Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!decvax!decwrl!rhea!vaxuum!dyer
From: dyer@vaxuum.DEC (Where's the falafel?)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Abolishing Public Schools - Additional Views
Message-ID: <6310@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 19-Mar-84 12:48:31 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.6310
Posted: Mon Mar 19 12:48:31 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Mar-84 02:04:06 EST
Organization: DEC Engineering Network
Lines: 82

~~~	Just to throw some more thoughts into this topic, here's a discussion
that's happening on the E-Net here at DEC.
		<_Jym_>

| Jym Dyer | Nashua, New Hampshire | ...decvax!decwrl!rhea!vaxuum!dyer |

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  18-MAR-1984 22:34           BABEL::BISHOP_2    

So what if private schools divided kids? What's so wrong about that?

And so what if the poor don't get good schooling? Why does their poverty
constitute a claim on me? I'm not even sure they'd get poor schooling
anyway, as we have good evidence (past history) that good schools can
be cheap.
			-John Bishop
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  18-MAR-1984 23:04           PYGMY::BOEBINGER   

"what if the poor don't get good schooling?"  I assume you are speaking
with tongue firmly planted in cheek.  Either that, or Ronald Reagan
got in this file.  If the poor get poor schooling, they tend to stay
poor.  Then they either turn to crime or revolution.

Try to think of the bucks you pay for someone else's education as
fire insurance, if you can't see beyond that to what a well educated
society does for everyone.

john
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  18-MAR-1984 23:17           PYGMY::BOEBINGER   


Actually, this deserves a bit more than that.  According to a rather
exhaustive study done by Dr. James Colemen called "Equality of
Educational Opportunity," the major factor contributing to quality
education was a proper mix of students from varying socioeconomic
backgrounds.  The second factor was how much was spent per pupil
for education (after factoring out varying costs of living).

If you have a school that is made up of predominently socioeconomically
disadvantaged students (75%+), then it doesn't matter how much you
spend.  Their education will suffer.  If you get a proper mix,
then you don't have to spend as much.  The rationale for this (the
study was performed empirically, and the results surprised everyone,
so the rationale has nothing to do with the results) is that the
students who came from advantaged backgrounds stood as role models
for others, and because they got exposed to a wider range of the
population, they learned to appreciate their own experience.

That is the danger of private schools (and the Trojan horse the
right wing has introduced - the voucher system).  It tend to
						  It tends to 
stratify society even more than it is now.  By continuing the
isolation of societal elements, and even enhancing that isolation,
we are in danger of becoming a nation of castes.

Is it truly our wish for the future that our children learn that
the way to live is to live and learn apart?

john
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  19-MAR-1984 01:14           ALIEN::TODD        

Hear, hear!  Take this NOTES file as an educational system in a microcosm:
it's educational for me to find out that even within the DEC 'caste' there
is a WIDE divergence of belief on some fairly basic social issues - and it
seems implicit that anyone contributing to this file must believe that the
airing of such widely divergent ideas serves some purpose.
								- Bill
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  19-MAR-1984 10:44           PIXEL::DICKSON     

Where does divergent beliefs and social backgrounds influence
the teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mon 19-Mar-1984 12:54 Zen (not EST!) Time