From: jdoskow@ichinen.Tymnet.COM (Jonathan Doskow)
Newsgroups: ca.politics
Subject: Re: Voucher Initiative
Date: 10 Apr 92 20:19:47 GMT
Distribution: ca
Organization: BT North America (Tymnet)

In article <1992Apr7.161550.18643@acuson.com> miklg@acuson.com (Michael Goldman ) writes:
>
>	In Japan, 96% of all students graduate from High School.  In the US
						   ^
						 PUBLIC
>	71% do.  
>
>	If you are the head of GM, you know that you cannot introduce
>	any new ideas requiring more education than an 8th grade reading level.
>	You could not even think of introducing it to your college educated
>	workforce because only a small %-age of them have had calculus and
>	statistics.
>
Ford seems to have done fairly well.  Are their workers different?  I
have a hard time believeing that calculus, or even anything more than
the most rudimentary field-stripped statistics are required of the
average production worker to implement statistical quality control.  As
Ford demonstrated, what was required was a perception of top management
that it was more costly in the long run to produc junk.

>	                                 If you think you are safe because
>	you are college educated middle calss, look at South America, ...
>
No problem here, but lots of people in this group subscribe to the
childish notion that they derive no value from public ecudation.

>	NY state had a system called the State Regents Exams that tested
>	every subject (3rd yr Latin, American History, etc.) from Jnr HS
>	through HS.

LATIN?  LATIN?  LATIN?  What N.Y. public school teaches Latin?

>	Any teacher that didn't get his/her kids to do well
>	heard from the parents - fast!

What on earth is the source of this information?

>                                       The Catholic schools were eventually
>	exempted from the test because they always did so well, there
>	wasn't any point to testing them.

What on earth is the source of this information?

>	                                    Catholic schools' class size
>	up to the 8th grade was usually about 65-72.

I've never heard figures that high?  Source please.  Class sizes in
*public schools* in Korea and Japan, whose excellence in comparison to
American schools is often cited, is said to be quite high.  What's the
point?  When parents care enough about their kids education to undergo
the expense of getting them into a private school, they probably
also express their concern in other ways.  "I'm paying an arm and a leg
for that.  Do your homework or else." ;-)/2   With that kind of support at
home it is possible to learn in abonimable circumstances.  Its been
demonstrated that, when parents care about their kids education, the
kids can excel even in public "ghetto" schools.

>						       Their phys. ed.
>	dept. consisted of "get the softball bat from Sister Teresa",
>	and their school lunch program consisted of a shady spot under
>	the tree.  

Where on earth does this bucolic fantasy come from?  During N.Y.
winters, temperatures typically stay below freezing for weeks at a
time.  That's a serious question.  Where does it come from?

>	School choice works, and so do state-wide testing systems.  They
>	should go together.  You needn't care about the methods, but you
>	should care about the results.
>
>	- Michael
>
+--------------------------------------------+
Anger and none can heal it slides through the metal detector
Like a mole in a motel, slide in a slide projector.

Opinions expressed are those of the author.  jdoskow@Tymnet.COM
Newsgroups: ca.politics