> No amount of funding has helped American schools to improve.  Every year the
> school budget passes.  The schools get millions more.  The performance
> continues to drop.

T'was not always so - The 1930s NYC-PS system was arguably the high-water
mark in the US. Where adequate funding was available the result was often
excellence. Witness the army of prominent professionals - Scientists, engineers,
doctors, authors, academics, and God help us - lawyers, which sallied forth from
PS ###, located in some NYC ghetto...

So what happened?  Long story short, the Public Employee Unions wrested control
of the schools from the parents & school boards in the 40s, and it's
been downhill
since.

Jack






On 3/16/08, Rich <rgrazia1@rochester.rr.com> wrote:
> No amount of funding has helped American schools to improve.  Every year the
> school budget passes.  The schools get millions more.  The performance
> continues to drop.  I do not believe that the tragic failure of American
> education is due to lack of funds.  I sent my kids to a private school
> because the education at the schools in our area is pathetic, in my opinion.
> However, I still pay for public education.  Many people cannot afford to
> send their children to a private school and they are stuck with the public
> school system.  The trouble with the public school system is not money it is
> politics.  If we could take the politics out of the schools and introduce
> academics the students would be better education and the country as a whole
> would benefit.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Vitaliy" <spam@maksimov.org>
> To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@mit.edu>
> Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 7:45 PM
> Subject: Re: [OT] Using vouchers to improve the quality of
> schools(was:Education reform)
>
>
> > William "Chops" Westfield wrote:
> >> [...] if all the people who complained that private schools were
> >> too expensive for them were willing to donate, say, 50% of what they
> >> actually COULD afford to their public school, the public schools
> >> could be a lot better.
> >
> > Free Rider problem. And I don't think pouring more money in a system
> > that's
> > inefficient is a good idea anyway.
> >
> >> some of the red-tape associated with public money...)  (at least
> >> here, the most common complaint about the schools is that they are
> >> obviously under-funded; large classes, old books in bad condition,
> >> lack of supplies, etc.  Other areas may have other problems.)
> >
> > Do you know how much money the schools in your area get per child, per
> > year?
> > I imagine the cost of books is a small fraction of that money, which means
> > the schools have misplaced priorities.
> >
> > Vitaliy
> >
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