Christian Music Artists Urged to Unite Behind School Choice
by Jim Brown
January 20, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Christian commentator is calling some Christian rock musicians to task for their efforts to promote more funding for public schools. He suggests they rally instead for school choice -- something he argues will eventually benefit America's public education system. The Alabama-based group Redeem the Vote! is enlisting the help of Christian music groups like Casting Crowns and the Crabb Family to encourage audiences to support public education by investing more time and money into the system. Other musicians involved include Steven Curtis Chapman, Rebecca St. James, Mark Schultz, and Natalie Grant. Redeem the Vote! founder Dr. Randy Brinson says the group is trying to address what he calls "a disconnect between the faith community and public education."
But conservative columnist and Christian radio talk-show host Matt Friedeman says more funding for government-run schools is not the answer. Instead, the proponent of school choice encourages Christians to boldly go "nose to nose" with two particular factions within the public education system -- groups he describes as "proponents of the soft bigotry of lower expectations" and "teachers' unions that stand on our children's pedagogical necks."
"They need to understand that free enterprise and competition raises the bar for all educators and educational institutions," Friedeman asserts. "And if brothers and sisters of ours in the contemporary Christian music scene want to sing a song, it seems to me like that would be a good one to sing."
Read Matt Friedeman's column on this issue
The talk-show host suggests that instead of pushing for more public school funding, Christian musicians should be embracing other alternatives such as private Christian schools and home schooling. "We know from research that the longer our Christian kids stay in American public schools, the worse they do because of this lack of choice," he shares.
Friedeman believes the public school system in the United States is a "monopoly" that, over time, has led to a deteriorating form of education. He suggests the system follow the lead of higher education in America.
"When [our children] get to college, where choice reigns, then America boasts of the best schools in the world," he says. "But that's simply not the case at the government-school level [K-12] -- and I think we can do better."
Friedeman argues that public schools "will change undoubtedly for the better" when private and home-school possibilities are allowed to "compete on a level playing field with them."
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
