[Phil153]

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If you think it's strange that it's something other than differing degrees of success in secular academic subjects that drives most of the private school market... then you just don't understand the market.

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I'm asking, with my point about 10,000 year old beliefs, how you think the market will better with more parents making the choices.

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And second, you've done nothing to actually respond to the objection that the data here is incomplete and could easily present a skewed picture. I'll ask again: is there more to education than math and reading skills?

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If a school can't even do the core, basic skills properly, then something is rotten. The point here is that private schools stink as badly as public schools at educating kids on core skills. I'm sure they provide other benefits not seen in public schools, and vice versa.

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Third, you've never adequately responded to the objection that what things are like in the private school market when 90% of schools are public isn't an indication of how good education would be if it were all private. 10% of schools in America being private just isn't comparable to a privatized education system.

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I have responded...I'm not sure what else to say. If competition, consumer choice and experimentation among the upper middle class now isn't driving significant changes in education quality - with an industry in the millions of student - what mechanism will magically appear once the market gets bigger?

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Anyway, to end this stupid argument...why do people in this thread think that public education system isn't fixable? It works quite well in other countries - at least a lot better than the US - even when much more centralized.

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You mean the stupid argument you started?

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No, I mean the stupid argument that Borodog started. "I'll never feed my kids to a public school"..."It can be easily solved by getting rid of the government control".

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Like I said, personally I don't intend to have my children educated in private schools either. The real point I draw from the blog linked in the OP is that often institutional education fails to really teach well, especially with young, motivated students, and it's best in these cases if capable parents do what they can to ensure their children are educated well.

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The point I draw from the blog is that some overzealous, self important parent didn't like his son's grade and got flustered. We don't even know if the story is accurate - it certainly sounds bizarre. Regardless - it's one anecdote. I could easily post anecdotes or news stories of private school teachers preying on teenagers sexually, and having it covered up by the school. Then, I'd be justified in making a post saying: "I'm never feeding my kids to a private school!!!111!!lim[x->0](sin x)/x111!!

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The real point I draw from the blog linked in the OP is that often institutional education fails to really teach well, especially with young, motivated students, and it's best in these cases if capable parents do what they can to ensure their children are educated well.

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This has never been my experience. Like most things, how well a kid does is largely tied to his motivation and parental involvement. Regular schooling and textbooks are adequate for the rest and come with a lot of benefits imo. I don't see why it's necessary to pull a child out of school - surely an hour a day on top of his regular schooling has to be adequate to teach and motivate him.

The power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.” (Gibbons)