Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!parsec!ctvax!uokvax!emjej
From: emjej@uokvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Dumping Public Education - A Bad Ide - (nf)
Message-ID: <6338@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 22-Mar-84 23:14:17 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.6338
Posted: Thu Mar 22 23:14:17 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Mar-84 12:48:10 EST
Lines: 25

#R:decwrl:-630800:uokvax:2200042:000:1274
uokvax!emjej    Mar 21 14:11:00 1984

Please note the distinction between eliminating public schools and not
aiding the poor to go to some school. These are not identical notions.
(*Vide* the voucher system of funding education that some promote.)

My parents were far from well-to-do, also. I'm not sure what this has to
do with anything, but I state it for the record.

The current American school system consists of requiring the people to pay
taxes to fund a government-controlled school system. Since all must fund
said system, far fewer have the chance to send their children to other
schools (not necessarily all religious, to squelch one canard, I hope),
since they can't afford to pay for two educations and discard one. Since
this gives the government-controlled school system a near-monopoly, it
has no reason to try to improve in any fashion or provide a decent education
to its pupils. Since it is associated with an entity that can always grab
more money, either by shaking us a little harder next time we're held
upside down at tax time or by printing more funny pieces of paper, the
government-controlled school system has no reason to economize, filter
out incompetents, or any of the other things that a privately-run, profit-
making enterprise has considerable reason to do.

					James Jones