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#1
02-15-2007, 01:51 PM
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Re: Time to write off public education?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] As we all know, the US public school system is, by and large, a disgrace. [/ QUOTE ] Compared to what? [/ QUOTE ] Compared to 45 years ago. [/ QUOTE ] Don't you mean 52 years and 9 months ago? [/ QUOTE ] I was dating the decline to the change in educational philosophy that occured starting in the late 60s. I do have a frame of reference here, even though I was young. Radical change was evident in the very early 70s. [/ QUOTE ] Yeah, but by 'radical change in educational philosophy', you mean something like "when they let the dark-skinned children start going to school with white children", right? And by 'evident in the early 70s', I assume that's just code for "when they started busing in the dark-skinned children from the inner cities to where the white people live". Just want to make sure I'm not off the mark here. 
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#2
02-15-2007, 11:41 AM
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Re: Time to write off public education?
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As we all know, the US public school system is, by and large, a disgrace. The degree to which US high school graduates lag behind those of other countries is heavily publicized. The sources of the problems are intractable. [/ QUOTE ] How do you know it is the schools that are the problem? Maybe the problems are societal? fwiw - My 2 girls go to a city public school and it is outstanding.
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#3
02-15-2007, 11:51 AM
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Re: Time to write off public education?
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As we all know, the US public school system is, by and large, a disgrace. [/ QUOTE ] I think there are a lot of people who don't consider this prima facie true. I'll grant many of this forum agree, but I'm not sure how meaningful that is.
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#5
02-15-2007, 01:33 PM
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Re: Time to write off public education?
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Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As we all know, the US public school system is, by and large, a disgrace. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think there are a lot of people who don't consider this prima facie true... [/ QUOTE ] ...and they're mostly NEA members.
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#6
02-15-2007, 02:51 PM
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Re: Time to write off public education?
I hinted at this in an earlier post but I will just come out and say it explicitly here.
The answer to this problem, and almost all problems caused by the government's provision of services, is to allow people to choose their own service. If we as a society cannot abide the notion that someone without funds can't get a service, then we should give them the funds, not the service. When the government gets involved in providing a service, it is nearly instantly captured by special interests, and it is also impossible to give anyone what they want specifically. the end result is that almost no one gets what they want. We provide food to the poor without the government taking over the production and distribution of food to the poor. The same should be done with schooling, health care, retirement savings and every other service offered by our government. Give the poor the money to buy the things we feel they shouldn't do without but let them spend it the way they feel is best for them. That solution is so blatantly obvious, simple, and correct that I often fall into the trap of imputing bad motives to people who disagree with it, especially when they are politicians and policy makers. Others I can forgive for being dupes but the actual puppet-masters who subject us to this stuff... I have a very hard time not believing they are evil. natedogg
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#7
02-15-2007, 02:56 PM
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Re: Time to write off public education?
[ QUOTE ]
Give the poor the money to buy the things we feel they shouldn't do without but let them spend it the way they feel is best for them. That solution is so blatantly obvious, simple, and correct that I often fall into the trap of imputing bad motives to people who disagree with it, especially when they are politicians and policy makers. Others I can forgive for being dupes but the actual puppet-masters who subject us to this stuff... I have a very hard time not believing they are evil. [/ QUOTE ] Amen. It's our only out. I'm certain that the NEA is evil, divorced from the best interests of the children it ostensibly serves. No, it obviously doesn't serve the children. What was I thinking?
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#8
02-15-2007, 05:04 PM
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Re: Time to write off public education?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] Give the poor the money to buy the things we feel they shouldn't do without but let them spend it the way they feel is best for them. That solution is so blatantly obvious, simple, and correct that I often fall into the trap of imputing bad motives to people who disagree with it, especially when they are politicians and policy makers. Others I can forgive for being dupes but the actual puppet-masters who subject us to this stuff... I have a very hard time not believing they are evil. [/ QUOTE ] Amen. It's our only out. I'm certain that the NEA is evil, divorced from the best interests of the children it ostensibly serves. No, it obviously doesn't serve the children. What was I thinking? [/ QUOTE ] The NEA is not evil. It is the labor union for teachers. It advocates for what is in the best interest of the teachers. That is its job. Often this is not the same as what is in the best interest of students. But we shouldn't expect the NEA to act in the best interest of students anymore than we expect the AFL-CIO to act in the best interest of consumers. Or, for that matter, any more than we expect a corporate board to act in the best interest of consumers (as opposed to shareholders).
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#9
02-15-2007, 05:10 PM
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Re: Time to write off public education?
[ QUOTE ]
The NEA is not evil. It is the labor union for teachers. It advocates for what is in the best interest of the teachers. That is its job. Often this is not the same as what is in the best interest of students. But we shouldn't expect the NEA to act in the best interest of students anymore than we expect the AFL-CIO to act in the best interest of consumers. Or, for that matter, any more than we expect a corporate board to act in the best interest of consumers (as opposed to shareholders). [/ QUOTE ] Even a kid's parents don't act in the best interests of children, they act (often) in the best interests of a particular child. Just because those best interests often are the same as the interests of "children" doesn't make it necessarily so.
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#10
02-15-2007, 07:33 PM
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Re: Time to write off public education?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Give the poor the money to buy the things we feel they shouldn't do without but let them spend it the way they feel is best for them. That solution is so blatantly obvious, simple, and correct that I often fall into the trap of imputing bad motives to people who disagree with it, especially when they are politicians and policy makers. Others I can forgive for being dupes but the actual puppet-masters who subject us to this stuff... I have a very hard time not believing they are evil. [/ QUOTE ] Amen. It's our only out. I'm certain that the NEA is evil, divorced from the best interests of the children it ostensibly serves. No, it obviously doesn't serve the children. What was I thinking? [/ QUOTE ] The NEA is not evil. It is the labor union for teachers. It advocates for what is in the best interest of the teachers. That is its job. Often this is not the same as what is in the best interest of students. But we shouldn't expect the NEA to act in the best interest of students anymore than we expect the AFL-CIO to act in the best interest of consumers. Or, for that matter, any more than we expect a corporate board to act in the best interest of consumers (as opposed to shareholders). [/ QUOTE ] I was reasonably sure that my post would suggest that the middle letter in NEA, education, was not any part of their concern.
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Hybrid Mode
