Re: [Phys-L] Private schools

[ron mcdermott <rmcder@gmail.com>]

Both quotes are actually mine...  I know politics enters into things, no
question, but a lot of the support for vouchers come from a religious point
of view, not political per se.  Yes, you can probably find more of it in
one party, but its there in both.  On the political front, you have support
from the folks who don't want ANY government (Libertarians) as well as SOME
conservatives (who kind of feel the same way), but you also have people who
consider themselves 'Liberals' who are pushing for it based on a genuine
belief that it will HELP poor, innercity families.  By and large, I think
this last group is being duped, but that's just my opinion.
On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 1:44 PM, John Denker <jsd@av8n.com> wrote:

> On 07/11/2012 06:07 AM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:
> > What is the rationale behind parents seeking private schools in the FIRST
> > place?  On average, the teachers aren't better; if anything the reverse
> is
> > true.  The programs aren't better; in many/most cases they are more
> > limited.  AP classes, for example, tend to be very rare in private
> > schools.  The supposedly better education is an illusion based on
> comparing
> > populations which are not statistically comparable int he FIRST place!
> So
> > what's the draw?
>
> That's a good question.
>
> An obvious hypothesis presents itself, namely that parents want to
> partake of an educational system that is segregated along sectarian,
> partisan, and racial lines.
>
> This hypothesis is supported by overwhelming statistical data,
> occasional exceptions notwithstanding, showing that private schools
> tend to be very much less diverse.
>
> Further support for this hypothesis comes from the observation that
> many of the same people who are pushing for charters and vouchers
> are simultaneously pushing other policies that are guaranteed to
> result in the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
>
> One of the rules for good decisionmaking (in science and in business
> and otherwise) is to consider all the plausible hypotheses.  In that
> spirit, we must consider the hypothesis that the rationale is to
> improve the educational result by ensuring that the student is not
> placed in a class at a too-high or too-low level.  This hypothesis
> is supported in a few conspicuous but rare cases, and not well
> supported overall, as you can see by considering the types of
> information that schools make available to guide the selection
> process.  Mostly the schools are touting cultural issues.  They
> sometimes dress it up in terms of "neighborhoods" and "affinity
> groups" but that is just double-talk for segregation.  They are
> also very selective about /where/ they advertise.
>
> On 07/11/2012 07:01 AM, ron mcdermott wrote:
> > > It fundamentally has little
> > > or nothing to do with politics.
>
> Dream on.
>
> This is ground zero in the culture war.