Tony Smith wrote:
> I'll add that in Australia, all schools receive some degree of Government
> funding, be they public, private or whatever, including religious schools.
> They public/private divide isn't so neat & tidy.  There is much grumbling
> that private schools (funded by student fees) shouldn't receive this, 
> since
> you are disadvantaging public schools (less cash)

You're kind of missing the point, Tony. The public schools are a means to an 
end, and the end is -- educated population. If parents choose to take the 
money away from the public schools, because they feel their kids can get a 
better education at a private school, that is perfectly alright. They are 
actually doing the society a favor by spending the money more efficiently.

> and anyway, that's against
> the point of private - you don't rely on Government handouts.

Did you not read my point #1, about education being a positive externality? 
And even if it wasn't, private schools would not need the "handouts" if the 
public school system wasn't a fully subsidized government monopoly.

> Vouchers won't work because this sort of scheme never does.

During our first year in the US, our family was receiving food stamps (can 
also be called "food vouchers"). I assure you they were spent as intended 
(to buy food).

There was a guy I know who had a very big family. The formula is flawed (you 
don't need ten times as many food stamps to feed ten kids), so he had a 
suplus of food stampls, and did in fact illegally convert them to cash. None 
of the kids suffered from malnutrition. So "this sort of scheme" definitely 
achieves the intended result, flawed as it may be.

> I simply sell
> my vouchers for half price to my neighbours, and then go buy some booze 
> with
> the cash.

It sounds like a valid concern, but:

1. In the US, all children are required by law to attend school. Vouchers 
won't change that.

2. You wouldn't sell your kid's vouchers to buy booze, and neither would I. 
I stand by my assertion that most parents want the best for their children.

3. Stealing your kid's vouchers is just another form of child abuse/neglect. 
In those rare cases when a parent is found to be not acting in the child's 
best interest, the same recourses would exist (e.g., assign a guardian).

> My boss was telling me that at a school near him, they have started
> providing the children with breakfast since the parents obviously can't.
> The kids pay more attention when they're not starving.  Solve that.

Vouchers. Mine was in the form of a PIN code I entered at the register in 
the school's cafeteria.

> What a pointless thread.  Society says all of its citizens should have a
> basic education, so we let the government sort it out.

Spoken like a true socialist. :)  What other choices would you let your 
government make for you?

> For those not happy
> with that, start your own school.

That's exactly what we want to do. The problem is, the government takes the 
money we need to start our own school, and gives it to our competitor -- a 
wasteful, inefficient monopoly.

> Then you can be sued when you simply
> accept bodies for cash and don't educate them, as per Jinx's post.

I don't see what your point is.

Vitaliy

PS Byron had some interesting points in his post (under the old thread) 
which I was almost done replying to, when OE crashed. I will try to recreate 
the reply, eventually. :) 

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