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Now I'm not talking about all Republicans. But ever since I got my teaching degree, I noticed that conservatives, in general have a much more hostile attitude toward public ed. than liberals. My Democrat friends have always encouraged me in my career choice, while some conservative friends act like "well...whatever floats your boat man...". One friend even tried to get me to switch careers because public schools were so "anti-God". I got the impression that you can't be a true conservative and agree with universal public education. I really believe that what I'm doing is very beneficial to society.
Now I know public schools have problems, and there needs to be reform, but why are so many conservatives wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater?
I don't hate teachers. I do think they should keep their liberal views to them self rather than spew them to my children. My child can make up her/his own mind.
Originally posted by small arms
I don't hate teachers. I do think they should keep their liberal views to them self rather than spew them to my children. My child can make up her/his own mind.
See, I've only had one instance in my twelve years of school where a teacher expressed her views before the class. So I never got the whole "teachers are imposing liberal values on children!" line. I've heard stories from elsewhere, but I don't think it's as widespread as people think. You are right though that most teachers probably vote Democrat. I've met very few Republican teachers.
Educated citizens are smart enough to know when a politician is BSing them so the GOP, at all costs, wants people to be uneducated. That's why they're always slashing education funding and attempting to hollow out real science with religious dogma (like "intelligent design").
Educated citizens are smart enough to know when a politician is BSing them so the GOP, at all costs, wants people to be uneducated. That's why they're always slashing education funding and attempting to hollow out real science with religious dogma (like "intelligent design").
That's a 2 way street.
I prefer to keep religion out of public schools as well.
I think the Republicans, in particular the neo con Republicans along with the Religious Right, want to collapse Public Education for a few reasons. The principal reason is public education erodes class boundaries by intermingling children from different economic classes, races and religions. Another reason is expressed by Small Arms assertion that his kids can think for themselves. The implication is that they can so long as they think like him. For some conservatives the main objection is that public schools teach critical thinking instead of rote memorization and the scientific method instead of faith. Public schooling, at its best, teaches skepticism not the joy of ignorance. Then there is the conservative unwillingness to share their wealth with the less fortunate. The conservatives believe that education of their children is important but the education should be paid by the parents on an individual basis. If parents cannot afford to educate their children the children should remain ignorant. There are more reasons, but these cover most of the antipathy between conservatives and public schooling.
I believe that all levels of education should be available to anyone that displays the talent needed for higher education. I also believe that all discrimination based on legacy admission and economic means should be eliminated. The determination should be a brutal form of Darwinian Selection for intellectual talent. I think the government should pay for this education and recover costs by increasing the income tax rates proportional to the schooling received.
My preference for this system of public education is that human talent, or lack thereof, is evenly distributed over the entire human race. Educated people are the basis of human technological, economic and social progress. They are also the least likely to be swayed by some political or business snake oil salesman. At least I hope so.
Politics and religion should be left out of public schools.
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