Debate on Referendum 1

Today I learned a valuable lesson!

Here's the issues:
Private Schools: Private funding (tuition), controlled by individual or agency that is not the gov't, teacher credentialing is not required.

Charter Schools: Public school with government funding, operate under a charter that is approved by the government and school district in which they reside, use innovative pedagogy.

Public School: Fully funded by the state, credentialing of teachers is required, all residents can attend.

Referendum 1 was about creating a voucher program to assist in tuition expenses for families who wished to send their children to Private or Charter schools. There was much debate over this issue in the state of Utah.

We were given an opportunity to debate this in class today. I generally lean against voting for vouchers but I was assigned to the group that was on the pro-voucher side. In the beginning this created a conflict of interest for me. However, I decided to give it the 'ole college try and do my best to support the issues. This led me to some great articles that helped me to understand both sides of the issue better.


More that just creating a good argument, I learned a valuable lesson. It is essential to understand both sides of any issue. When you can truly understand where the opposite side comes from, it makes it a lot easier to compromise and reach agreements.