I really don't get the animus against private schools. Surely a one size fits all public school can't possibly best serve the interests of every possible student. Furthermore in a pluralistic society, shouldn't we tolerate people's different preferences in education, especially those who opt for more religious education?
You have touched on one of the biggest reasons I am against private school. We can't force our countrymen to know each other as adults but I think they should start in the same classrooms.
Most of us don't have a problem with _private schools_, just with state money or charity being aimed at them. Private schools are fundamentally capitalistic - they serve their (generally wealthy) patrons, not society.
Do you propose to eliminate private education or to sponsor 100% of private education cost, whatever it is, for anybody who asks? We already have public schools, but the article specifically talks about attending a private school.
I find the sentiment behind these kinds of comments absolutely baffling. In my experience private schooling is so vastly better than public I can’t conceive of how you’d choose the latter for any reason other than expense or ideology.
I think many would support private publicly-funded schools if private schools would adhere to being open to the general public. It's in the best interest of many (if not most) private schools to push out special needs students. They're expensive and generally don't help the "reputation" of the school.
We might be able to handle this by having private schools, but no school choice. That way private schools can't push students out -- if they live in your area, they're yours. Of course this destroys the free market dynamics, which many say is key.
There is just real incentive in education to not have to deal with special needs children in a way that stores and farms have no real analog (the closest analog is farms working with certain easy crops -- which is one reason we see so much corn and soy crops, in addition to subsidies).
The other thing that is interesting is you look at colleges, for-profit colleges seem to be almost universally reviled (especially relative to public and private-non-profit colleges). So far in the US private education of any peoples except the intellectual and/or economic elite has not yielded promising results.
Jefferson most definitely supported public funding of schools, but made clear he opposed compulsory attendance.
In the US today school attendence isn't compulsory. I think anyone could home school.
I also don’t get your first point. I don’t understand why private school education is a bad thing. I had a private school education in a different country and the idea that parents who can afford better education for their children wanting exclusive expensive education for their children to outshine others seems to offend Americans. I would like to know why? I know many parents who sacrifice a lot(mine included) so their children can get a better and superior education. Why is this a bad thing?
(My intention is not to be offensive. I honestly don’t understand.)
Private education is a failure. It should be a public good. Admissions processes shouldn't need to turn away applicants who otherwise meet some minimum requirement (e.g. completed highschool). If they are, its a sign that demand exceeds supply and more schools should be built and/or existing ones should be expanded.
Because we all benefit by living in a well-educated society. It's the same argument with public schools at lower levels. Would you advocate that these also be made exclusively private?
What's great about it? Is it great because it makes the world a better place? Seems like the opposite might be true if capitalizing on the choice to use private education creates a less educated population in general
The claim is that high-quality private education undermines the quality of public education. If everybody with connections, power and money has their kids and grand kids in a private school, then there's little incentive for those who could affect change to actually fix the public school system.
Btw I think private schools should admit whoever they want as long as they don't discriminate by race/gender/religious affiliation/sexuality and other features specified by law.
If they want to be a private club for children of their wealthy donors - let's be it.
The problem is elsewhere: degree should matter less. It's better to focus on attacking this one. It's just can't be good that decisions you or your parents made before you're even 18 shape your whole professional life in such radical way.
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