On Fri, Mar 07, 2008 at 06:50:49PM -0500, Cedric Chang wrote:
> Sorry Byron  I can't agree.
> 
> The only moral and workable approach is to have private
> schools ...... period.  No public funding.

We can agree to disagree. My rationale is pretty simple: there are a subset of
human endeavor that cannot be accomplished without cooperation from
multiple people. And humans simply will not put into a common pot unless
something is in it for them.

Simple question: If you no longer had to pay any taxes, would you?

I think we all know the answer to that question.

>  It will turn out that
> many philanthropists such as Bill Gates will step forward to fund
> private education.

They will fund what they want to and leave the rest to suffer.

>  Public education is largely lowest denominator education because the
>  government attacts  drones, has ridiculous regulations and exceptionally
>  antiquated goals.  Everyone should be encouraged to support private
>  education through donations of dollars, time and materials.

And those who do not have dollars will fall right through the cracks even
worse then they are now. You're proposing a system where some segment of
the population has no hope of even being educated.

> The world is not a level playing field and no government should try
> to alter that.  Private efforts are to be applauded because they are
> voluntary and moral and delicious.  Forced contributions are foul.

Nice Libertarian view. Let me clue you in on a little secret that's closer
to the truth: When you disenfranchise a significant segment of the
population, that segment generally rises up and simply starts taking what
they perceive they need. We already see a glimmer of that reality now. Fuel
it by making the situation hopeless by not having public schools at all,
and you'll find folks on your doorstep looking for what they need.

Your proposal will throw our somewhat modern society back into a feudal
collection of city states where those who have wall themselves in to keep
the have nots out.

Good luck with that.

> 
> Private education worked in the 1800s and it would work now as long
> as bureaucrats were kept away from schools.

Private education worked in the 1800s because only a small elite segment of
the population was educated. But we no longer live in an agricultral or
industrial age where the workforce didn't really need to know anything in
order to function effectively.

Like I said in the beginning, we agree to disagree.

BAJ
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