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Old 04-08-2008, 05:26 PM
 
Location: DFW, TX
2,935 posts, read 6,695,464 times
Reputation: 572

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Quote:
Originally Posted by beanandpumpkin View Post
I think what the poster meant was that she (he?) objected to children being force-fed facts instead of being given to tools to find information and understand the knowledge imparted. Memorizing a list of historical names and dates means nothing if you do not understand the hows and whys and implications.... and yet that is what kids are expected to do in school: memorize, regurgitate for the test, and forget it.
Exactly... as well as being fed lines like our soldiers are overseas fighting for our freedom. I find that I have to spend at least 30 minutes a week encouraging my daughter to think for herself and research these force fed "facts" to come to her own conclusion. I don't care so much as the conclusion she or other students come to as much as them being encouraged to think for themselves and not relying on a single third party as a source of absolute authority.

And for the record, it's he, not she
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Old 04-08-2008, 10:18 PM
 
Location: Earth
24,620 posts, read 28,187,698 times
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And as a parent, that IS YOUR responsibility.
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Old 04-08-2008, 11:10 PM
 
108 posts, read 349,627 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paperhouse View Post
My issue is waste. Why are public schools more expensive than private which are often better than their "free" counterparts? Is it regulation? Is it just waste? Is it too little or too much oversight? I don't have kids, so I don't pay any attention to the schools around here, although I bought a house in the "good" district.
public schools are more expensive b/c we are required to take all applicants, regardless of their abilities. if they need an aide all day, to take them to the bathroom and wipe their butts, they get one. if the parents of a disabled student can show that a district they are in isn't providing the extra care for the disabled child, that district has to pay to send the kid to another. if they suffer from some form of disability, the public school has to do it's best to accommodate their problems, regardless of what that problem may be. public schools have to deal with all the baggage that comes in with students who are abused at home, traded for sex as 6th graders by their sisters' gang a-hole boyfriend b/c mom is useless, with 8th graders having six with the 30 year old down the street. public schools take the kids who are broken down by society and absentee parents and do our best to provide them with an education that will allow them to succeed, or at least motivate them to do something besides become human waste.

private schools can choose which students are accepted, they do not have to accept students with disabilities if they don't want to. since they don't have to accept these students, they don't have to pay for the extra help necessary for these students.
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Old 04-08-2008, 11:17 PM
 
Location: Pinal County, Arizona
25,100 posts, read 39,126,235 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThAdam View Post
private schools can choose which students are accepted, they do not have to accept students with disabilities if they don't want to. since they don't have to accept these students, they don't have to pay for the extra help necessary for these students.

You are right - private schools CAN be selective - and many are.

Some are so selective they take only students from the lowest economic areas -
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Old 04-08-2008, 11:36 PM
 
Location: DFW, TX
2,935 posts, read 6,695,464 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chielgirl View Post
And as a parent, that IS YOUR responsibility.
I know what my responsibilities are... but by the same token, it would be your responsibility to teach your child not to pay attention to religion in the classroom if I chose to shove it down his or her throat. But somehow I get the feeling you think it would be different in this case...
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Old 04-09-2008, 05:26 AM
 
2,838 posts, read 3,483,260 times
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The importance of public education depends on what value one places on knowledge. Knowledge to fit purpose is certainly of value, but to pursue useless knowledge is worse than worthless, it is a waste of precious time. See Herbert Spencer, "What Knowledge is of Most Worth," Westminster Review (July 1859). Good schools are scarce, and useful knowledge invaluable. Individually, we are as much as we know; and as a nation, our democracy is dependent on an enlightened citizenry, which justifies placing a premium on education. What form that education takes - what curriculum our public schools provide - is a matter, if not all important, at least essential to everyone.
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Old 04-09-2008, 05:32 AM
 
Location: Earth
24,620 posts, read 28,187,698 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by twojciac View Post
I know what my responsibilities are... but by the same token, it would be your responsibility to teach your child not to pay attention to religion in the classroom if I chose to shove it down his or her throat. But somehow I get the feeling you think it would be different in this case...
There’s a difference between fact and fantasy.
I don’t want fantasy taught in the schools when I’m paying taxes for it.
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Old 04-09-2008, 06:47 AM
 
Location: Texas
38,859 posts, read 25,375,906 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paperhouse View Post
What If Public Schools Were Abolished? - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. - Mises Institute





Your thoughts? This article isn't about any President, administration, or policy. It's about the simple idea that the market could provide schools cheaper than the government.

My thought is that the Mises Institute is a semi-crackpot liberterian think tank that desires a return to the 18th century.


The Institute's stated goal is to undermine statism in all its forms. Its methodology is based on praxeology, a description of individual human action which seeks to avoid errors in scientific behavioral observation that could be induced by human self-consciousness and complexity. The Institute's economic theories depict any government intervention as destructive, whether through welfare, inflation, taxation, regulation, or war.

Ludwig von Mises Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


This whole insane notion that "market forces" are the ultimate good and reasonable regulators of the economy is exactly what has led us into the current recession.
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Old 04-09-2008, 07:18 AM
 
Location: Londonderry, NH
41,478 posts, read 59,540,014 times
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In my experience "market forces" seem to be determined by who owns the market. Free market is just another name for rigged game.

Without public education, with all its flaws, we would wind up with a very ignorant public. What a great idea - an ocean of consumers that would believe every advertisement for goods, ideas and politics.

IMHO we need selective public education where the children that can learn to study, think and express themselves are provided with the time and instruction they need. The kids that, for whatever reason, that cannot should be simply trained to survive in an economically inimical society and not much else. The mentally and emotionally handicapped are sick and should be treated and educated in separate facilities because spending the time and effort in a open public school takes resources from the children that will be the future of the society. Schools need to be segregated by ability but not by anything else.
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Old 04-09-2008, 07:45 AM
 
Location: New Mexico
8,396 posts, read 9,409,504 times
Reputation: 4070
Question What if public schools were abolished?

Quote:
Originally Posted by paperhouse View Post
What If Public Schools Were Abolished? - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. - Mises Institute





Your thoughts? This article isn't about any President, administration, or policy. It's about the simple idea that the market could provide schools cheaper than the government.

What possible motivation would a group of wealthy radical right-wingers have for abolishing public education?
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