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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.edpolyan
Date:         Sun, 24 Jan 1993 09:45:00 CDT
              <EDPOLYAN@ASUACAD.BITNET>
From:         "John O. Wong" <JOHNWONG@MACC.WISC.EDU>
Subject:      Re: The reality of the Clinton school choice.

Covaleskie,

Good to see your comments on schools again.  And of course, I miss Jane Clark
Lindle as well, not only for her insights, but also because she is an alumni of
our University (am I wrong on this point, Jane).

Back to your question of whether private schools, once receiving public
funding, becomes "public" schools.  Let me borrow a page from your book, and
begin "dissembling" reality.  First, let us consider government and schools.

Given the inclination of government today, fewer and fewer things are "private"
in the sense that the government's wishes can be ignored, funding or no
funding.  Schools are not being considered in isolation here.  The way public
schools are run is symptomatic of the problems relating to society in general,
and especially with government.  Many policies, once drafted to promote the
public good, are now the sources of dysfunction if not injustice.

Secondly, despite the increasing "public" nature of any citizen organization,
there are still some differences which may marginally make a difference for
some people.  Schools are among these "things" which mean a lot to parents who
care about their children's well being, physically as well as spiritually.
Local taxes in many states are heavy.  Unsually, two-thirds of them go towards
schools.  Public schooling in many ways is the ONLY choice for SOME parents,
regardless of their persuasion.  In our attempts to make it work, we should at
ALL TIMES re-evaluate if indeed we are serving the vast majority of the people,
and not alienate the majority in the name of serving them for what are
essentially ideological reasons specific to a profession.

Thirdly, the "public/private" discussion, while serving some theoretical
purpose in the overall scheme of things, is ultimately not too important if for
practical reasons, the schools do what the parents want them to do.  This is
where our society's failings are today when it comes to schools -- esp. in the
inner cities and large metropolitan areas, and spreading further out into the
suburbs where most of us on this list live.  From my perspective, the schools
in our city is unrelentingly heading towards the wrong direction in more ways
than one.

Fourthly, "voucher" is not the ONLY mechanism possible.  There are quite a few
ways to run schools.  Look around the world, and we can see what other
possibilities are out there.  Cutting local taxes drastically may be the other
alternative.  A lot depends on what faith people have in government, and vice
versa.  Suffice to say that things don't work today because there is not much
faith going either way, and we should really ask why??

Lastly, I find it most disingenuous for Covaleskie and Glass to advance the
implied thesis that "public funding for private schools turns all schools
public."  This is scarecrow tactics:  Settle for what little "choice" you've
got left now, and keep quiet, or else the government will take it all over.

I suggest that it is high time we reconsider the basis of our public funding of
schools, the manner in which they are manages and controlled, the monopolistic
nature of the educational establishment, the ideology being promulgated in
schools of education around the country, and the alternatives we must work
towards not only theoretically, but also politically to make those necessary
changes to make our schools work again.


                                    # John Wong (608)263-3025
                                    # johnwong@wiscmacc.bitnet
                                    # johnwong@macc.wisc.edu
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