Education: Public Vs Private?!

[Brandon]

Another topic that has caused much debate is the school voucher programs some members of Congress are touting around.

I personally like the idea of stripping away the public education system. Since I doubt that will truely happen, I almost always support getting government out of the helping business (mainly because they hardly help).

Public schools have no incentive to actually teach kids (esp. those in poorer communities). There needs to be sudden outside pressure from parents and other groups to make the school do well. I do not mean to form a commitee and get tangled in the web of the legal system with the dept. of education. I mean taking your child out and putting them into a better school.

Doing this is using force. When you are removing your child from a crappy school, you are saying "your school does a poor job of teaching my kid and since I have the option of switching, I am!". What recourse do poorer families have with public education? They can't move to a wealthier neighborhood or corrupt politicians to redistrict the lines. They are stuck with the school they are given from the government. They have no choice; which is by far the most unamerican thing. Choice is freedom and America is supposed to be all about freedom.

 

[sarah]

People need to have some sort of choice, otherwise the level of education provided will deteriorate. the major problem with pulling children out of poor schools and placing them into better ones is that not everyone has the means to do so, and because of that I agree that public school systems can be terribly corrupt. children should have the possability of a great education regardless of politics. unfortunately this is not the case.

 

[capitalist_junkie]

While I'm fairly conservative on most issues, I'm pretty far liberal when it comes to education. There is nothing wrong with private schools, but I feel the public/private divide prevents all children from having equal educational opportunities. I'm not a huge fan of the voucher system, but I think it's the best thing we have going right now. However, it would be great to find a plan that allowed everyone to have the best education possible.

 

[Brandon]

Monopolies never help anyone except management at the company. State monopolies are even worse since you are forced to pay for it with taxation (e,g legal theft in my book).

 

[capitalist_junkie]

That's true. And it probably also explains why, despite years and years and years of negative reviews and reports about the Cleveland schools, they have not really changed.

I think that's what bothers me most about public schools: they can be really terrible, but nobody is forced to do anything about the problem.

 

[Paula62]

The voucher movement is not really about education. It is a plan by private capitalists and entreprenuers to siphon money out of the government. There is a ton of money poured into education, and private industry gets some of it in the form of books and supplies, and construction of buildings and the like, but business people see their opportunity for economic expansion into the direct classroom dollars by being the middle man for education. There are plenty of fine private schools, just as there are plenty of fine public ones - and vice versa. But the voucher movement is about getting federal and state money spent on private companies, pure and simple.

 

[Brandon]

That is my one main concern with the vouchers. The child's needs must come first before anything else. If government is giving away vouchers, than the priority is more in line with the government not the child and their parent(s).

 

[kokotai]

I think that people should have a choice. I personally like the idea of public schools but the problem is that the government has whittle away at them until they are nothing.

 

[vicki2]

I'm not certain about the whole voucher idea because it's too indirect where a child is concerned. For parents to receive some kind of tax break, in some way, if their kid is in private school, makes sense to me. They're still paying school taxes regardless so should get enough to off set that. Of course, I disagree with how public schools are even funded but that's another discussion.

 

[sarah]

The entire public school system seems to be a mess, I don't know how else to put it. a major overhaul is needed.

 

[kokotai]

I know that as a parent of two older kids (18 and 23) and now the parent of two younger kids (13 and 5) I am seeing the difference in a way that most don't get to and it is a mess. It has gone downhill fast.

 

[sarah]

I know that as a parent of two older kids (18 and 23) and now the parent of two younger kids (13 and 5) I am seeing the difference in a way that most don't get to and it is a mess. It has gone downhill fast.

now what would you suggest as a path to remedy? I'm curious how you would go about it as a parent.

 

[kokotai]

To be honest, if it were a choice and it were affordable I would put the younger set in private school. At least they would get the education I paid for and not be the victims of the government deciding how to spend my tax dollars instead. I worry about them going to public school and getting lost in the system. In private schools you get more say. As far as public schools they need to be taken back by the states and the federal government needs to make education a priority and they need to actually make it a priority and not just say they are going to. I would rather see them fund education rather than war or politicians.

 

[sarah]

That is actually about what I was expecting you to say.

 

[Paula62]

School work needs to be interesting.
Schools need to take kids as they get them.
Schools need to be easy for parents to visit.
Schools need to keep parents well informed of what is happening in class, but be prepared to have parents who are not involved or even interested and NOT hold that against the kids.
Schools need to challenge every kid, appropriate for that child.
Schools need to drop tracking and pre-judging what kids are capable of.