European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 8, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday March 0, 1993 commentary the stars and stripes Pago 15school voucher Issue later this month in Chicago an emancipation May begin. A judge will decide whether to hear a suit brought by some inner City parents and children that charges the state is failing to fulfil its duty in education. The suit seeks a remedy a vouchers with a value of the pro rata share of state funds allotted to the children a education. The vouchers would be redeemable at Public or private schools. Welcome to judicial activism of the sort advocated by the Institute for Justice a Washington group of Young libertarian lawyers. Their civil rights suit for their Chicago clients charges that the children Are being denied a Benefit guaranteed by Illinois Constitution. It also charges that parents Are being denied a Liberty a essential influence control or Choice Over their children s Educa George f. Will Nakid. I Are id  Iupe fomenting 0v an ongoing set Ciplic targeted to achieve goal and a a a a Otiva a in terms of making  App amp am strategies per be Wiloh Lvuv Impact a we it Tive amp . Eve verite Kwh it to pm Elmvs  vol wlm a frwew0rk of certain Reaut feg n term of available mine it and human pe&v&b9. Tiona implicitly guaranteed by the . Constitution. Illinois Constitution asserts a the state shall provide for an efficient system of High Quality Public educational institutions and services. No one can seriously say that is being done for Chicago sinner City students 80 percent of whom Are Black or hispanic so is the constitutional language practicable or meaningless the average graduation rate in Chicago Public schools is 43.7 percent 43 percentage Points Clow the statewide average. Less than one of every three Chicago Public High schools has a graduation rate above 50 percent. About 70 percent of Public school students score below the National Norm in standardized tests of Basic skills and substantially below statewide averages. Thirty eight of the 64 High schools have act College admission test scores in the Bottom one a yes  of the nation. Chicago a bureaucratic de system expends $5,548 per in about $750 More than the statewide average but to amp Ucb Chol teachers j Only 56 percent of the total budget goes for classroom instruction. The parents Brief notes that private schools provide better cognitive results at less expense per Pupil a in the same neighbourhoods As the City s worst Public schools and draw from the same student population and have a extensive parental  the suites a parental Liberty claim goes like this children Are subject to compulsory school attendance Laws. Parents Are subject to compulsory taxation for Public schools to which children Are assigned primarily y residence. The parents in this suit like most Chi Cago school parents Lack the resources to move in search of better Public schools. So Given the Stark inadequacies of the Public schools it is germane that the . Supreme court has invalidated state action that a unreasonably interferes with the Liberty of parents. To direct the upbringing and education of  the court has also held that a providing Public schools ranks at the very Apex of the function of the  but what recourse have poor inner City parents when the provision constitutes an educational caste system that stunts the life chances of their children in the words of the courts 1954 school desegregation decision when a state undertakes to provide Public education it a is a right which must be available to All on equal  a voucher remedy would be egalitarian. The parents Brief stresses that they a do not seek to second guess any legislative judgments to displace any statutes or to disturb bureaucratic discretion reasonably  rather a the focus of Tom litigation is not How the defendants should fulfil their duties. But instead whether they have fulfilled them. Does the Illinois constitutions language constitute an educational a a guarantee that language says a the state shall provide. A the Illinois supreme court has held that a in construing statutory provisions. The word shall is regarded As indicative of a mandatory legislative intent. Why would that not be True of constitutional provisions As Well both Illinois and Federal courts have exercised judicial review regarding for example whether Public schools have provided As required by Law a a Propri ate education for disabled pupils. Therefore the Brief argues courts can decide Wentner Illinois clearly is not providing a an efficient system of High Quality education. Ana the voucher response is within the courts remedial Powers because it is analogous to the practice of ordering Public payment of tuition for disabled pupils at private schools when Public schools Are unable to fulfil their obligations to such pupils. The Institute has a similar suit on behalf of some residents of South Central los Angeles. In that City s unified school District fewer than 5 percent of schools report scores for ninth graders above the 50th