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I’m interested in hearing what other think about Privatizing the school system and what you would do if you were the governor of your state. What steps would you take to improve your education system?
If I was the governor of my state I’d privatize most of the public school system. I would have the state government run short term schooling, trade schools, and vocational schools, but most k-5, 6-8, 9-12 would be privatized. I think the schools would run much more efficiently, the state would realize cost saving measures, as well as tax increases (schools would pay a tax under my system, although they would be subsidized for a 3 year period to start). Teachers pay would be dictated by the market and would go up based on performance and qualifications etc. Teachers Unions, would have to be company specific (meaning which ever school they are employed by). No more massive teacher lobbying Unions. As opposed to paying 5,000 dollars for a pupil, that money would go directly to the parents to choose the right school for their children etc. Parent’s responsibilities would increase, because they would now be responsible for looking up information, which would be readily available on schools etc and they would have to provide transportation (which for poorer families would be heavily subsidized via a tax credit for miles driven picking up or dropping off kids). This would probably provide an incentive for private operators of kid car pools, which would have to be regulated and meet standards set by the state for the safety of the kids. Also schools could contract third private truancy companies to make sure students attended schools on a regular basis etc. The education industry could add a huge boom to states bottom line.
What happens when one school outperforms others and all the parents want to send their children to that particular school, but demand has increased the cost? My hope is that under a privatized system, the school will expand and branch out to other areas and offer its services throughout the state etc. (Kind of like McDonalds etc)
What about schools that do not perform well, loose students, and eventually shut down, where will those students go? Here’s where government would come in. I think we’d provide some schooling for a short period until those parents can find adequate education at another school. State government would only provide short term learning until students can be absorbed into another privatized school.
What are your ideas for a privitized public education system?
Sounds like more Libertarian "fantasy world". Studies prove that you can take poor students from under-performing schools, put them in great schools, and they still don't do well. Why? It's the home environment - parents that don't care, don't help, don't discipline, etc. It's a problem no public or private school can fix.
Sorry.. privatizing education is a great way to get the schools to run on GREED..NOT on what is best for the education of hte child and a great way for the rich elite to block out a good education with those that do not have as much money as them.. BAD IDEA!! Really BAD IDEA...
Just My Opinion..
Sound familiar? Like our current health care system?
I'm OK with public schools, but they should be paid for with vouchers, and compete with alternative schools. I've seen good and bad public schools, and teachers. Competition is needed in this field.
Vouchers don't provide transportation to and from those schools. Studies have found that the people who benefit the most from vouchers, are people who could have afforded to send their kids to private school anyway. (The vouchers are not benefiting the intended targets.)
Care to compare achievement and performance in any given random sampling of private schools versus any given random sampling of public schools?
Really, it has nothing to do with religion or state sponsorship
That's a distraction and, quite possibly, an outright lie.
It has everything to do with the private sector performing a function that is so absolutely critical to the viability of our civilization (the education of our children) wildly better than the government does it and, religion or not, people don't want to keep sending their kids to garbage schools to prop up the idiotic views of a few uber-leftist types who have a visceral hatred for anything having to do with religion, a totally delusional view of government run schools and an ego-driven unwillingness to accept the fact that the facts say their "public school" ideals suck. (run-on sentences RULE!)
A simple Google will find an article written less than 3 months ago that has proven that students in fact don't do better in Private schools. It was all over the news when it was published.
Instead of trying to go back to something closer to the 1800's, why not look at the most successful public school systems in the world, whatever they are, and take some lessons from what they're doing?
Because what works in one country doesn't work in another.How about taking your advise and dismantling the dept of education and let states control their education totally and then we have 50 choices to see what works and doesn't?
And you speak of religious doctrination,what about the political doctrination by Dems in cahoots with school administrators because of the fed being involved in education?
As someone who more-or-less considers myself a libertarian, I struggle with this one issue far more than any other. I don't know if I trust a lot of parents, TYPICALLY the single mother on welfare type, to make the right choices for their kids. In this, there will be schools who compete solely on price, with a disregard for quality. And parents will still put kids in these schools.
What I would do if I was in charge...
-Get rid of the DOE. So redundant, replicated in every state.
-Give teachers more responsibility and freedom. I'll trust a teacher than an administrator. Reward them on performance.
-Reduce the power of teachers unions. Time and time again you see unions acting on their own behalf and not on the behalf of the students.
-More responsibility and challenge to the students. We live in an age when people make excuses for kids and I think it affects the overall quality of education. I am going to catch a lot of heat for this, but schools are pretty much required to cater more to the slower kids then they are the smart kids. It should be the other way around. As a society, we will get the most return on our educational investment from the smartest kids. They aren't getting what they need.
Does anyone think that Education vouchers were for poor people? They are a direct government subsidy for the affluent and the "christian" propoganda mills.
Although I strongly advocate government run schools, I do not favor mandatory testing or "one size fit all" schooling. I also do not believe in wasting time and energy on the kids that do not want or benefit from an education. I believe the goal of an education is to instill a desire to learn and the tools to think about what you have learned. Learning a trade, like electrician or accountant, is a sideline to a real education. Producing industrial programmable biological robots is not education but an introduction to wage slavery.
I also do not believe in wasting time and energy on the kids that do not want or benefit from an education.
How do you determine who these kids are? My own daughter required a lot of help in the language arts area from K-5. She went on to graduate in the top 10% of her high school class at a very competitive high school. She is now in college and regualarly makes the Dean's List. So much for kids who do not benefit, e.g. kids with special needs.
As far as not wanting an education, that is not usually apparent until high school. Even then, some kids are very late bloomers, and their grades improve towards the end of HS. Education is a necessity. I think it's important to keep them in school as long as possible, till graduation from HS preferably.
Education is a necessity. I think it's important to keep them in school as long as possible, till graduation from HS preferably.
But what education is critical? While I agree that basic life skills are necessary, subjects like PreCalc, Physics, and C++ Programming aren't going to benefit everyone. Instead of trying to shove a square peg in a round hole, we need to offer different paths through our education system.
There's nothing wrong with allowing those who want to persue a trade to be taught those skills in school. Cisco does a great job in pushing in-class training in highschool and colleges with their network academy, teaching students the basics of computer networking. They give those that want to go into college and become engineers and computer scientists a leg up on the competition, but they also help those who aren't right for college get a head start with the skills necessary to get started in the IT field right after college.
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