Re: creationism wars

[John Barrer <forcejb@YAHOO.COM>]

--- "Daniel S. Price" <dprice@JEFFCO.K12.CO.US> wrote:
> > As for attacks on public schools,
> >  there needs to be many MORE attacks on public
> education/educational
> > establishment for their contributions to the
> failure of public education
> > today (and yes I know there are public schools
> doing a great job many
> > places, but for every good one, there's probably 2
> bad ones.
>
> In Colorado, attacks on public education are
> by-and-large led by those who
> assume that students private (particularly
> religious) institutions will
> perform better than they did in public schools,
> simply because they are no
> longer in public schools.  In more concise terms,
> the belief is that private
> education is inherently superior to public
> education.
>
> If this is not what you believe, understand that the
> conservatives in
> control of much of the Colorado government do
> believe this; the governor's
> initiatives to replace "poor-performing" public
> schools with charter
> schools, and his continuous push toward public
> funding of private (including
> religious) education, are clear indicators.
>
> Also of note is that private and religious schools
> are not subject to the
> same evaluation criteria as public schools (teachers
> need have no
> certification; students in non-public schools need
> not meet state
> educational standards in their classes, nor are
> their schools' performance
> measured by the test which is used to target
> "failing" public schools).  As
> such, they can claim to be better than, yet need
> provide no proof that they
> are even as good as, public schools.  I would
> submit, Mr. Mackey, that for
> every private/religious school doing a great job,
> there are probably two bad
> ones.

Furthermore, the "given" that public education is
"bad" is not necessarily true. You say SAT scores are
down compared to past? Maybe so, but the population
taking the exam is far larger. A generation ago, a
minority of students took the exam. Consider also that
public schools are expected to do FAR more than
provide educational services. Some thoughtful authors
have suggested that schools in fact are doing a better
job overall than in the past. Sure, some schools are a
disaster and need fixing. But public schools make a
convenient target for those interested in pushing a
privatization agenda upon an electorate interested in
simple solutions. John Barrere

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