In article ,
Hillary Israeli wrote:
In ,
Jill wrote:

(Hillary Israeli) wrote in
:

* As the parent of a private school kid (and ultimately, I expect,
* three private school kids) I completely agree. I don't want to
* take away my support of the public school system.


*Don't forget that vouchers will kill the private schools by forcing too
*many unqualified minority kids into their classrooms. Just like
*"bussing" in the '70s.

Huh? First of all, I don't believe bussing killed public schools or
private schools or anything at all (i'm not sure what you're trying to say
bussing did, actually). Second, vouchers will not kill private schools by
forcing anyone anywhere. Just because a voucher makes someone able to pay
the tuition, that does not make the holder of the voucher otherwise
eligible to attend the school. Most of the private schools I looked at
have other types of requirements as well - the kid has to have a certain
IQ and/or test score on some kind of screening test, and has to pass
interviews or observations, or whatever.

We have to watch out for the hyperegalitarians trying to
block this. I have read that there is a voucher program
for handicapped children in Florida, but a student going
to an academic school could not use this unless the school
would take all children with that handicap, no matter how
weak their mentalities were.

And don't downplay the minority quota problem. Indianapolis
has a magnet school with academic requirements. A girl was
turned down because this would have meant too small a
proportion of minority students; if there was a minority
student who qualified and wanted to attend, they could both
have been admitted.

The educationists and hyperegalitarians cannot admit that
there is a large range of mental abilities, and even if
they changed now, the public schools could not do what is
needed in a generation, alas.
--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558