While neither an advocating nor condemning of the concept of school vouchers....how do you feel about their use in a performing arts (or fine arts) school?<P>Would it have to be in a school in which an entire scholastic curriculum is presented - or just the arts section? <P>Could a child go to a regular school part of the day and then attend a school offering a specific field of study - such as dance?

Basheva, is this an issue that is currently live in the US and has a proposal been put forward by Government?

School vouchers in one form or another is already enacted in a couple of states - Florida being one of them and I believe Michigan another.<P>It was part of the education "platform" on which President Bush ran to incorporate the concept of school vouchers, but of course that will be decided by Congress. I don't think the exact plan has been presented to Congress yet - but I could be wrong.<P>However, it would be interesting if a performing arts school was set up and vouchers were used by the students to attend. Schools that are voucher schools do have to meet certain standards scholastically. Some people call them charter schools. Some of the schools are faith based - and some are not.<P>Could school vouchers open the door to a school that specializes in painting for instance? or dance? <P>Could this open up new avenues for dance training? And what do people think of that?<P> <BR>

Hmmm, my gut reaction is that anything the government attempts to do regarding education ultimately creates so much red tape, so many forms to be filled out, so many rules to follow, that the original curriculum will be watered down. I'm familiar with Montessori charter schools and in my opinion, that's been their history in the States. Regarding an arts school for dance, this brings up the Keefer episode. Who would be allowed to attend? How would the issue of body proportions be handled, etc.? This may be tangential to your original question, and I apologize, but I truly do fear universal vouchers.

I had to think about that for a while JM before I could formulate an answer. It seems to me that all schools - public, faith based, parochial, charter, even home schooled children, already have to deal with standards and paper work for the government. So that wouldn't be anything new or different, in my opinion.<P>I am not thinking of performing arts schools as vocational - so the Keefer problem would not arise. This would just be a scholastic curriculum that also offers classes in the arts. It is already done in San Diego in what is called the "magnet program". There are no auditions per se, just a statement of committment to work hard and focus, both from the students and the parents. However, access to these schools in San Diego is very limited because of space availability - there is a waiting list. They are part of the San Diego public school system.<P>But, if this were done by private entities and families were allowed vouchers, they could then take advantage of such schools and children could receive an arts education (like dance) in addition to the scholastic curriculum.<P>Children who might not ever be able to afford piano lessons or dance lessons - or art lessons - might truly benefit.