Re: creationism wars

[James Mackey <jmackey@HARDING.EDU>]

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.
My $0.01 worth!
James Mackey

Daniel S. Price 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.