Scholarship
withdrawal hypocritical
Kelli
Easterling
Joshua
Davey was awarded the Promise Scholarship
by the state of Washington only to have
it snatched away after declaring theology
as his major. He has taken his case to court
with the hope that the scholarship will
be returned.
Initially,
this may seem a simple case of separation
of church and state. The funds for the scholarship
come from the state of West Virginia. Why
should the state grant a scholarship to
pay for a future theologian's education
when that would be in clear violation of
church-state separation?
To
deny a student an education based on his
interests is discrimination. The Promise
Scholarship is not designed to be granted
only to people within a particular field
of study. This scholarship is given to students
with good GPAs without regard to income.
Davey
met the requirements, so why should his
major be such a concern? Have we become
so uptight about religion that we will refuse
an education to anyone who wants to learn
about it? Davey never said that he wanted
to become a preacher -- just that theology
was his major. Perhaps he wants to teach,
research or write. Maybe he just did the
same thing that many other students do and
picked a subject that he was interested
in. It seems as though in our attempt to
ensure free thought we have become almost
afraid of religion. Religion is just a subject
like any other.
An
education within a field of study consists
of far more than classes within that major.
To deny a student a well-rounded school
experience based on the determination to
apply the strictest interpretation of a
law possible is ridiculous. Everyone deserves
an education, and many people agree that
everyone deserves a free one. The subject
that a person chooses to study does not
make them more or less deserving.
To
quote Justice Antonin Scalia, "It's
treating religion differently from non-religion."
He went on to explain that the act of the
state stepping in to take back the scholarship
was a violation of "the principle of
neutrality." Although I am not religious,
I would never consider discouraging anyone
from studying it. And to step in and single
out a particular area of interest is wrong.
Education
should be exempt from the church-state law.
To treat one subject in such a way is unfair
to students. Students should have the right
to learn whatever they want. An education
in theology is just as meaningful an education
in any other subject. The point of education
is to produce people with reasoning and
critical thinking abilities. College does
not just spit out skills-smiths but thinking
people. Regardless of what students choose
to think about, it should still be their
choice and we should all be grateful that
they're choosing to think at all.
And
for all of you who are afraid of religion,
let me leave you with a final thought. A
person who is actually educated about their
religion is a lot less likely to be one
of those weirdo fanatics that everyone hates.
An educated person learns the history of
their religion and is a lot less likely
to believe that the stories are fact. Finally,
by giving this particular subject matter
such attention, we are granting it the kind
of power we keep insisting it doesn't have.
Kelli
Easterling is a public relations major at
Cal State Long Beach.
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