From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: Re: CHOICE: DEBATE BASED ON COMPETING PHILOSOPHIES
Date: 10 Nov 92 14:44:56 GMT
Distribution: tx
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc

In <21836@rpp386.lonestar.org> jfh@rpp386.lonestar.org (John F. Haugh II) writes:

>In article <1992Nov06.225623.21548@cpqhou.compaq.com> thomasr@cpqhou.UUCP (Thomas Rush) writes:
>>In article <1992Nov2.034821.8556@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>>>Well no, it won't.  We've been all through the reasons before, John.
>>>You simply fail to present a credible case for why this doesn't simply
>>>result in white middle-class and better parents getting subsidized to
>>>pull their kids out of public schools.

>Actually, yes it will.  It goes like this.

>A private school will get NOTHING! if they don't accept any student,
>any race, any gender, any religious background for the voucher.  Most
>private and parachial schools meet this standard already.

So you're saying that under your 'choice' plan, a school would not be
able to refuse a student entry because that student didn't meet their
standards?  That a school would not be able to refuse a student entry
because they were already full?  That they would have to accept ANY
STUDENT (although they could certainly flunk them out academically
later, I suppose)?  Or are you just saying that if they had empty
slots, they would have to let SOMEONE in?  The two positions are
pretty different.

>You'll have private schools getting NOTHING! for all of the students
>they are taking if they don't accept poor nigra kids from East Austin.
>Adam Smith says that the schools which don't selectively admit students
>will make MORE MONEY! since they are getting subsidized by the state.
>Making MORE MONEY! is a goal many capitalists have ...

Yes, but if they can fill their classrooms with white Jewish girls,
they make the same amount of money (if they get the subsidy).  Or
perhaps they have to let everyone in, but require them to take
religious classes in which they are told they are inferior?

>>I think this can be a win-win situation.

>No, it is a win-lose situation.  The politicians count heavily on the
>votes from the teachers whose salaries they control.  Take away the
>cosy relationship between politicians and those who feed at the public
>trough, and you, well, you figure it out.

How many teachers are there, and just what percentage of the voting
population are they?  This just doesn't seem to ring true.

>>Private schools in this country average about half the cost to 
>>educate a student as public schools.  Lets say $2500 vs. $5000.
>>That being the case, allow every parent the opportunity to use
>>a $2500 voucher.  For each student that is then enrolled in a
>>private school, the public school gets a $2500 subsidy.
>>
>>It's kind of like the government paying farmers not to grow crops.

Well, private schools average about half the cost of public schools in
this country because over half the private schools are parochial in
nature and hence have a cost advantage (due to tax exemptions on
church property, the ability to have 'religious' payment to teachers
as part of their compensation (have a priest teach the math class,
since he costs a lot less than a 'private enterprise' teacher), etc.).


-- 
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
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Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
Newsgroups: tx.politics