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wrote:
SNIP

The problem is that public education is the worst of all possible
worlds.

How does it compare to a world with no schools, or don't you
consider that possible?

How on earth did you get to "no schools" from no *public* schools? The
majority of us have the means and willingness to educate our children
(and the parents who do not have children who are lost no matter what we
do). The significant reduction in local taxation engendered by ending
the public school system would provide more than enough funding for
individuals to band together to create quality private education of
their own choosing with an appropriate level of accountability. So much
so, that - based on historical behavior - there would be plenty left
over to offer "free" education as a matter of charity to the genuinely
underprivileged.

You would have us believe that ALL of the public schools, or
at least so many of them, are so bad as to be a complete
or nearly complete failure.

I don't believe that. But, I do believe that public education is a bad
deal. It costs too much, has insufficient accountability to those who
pick up the tab, cannot refuse access to even the biggest troublemakers,
cannot force parents to pay attention, and worst of all, opens up the
curriculum to debates about what should- and should not be taught a la
this very thread.

... Public schools are required
to admit everyone and try as best they can to reflect the ideas and
values of the entire society - clearly an impossible task. Yes,
there is some slight residual effect wherein some education is better than
none, but the cost/benefit ratio is (IMO) not worth it. We are already
losing students today under the public system (to drugs, gangs, etc.).
Why not just admit that some percentage will always be lost and optimize
the system for the majority - i.e., Privately run and funded schools that
can enforce order and make education a priority...

Obviously:

Many of those who will always be lost have parents who can
afford to send them to private schools even if they fail all
their courses. While the management of all of those private
schools would rather not have students that fail many will
consider the receipt of tuition payment from the parents
to be more important than the success of the students.

Ah, but the money they waste so profligately is *private*.
It has not been extracted from the hands of the good citizens
of that community by threat of government force. The voluntary
misuse of funds - however stupid - is none of my concern so long
as those funds are not mine in any way, shape, or form (unless the
use of such funds harms in some way).

Meanwhile, many of that majority who would do well, or at
least acceptably in school will NOT have parents who can
afford to send them to private schools.

I disagree. We managed to educate a considerable portion
of the population - most of it less than middle class -
more-or-less privately up through something like the end
of the 19th Century. There is plenty of eleemosynary
spirit left in this country for people who absolutely
could not afford to take care of their children. Perhaps
too, this would serve as a future incentive for people in
these circumstances to only have the children they can afford.

I agree that public schools CAN be terribly inadequate, in-
efficient, and dangerous. Rather than looking at the
best of the public schools and trying to appy that to the
others, you propose a 'social Darwinism' of the worse sort.

Feh!

No, I propose we stop using the force of government (or the threat
of it) to make most of us (who *do* pay attention and care for
our offspring) pick up the tab for the irresponsible minority
of people who have children they either cannot afford or cannot
be bothered to raise responsibly. I also am tired up picking up
the tab for a system that systematically indocrinates children
with collectivist political ideology, offensive (to many) moral
values, and a lousy perspective about their nation and its place
in the world.

P.S. By any reasonable definition, I grew up "poor", and English
was my second written/read language. I also attended nothing
but private universities and did so without
a dime of long-term collegiate debt. The secret? Get a job
(or two, three...) and pay your own way. I had the other
piece of magic on my side - a family that paid attention and
made education a priority. *No* amount of tax money will buy
that if it is not already extant in a family, so why bother
even trying?

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Tim Daneliuk
PGP Key: http://www.tundraware.com/PGP/