percentile nationwide in standardized tests. At two of the High schools attended by plaintiffs scores rank in the Bottom 1 or 2 percent in statewide math and Reading tests. The 1990 dropout rate in los Angeles Public High schools 40.9 percent was twice the statewide rate. The graduation rate for inner City private schools nationwide is about 97 pc int. As in Chicago the Issue is can a state entirety evade judicial review of whether it is performing constitutional duties a particularly pertinent question Given that about half inc Chicago Public school teachers with school age children Send them to private schools. C tha Washington Post injustices to women no longer quietly tolerated these Are times when americans have to slip a new set of lenses into an old pair of frames. The political prescription that we wore for so Long produced a kind of cold War myopia. For almost 50 years we pictured the world in terms of Bast and West the soviet Union and America. It was virtually All we could see. Now we Are looking out again. The people and the problems that were once just outside our peripheral vision have come into Clear View. Indeed today the International women a Day will Mark a a see change in our understanding of the harsh realities of women a lives. It comes at Lime when women a rights Are finally being included in the Panorama of human rights. The starkest example of this change has come with the reports by victims and witnesses from Bosnia. Rape was once regarded As an inevitable by product of War if not an actual perk for warriors. But this year it is a War crime slated to be a Cente piece of any tribunal called for by the United nations. In France the genital mutilation of two immigrant girls from Gambia a a ritual Clito rectory a would have once been dismissed As a religious or family affair. This Winter the Mother who ordered the mutilation w As sentenced to jail. In Korea women kidnapped and held captive As a Comfort women for japanese soldiers had been silenced by shame since world War ii. This year they spoke out about sexual slavery. In Canada a saudi woman sought political Asylum on the grounds that she was in grave danger Back Home because of her views on the status of women. Now after refusing and then allowing her permission to stay the Canadian government is considering granting refugee status for the victims of gender discrimination. From Kuwait too the world Learned of More protests by philippine maids held captive at their jobs. From India came the Story of a 13-year-old girl saved by a flight attendant after she had been sold into marriage by her parents to an elderly Middle Eastern buyer. And from the United nations came the news that the conference on human rights meeting in Vienna this june will include a for the first time a a substantial Agenda of women a rights issues from voting to violence. It is not a coincidence that these stories have flashed into our line of moral vision now. Its the work of women in the International human rights Community who have stripped off their organizations old blinders its the work of women activists in a Hundred countries where abuse once took place in the shadows. The remarkable thing is that Tor so Long a time diplomats and foreign ministers dismissed the mistreatment of women As a private not a Public matter. As Dorothy Thomas the Stead of women a rights for human rights watch describes it a violence against women has been misconceived As a private thing an incidental thing an unfortunate thing and a cultural thing. Any thing but a human rights  indeed the Range of Laws and customs that enforce second class status by sex were often defended As part of a country a tradition or religion. We tiptoed around these issues talking discreetly in hushed diplomatic tones about cultural relativism. Now As Thomas says a the women activists in these countries Are saying themselves a there a a big difference Between we come from different Cul using culture to justify a Ellen Goodman recognizing we it Tures and falsely violation of human  a its the abusers she says who use the cultural defense. The world Long ago stopped excusing slavery. Anyone who tried to defend apartheid on the grounds of cultural relativism today would be laughed off the International stage. We Are beginning to change attitudes toward women a status As Well. So on this International women a Day the world s eyes will be open to violence As far abroad As Bosnia. Women a rights Are being seen literally seen As human rights. In our country we Are sorting out priorities and policies for the Post cold War world. We have to restructure a foreign policy that focuses on the environment on population on the world Economy. We can Only do that if women a rights and roles in everything from education to reproduction Are part of the picture. This new vision of the world demands a very wide Angle Lens. Cath Boston glob tha opinion apr my in to column and cartoon on Ihl Psia a apr ssh Thos of the author and or in no Way Leto con award a  tha Taw of tha Start and strip or tha Unstad Suta gov Ammart