From: hrubin@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin)
Subject: Availability of private schools.  Was: Re: Public schooling
Organization: Purdue University Statistics Department
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 19:24:17 GMT

In article <7OCT199219412057@ariel.lerc.nasa.gov> secsu@ariel.lerc.nasa.gov (Ralph O. Clark) writes:
>In article <1ast3uINNj1@armory.centerline.com>, mrh@centerline.com (Mike Huben) writes...
>>In article <1992Oct5.041411.3497@genie.slhs.udel.edu> starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu
>>(Tim Starr) astounds us with his typical libertarian grasp of reality: not!

			...........................

>Except that rich people can just send their kids to private schools and
>avoid the problem. It IS the poor (OK, and the middle class) who get
>screwed by the public schools just because there is no alternative for
>them. Susceptability to being screwed by bad schools is inversely proprotional
>to income.

Even the rich cannot always find appropriate schools.  This happened to us
at a time when we were not poor, but definitely not rich; the local (and 
quite good) public school suggested that our quite young son go to an academic
private school.  It was not the expense which put a kibosh to this--it was 
never investigated.  It was that there was no one available closer than 80
miles away!

>> Yet there are lots of public schools
>>that work VERY well.  The alternative libertarians don't want you to think
>>about is making public schools work well.

A school can work well if it has competent teachers, and if the teachers are 
willing to teach up to the capacities of the individual children. 

Consider the second aspect; this clearly means grouping not on the basis of
age, but on the basis of ability and accomplishment.  A little of this is
coming back, but the changes of 60 years ago are not that easily reversed.  
Together with this is massive upgrading of the curriculum to restore thinking
and deemphasize rote.  It cannot be done except under unusual circumstances.
A university community may not even be enough.

Note that this may mean that many children do not progress at the "normal"
rate, and some much faster.  The second is barely politically acceptable,
and the first is almost illegal.

The other problem is getting teachers.  Since the present teachers have
largely been produced by the current system, and frequently do not have
even a fair understanding of their subject, they cannot teach the good
students to use their abilities.  Those going to college now are largely
devoid of the preparation expected before WWII, and the problem is not
only with what they do not know, but they have been taught to regurgitate
and manipulate instead of thinking and reasoning.  The "old" methods were
far from perfect, and those who could not figure things out for themselves
which could have been taught did not learn too well, but at least concepts
and reasoning were tested.

>The alternative YOU don't like is to get the state's fingers out of the
>pie. We have plenty of evidence that the public schools work badly, 
>and that throwing money (or anything else) at them doesn't work.

>>What makes public schools work badly?  Libertarians like to demonize unions
>>and "bureaucracy", without any evidence but their accusation.  Yet numerous
>>studies show that inequities in funding due to local control of the purse
>>strings pitting property owners and businesses against parents and children
>>are a major factor.

Funding is not the problem.  I have described parts of the problem.

		[Funding discussions deleted.]

>>4) Private schools will be more efficient.

>>Right.  Sure.  What costs will they cut?  I suppose they'll jam more
>>students into a classroom.  But let's not forget the costs they'll add.
>>Marketing, advertising, exorbitant salaries of executives (yup, private
>>schools have bureaucracies too), profit for investors, etc.

Private schools will be ALLOWED to teach.  Some will do the present junk,
so are we worse off?  But by and large, public schools can not.
-- 
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
Phone: (317)494-6054
hrubin@snap.stat.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)  
{purdue,pur-ee}!snap.stat!hrubin(UUCP)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.libertarian