Rich wrote:

> The role of a constitutional republican government (like the U.S.) is
> primarily [...] to protect the rights of its citizens from the
> encroachment of others.  Thomas Jefferson was first to advocate public
> education, but it is not within the scope of American political
> philosophy. 

May be or may not be, no? It may well turn out that public education is an
essential element of protecting the rights of the citizens from the
encroachment of others. Jails and death rows may not cut it (alone).

> In America the playing field is relatively level.  

Most probably can agree on that, but it of course depends on the reference
frame for the "relatively". 

> What the U.S. system does is provide education for every citizen without
> cost to the student, at the primary and secondary level.  

What some here argue is that the education provided is much worse than it
could be. If that is in fact so, it definitely affects the reference frame
for the "relatively" above.

> On the job training comes into play because academia does not have the
> wherewithal to train people on the specific products and multivarious
> requirements of industry.

There's a strange thing. I've heard quite a lot that the qualifications of
non-academic but still qualified German workers (carpenters, blacksmiths,
mechanics and so on) are generally in high regard. This is probably for the
most part because in Germany there is a formal (public) education system
that covers these professions. In short, there is a curriculum and a school
(generally 20% of the work time is school, 80% is on the job). Furthermore,
the companies that train these apprentices must fulfill certain
requirements (it is not allowed to "train" an apprentice by letting him
clean toilets for most of the time, for example). Yet, even though the
effects of this model of professional education seem to be appreciated, it
doesn't seem to be considered anywhere else.

Gerhard

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