Sufficient College Prep? (More on the Church/State Dilemma.)

I just read an engrossing article on a suit that is being brought against the University of California by Calvary Chapel Christian School, a K-12 institution. The University of California decided at the end of 2005 that a number of courses (among them an intelligent-design-based biology course and an English class that taught only from an anthology) would not count toward their admission requirements.

I like the way the blogger puts it: "Calvary had a choice here. They could choose other textbooks. Or they could turn this into a big church/state legal fight. Guess which option they picked."

Read the rest of the blog. It's biased, as the world of blogging is wont to be, but it raises some good questions about the duties of public educational institutions. The question at the heart of the issue is which is the greater public good: the right of the educational institution to decide what best serves its raison d'etre (sufficient academic preparation in high school, which leads to university and post-graduate success)? Or the right of the religious institution to decide what best serves its raison d'etre (subordinating one's self to God, with all the good that can arise from that)?

At Georgetown, we sit neatly at the top of this debate -- between religion and politics and higher education. More than the specific issue in question, we also need to come to terms with this issue as a society -- and as Democrats. While we reach out to Christians and try to reform the country's religious discourse into one that we can win (see: Obama), at the same time, we must have our own priorities firmly in mind.

So I ask: Where do you stand on church/state/education issues, and where should the party be moving on them? Where does Georgetown stand? Have we (or any other institution you know about) ever refused to accept course(s) from a parochial school because of lack of academic rigor?