I have been looking my old journals, in part to see what books I have read previously. This was one of the books I was reading when I was about to start my first public school job many years ago. At the time, I wrote in my journal:

>>It was an interesting book. The book is a collection of essays about the relations between church, state, and schools.
I did not agree with some things, and now that I am experienced as a teacher, I am probably not as idealistic as I was then. I certainly don't see things as black and white anymore. For instance, I did not agree flat out on the issue of tax credits. Today, I think the issue is a bit more complex, which goes to show with experience comes a little reflection. Amazing how time can make you change as you learn. Overall, it is not a terribly memorable book.

( )

This book might be more accurately titled "Why we Don't Need Vouchers", because it really only rarely makes the case for public schools, and spends most of the time making the case against "school choice", a popular euphemism for handing over large amounts of money to parochial schools. It is a collection of contributed papers, with strengths and weaknesses similar to most books of this type. One of the main weaknesses is the constant beating the drum about the importance of religion, as long as we recognize that all religions are important, and keep them out of the school, except in history courses, where we teach about how important religion was to historical events. Unfortunately, there is never a good discussion of the issue of public schools paying expenses for private schools that are not sectarian or religious; the discussions around the first amendment are important and timely, but...the larger question still looms. Should public schools be forced to pay for textbooks to be used for private schools that are not religious? It would be better addressed if the book had addressed the case for public schools as well as they did the case against school choice. ( )