“I first became aware of protective behaviors curriculum when a mother called me to tell me of an experience she had with her daughter. Her child, an elementary schoolgirl, had come home in tears. When she saw that her mother was home and waiting for her, she rushed to her in relief. AI wasn’t sure you’d be here, she told her mother. Her mother reassured her that she would always be there for her. In school that day, her daughter told her, her class had discussed “bad” touching including spanking.

"In course of discussion, children had been encouraged to share with teachers and classmates whether they had ever been touched in that way and girl had said that her mother had spanked her. The children were also told that people who engaged in bad touching would be taken away and put in jail. For rest of school day girl was terrified that her mother who had spanked her would now be taken away and locked up for her bad touching."

Parents, it might be wise to periodically ask your children if their teachers ask them personal questions about your family or how you discipline your children. Turning children into spies against their parents or making them afraid of their parents is not what parents pay school taxes for.

Article Copyrighted © 2005 by Joel Turtel.

With state governments burdened by multi-billion-dollar deficits, what is chance that you will see a voucher program in your neighbor-hood any time soon? It might not be wise for you to wait around for such a voucher miracle.

Article Copyrighted © 2005 by Joel Turtel.

Another problem is that even if vouchers were more widespread, private religious and secular schools simply do not have room for all students who would like to transfer out of public schools, either with state vouchers or private scholarships.

According to Nora Murphy, a spokeswoman for Archdiocese of New York, private Catholic schools in New York could accommodate only 3000 new students. Yet, in September, 2002, 240,000 New York students in failing public schools qualified to transfer to a “better” public school under "No Child Left Behind Act." If all these students’ parents instead wanted vouchers for private schools (if such a voucher program existed), you see problem.

For all above reasons, parents who want to give their children a decent education now, cannot and should not depend on vouchers coming to their local neighborhood anytime soon.

Parents, don’t wait around for another fifty years while voucher advocates fight drawn-out lawsuits and fierce opposition by teacher unions, public-school bureaucrats, and entrenched education establishment.

Don’t pin your hopes on state governments with huge budget deficits to create vouchers for every child in your state. Don’t risk your children’s future on state and local politicians who get campaign con-tributions from teacher unions and consistently vote against voucher programs. Depending on government authorities to come to your rescue is an exercise in futility.