There are now three states in which vouchers enable students to bring public funding to religious schools: Indiana, Wisconsin, and Louisiana. Some of these schools will be evangelical schools that use Christian textbooks written specifically for this market, as well as for home-schoolers. The list of schools approved to receive voucher students in Louisiana includes many Bible-based Christian academies.
The Christian textbooks take a decidedly different view of the world than mainstream textbooks. The science textbooks teach creationism, not evolution. The history textbooks look on liberalism as a force for moral decadence. Even the math textbooks are different from those used in public schools.
In 2003, I wrote a book about textbooks, which showed how they are shaped by political forces and how their publishers skirt controversial issues in an effort to placate partisan demands. There is something even less desirable than blandness, however, and that is teaching impressionable minds only one perspective or denying them a full understanding of crucial ideas in history, science, and other fields of study.
In this land of liberty, private schools are free to teach what they want. But when they start taking public money, what they teach–whether it is scientifically and historically accurate– becomes a matter of public concern. That is why many religious schools have been reluctant to become entangled with public funding.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The majority of slave holders treated their slaves well.”
This is from a history book in the curriculum used by Living Word Bible Academy in Ruston,Louisiana, a private school that Louisiana granted 315 vouchers to. Given the demographics of the feeder schools that qualify for vouchers in that area, it’s likely that most of the voucher students will be African American. This is what they will learn was the experience of their forbears.
Are we funding religious ideology instead of education? Consider that 124 of the 125 schools approved for vouchers in Louisiana are religious-based.
Read more on evangelical curricula at http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/5/25/84149/9275
I do think, Lance, that is what will be happening in Louisiana. Either ideology or a means to keep these schools open so they can offer a narrowed “education”.
So what! I expect schools to teach students how to read, write, do mathematics and be able to do research.
Pushing a political agenda is a given. The smarter students give a nod to this nonsense. They, after all require a good grade.
Obviously, testing has shown that the students are not learning the above.
Fortunately, online education, Khan Academy being an example, provides a superior educational experience.
I wish I could agree, DeBee. Political agendas are more than a given, in the USA. It’s insidious. Regardless of how intelligent a student, it doesn’t mean he’ll be able to catch all of the lies: about intelligent design, that climate change “isn’t real,” leaving out Japanese internment camps, or minimizing the affect of slavery on African Americans.
The main problem is not what is in the textbook; it is what is omitted. My son had a high school U.S. history book with one paragraph on the Holocaust. No matter how bright the student is, they can’t judge what they don’t know.
Diane’s point is one worth underscoring. This is why some of us have come to distinguish “private schools”, in general, from a sub-class of them, “independent schools”, with the former potentially sponsorable by the public authorities (a very common situation in Europe) while the latter, remaining truly independent of public financing, gain added curricular freedom (to be used for better or worse).
Diane’s original point deserves underscoring. This is why some of us have come to distinguish “private schools” in general from “independent schools” as a sub-class of them, with the former potentially sponsorable by public authorities while the latter, remaining independent of public finance, gain greater curricular freedom (for better or worse).