PARCC or CRAPP? I’m For Freedom

By John H Morgan   March 3, 2015

I have good friends who are students, parents, teachers and administrators on both sides of the debate over the college and career readiness testing that is going on now in the public schools to meet the Common Core standards. On that topic and many others, I’m for freedom. I base that on several principles.

First, I believe freedom from unnecessary coercion by the state or any entity is a basic human right that is given to us by God. It allows us to live our lives following His leadership. Those who co-opt freedom try to take the place of God in our lives.

Second, I believe in defusing power away from central control because fallen human nature drives corruption wherever human power is concentrated. So, I am for taking power away from Washington D.C. and from Santa Fe and putting it into the hands of local communities and specifically, parents.

Third, I believe competition drives innovation and cost reduction. It does everywhere it exists. It is the power that has driven American ingenuity and competitiveness.

So, I believe parents should be able to choose whether they believe their children and school systems are better off with or without the PARCC testing and to act accordingly. In fact, I would challenge all parents to keep moving forward on the principles of freedom, personal choice and competition and revolutionize education in New Mexico by demanding a school choice voucher system.

A voucher system would give all parents from the poor to the rich equal choice to send their children to schools that had the academic philosophies and testing strategies of their choice. They could choose the schools that evaluated teacher performance by the methods of their choice. Teachers and administrators could choose careers in the schools that had the environments and opportunities of their choice.

The same principles should apply to healthcare. Every user and provider of healthcare should be free to participate in the state monopoly of requirements by Obamacare or to opt out of it to freedom in their healthcare choices. All insurance companies, doctors, hospitals and drug companies should have a choice to opt out into a system of freedom. Those who prefer the socialist model could live the socialist model. Those who prefer the freedom model could live in freedom.

Isn’t funny how those who deny freedom for themselves want to control the system for everyone? They demand that everyone financially pay for their system of coercion? Doesn’t it make sense that people should be free from coercion?

We are choosing that our daughter participate in the PARCC testing. We believe that the testing is good for her and we want to see how she does. We are encouraging her to do her best. Someday she may take an oral exam or have to write a thesis or take a state bar exam, which are not easily done. For sure she will face many very difficult tests in life. So we choose to have her take these tests. However, our preference would be to have a voucher to send her to a school that had even more rigorous academic philosophies and practices along with training in a Christian worldview of faith, freedom and prosperity. We would love for her to be educated in freedom and to become an advocate for freedom.