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Re: creationism wars



At 21:34 -0500 8/28/02, James Mackey wrote:

I really cannot speak for Colorado, only from my personal experiences
with 3 different private, religious based schools, for 4 children and 1
grandchild (currently living with us to escape public school!). I rate
2 of them very high based on what my kids learned, the other I rate as
average. This is in full awareness of the public schools here which are
quite good. If I lived in a metropolitan area (LIttle Rock, Memphis,
New Orleans, of my experience), I would do anything possible to keep my
children out of the typical public school.
Of course, private education is not inherently "better" than public
education, and I am certain there are some poor ones around (your
feeling would indicate you have some such experiences). However, it is
my personal feeling that if there were more competition to public
education, then public schools would be better. The reality is, in most
large school districts, low income parents have almost no say in school
curriculuum, operation, or performance. They should leave that in the
hands of educational professionals who know how to run the schools.
I have great sympathy for teachers in public schools dealing with low
parent interest, little administrative support, student discipline
problems with little recourse, and a host of other problems, but that
sympathy doesn't alter the fact that if parents could REALLY vote with
their tax dollars for the schools they want their children to attend,
there would be a lot of vacant public schools.

This is an issue that really rings my bell, and I could write more
than anyone would want to read, and have, on this subject. But I
won't because this is really off-topic for this list. But I will
briefly say two things: First comparing public to private schools is
inherently comparing apples and oranges. Private schools do not have
to answer to politically motivated pressure groups, including
legislatures who hold the purse-strings, and they do not have to take
every child who shows up at the door, nor do they have to figure out
how to deal with the ones who are being disruptive and spoiling it
for everyone else. Private schools can pick and choose which students
they want, and when they are full they can just stop taking in more
students. They don't have state or federally mandated curricula that
they have to conform to, or end-of-course testing that they have to
submit to, and which can affect their funding for the following year.
In other words, private schools can do what they want, and only need
to satisfy the parents who are wealthy enough to be able to send
their children there. Would that public schools had the same
freedom--but then they wouldn't be public schools any more, would
they.

Second, the concept of "school competition" which includes the public
sector is completely specious. Public school funding is based on all
sorts of criteria, and the availability of private alternatives in
generally not one of them. If a school's enrollment goes down, for
whatever reason, its funding is cut. Usually this is just the
opposite of what should happen. Schools that are poor performers are
often located in poor districts or neighborhoods, and are run-down
and in poor repair, lack proper equipment, texts and any number of
other things necessary to do the job right. Parental involvement in
the schools is usually minimal, because most of the time both
parents--if there are even two in the area--are working, and unable
to drop everything to come to school when there is a problem. And it
is not for the convenience of the parents, but for the survival of
the family that both have to work. I could go on, but suffice to say,
the climate in which public schools have to operate is such that if
they are required to compete against selective private schools, they
are doomed by the system, and not by their ability to perform.

Public schools have lots of problems, and many of their wounds are
self-inflicted. But we won't solve their problems by throwing the
baby out with the bath water.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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