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From: tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: Newsflash! [Subsidized Education]
Message-ID: <293@ubvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 12-Aug-85 10:40:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: ubvax.293
Posted: Mon Aug 12 10:40:23 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Aug-85 05:32:25 EDT
References: <955@umcp-cs.UUCP> <1110@umcp-cs.UUCP> <290@ubvax.UUCP> <1191@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Reply-To: tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch)
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Organization: Ungermann-Bass, Inc., Santa Clara, Ca.
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Xref: tektronix net.politics.theory:00989 

In article <1191@umcp-cs.UUCP> flink@maryland.UUCP (Paul V. Torek) writes:
>In article <290@ubvax.UUCP> tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch) writes:
>>Education does one massive thing that its lack or its privatization
>>could not:  it sets up people with credentials before they get their
>>first job.
>
>Why couldn't private education do this?  (By the way:  I neglected to
>mention in my original article that I have in mind high scool and higher
>education, primarily.  I support education of kiddies at the public's
>expense, at least for poor kids.)

Depends what you call private education.  "Pseudo" private education
would be where every private system holds to the same or close to the
same rules for awarding credentials; then it might as well be public
for all the difference it makes.

The Ivy Leagues, for instance, are classic "pseudo" private schools.

But in Libertaria, it's easy to imagine public unity over the meaning
of credentials breaking down from competition between private schools.
At some threshold of disagreement over educational credentials, most
such credentials will lose their value.  For-profit technical and
beauty schools already suffer this problem today.

I would think that investing in private education in the absence of
strong public standards would carry immense risks, since a huge
investment would be demanded for credentials whose future value
has no backing, hence is a dubious bet to estimate.  Lots of people
might cut their feared losses and drop out needlessly.

Tony Wuersch
{amd,amdcad}!cae780!ubvax!tonyw