Public Schools - Bad for American Students?

[Kilroy_x]

Originally Posted by Cavernio

Then I will say that it's impossible for a society to exist without statist elements. Some sociologist or anthropologist would probably agree with me.

Yes, most probably would.

No actually, that's one of the few interesting things I learned in my intro psyc class. Furthermore, I said weaken, not dissipate completely.

Doesn't matter, if removing discrete units of income ensures only people with above a certain marginal level of dedication remain, then removing all income logically would have the best outcome in this sense.

"If you take everything someone says to an extreme, obviously it's going to be bull****. Please don't strawman my arguments."

It's not a strawman at all. You said that decreasing teachers pay ensures that only the most dedicated teachers remain. Logically then the maximum decrease would leave only the most dedicated teachers.


Additionally, you need to learn the difference between a strawman and a reductio ad absurdum.

I for one am glad that government controls teaching. I can just see some of the 'free market' schools which would crop up, with slogans like "Learn creationism from the best!" And the sad part is, is that I could see such a school have a lot of students enrolled. The government sets standards about what has to be learned in certain grades, at least School Boards do that where I live. Yes, this cuts off freedom from what you can learn in the schoolsystem, but also prevents hogwash being taught.

It also means that the government has a monopoly on the single most valuable resource in existence. The resource that determines your future more than almost any other single factor.

I don't care whether or not some school teaches creationism. Let the students try to capitalize on their knowledge. There are plenty of subjects which interest people even though they have no pragmatic value. At any rate, people should be able to do what they want with their time, money, and brains.

I will mention my concern about proximity to schools again. With a voucher system, people largely won't be able to choose where they get taught unless you live in an urban center. Also, I'm pretty sure that where I live, (in Canada, not US though) you can go to any school you'd like pretty much, as long as you don't expect to get bused.
The schools which will receive the most money will be the ones in urban centers, and you'd be ****ed if you lived on a farm.

Small town education also generally suffers from fewer problems than big city education, and requires less of a budget in any event. A voucher program might offer limited choice to people with limited means, but it would still offer them improved choice and better value. All Schools would increase in absolute educational value even if some schools would end up being superior to others.