tax money just last year.

Schoolchildren were directed by school personnel to wave banners and issue chants supporting this program - even though it has been one of the least effective federal expenditures in recent years, as it has failed to improve the performance of students or D.C. schools.

Of course, I found out about schools taking kids to this rally because of conservatives' own boasting about it. That's because Google News includes right-wing blogs in its "news" feed.

If you want choice and free will, it certainly doesn't come in the form of handouts to private schools at a time when public schools are more cash-strapped than at any other time in decades. Free will and choice are dirty words in many of America's public schools - but more so in private schools.