1. Yes, there are dumb Democrats that vote against school referendums. But organized efforts to vote down school referendums are always brought by no-new-taxes Republicans. They don’t like the taxes.
2. Public schools have no competition. There is a big, fat, huge difference between public and private schools that you are glossing over. Public schools have to accept everybody. The poorest, the most handicapped (or whatever the PC word is), those without support at home. Public schools don’t get to pick and choose. Also please note that private schools are expensive! Money seems to help just fine for private schools like Blake. Who the hell says that money won’t provide for a better education, of course it does.
Do a little test. Force all private schools to accept all applicants. Then see how well they “compete”.
3. Public schools don’t need competition. Competition implies winners and losers. In markets, some do well and some close up shop. We can’t close up shop. We need schools everywhere. Failure is not an option. Competition is the wrong way to think about education. Schools are not markets. They shouldn’t be markets.
4. Being anti-teacher is just retarded. Teachers are where the rubber meets the road. It’s like being anti-doctor. Teacher’s unions are a force for good in the world. Teachers are a force for good. You’ve met these people. They are good people. Not perfect but good, way better than average. You should be ashamed to be anything but pro-teacher. You are not pro-teacher if you are anti-teacher’s union.
5. School vouchers are the dumbest idea ever put forward by Righties. Here’s an idea, I have private security company that provides security at my house. (I don’t really, but bear with me.) So I don’t need the police. Plus the police need competition, right? Let’s take $100/month out of the police budget and give it to me, in a voucher, to offset my expenses with my private security company. Isn’t that a great idea? OF COURSE NOT. If you are rich enough to afford private security you don’t need a voucher from public money. Same goes for education. The Righties lie to us and say that school vouchers allow non-rich people to send their kids to private schools, too. That is completely false. A) the vouchers aren’t nearly enough money and B) private schools can just raise their rates by the same amount to keep the status quo. Plus, as I said, private schools can deny anybody they want. They have no constitutional mandate. They are an entirely different animal.
I hope I never have to send my kids to a private school. I am the son of public school teachers and I want us, the people, to provide high-quality education to every single child, period and without exception. If people choose to send their kids to private schools, fine, I don’t care. But do it on your own dime.
Like I said at the beginning, the correct way to address any problems in the public education system is to fix them. There is no other option and taking money out of the public education system and giving it to private schools is perhaps the dumbest “solution” I have ever heard.
lolife 
wow!, mic took his ball and went home…again…how sad for him, but then again, how very typical…
he can dish it out, but can’t take it….
I suppose I will never find out what merit there is in school vouchers….pity.
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Classy, the ad hominem attack always proves your point, doesn’t it? OK, you win.
This is another example of why the left is so retarded, you can’t have a different view without being attacked by being called a racist, or a misogynist, or a greedy SOB. I believe in school choice and vouchers, you don’t. There are merits to each side. For you to just declare that “my head is up my ass” just tells me one thing, debates with you are a waste of my time.
Peace out
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Let me finish my thought.
7. When you point out how wrong I am…it makes me warm and happy in my heart because it completely affirms my position because your head is completely up your ass.
To compare public and private schools is inane. Tantamount to comparing a Ford F150 to a BMW.
One is snazzy and sporty and fit for a small number of folks and the other one just gets the job done.
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7.When you point out how wrong I am…it makes me warm and happy in my heart.
Well, the first step is admitting that you have a problem.
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Mic,Mic, Mic
1. Private school offer so much less (classes, services, extra-curric. etc). Your cost comparison doesn’t hold up.
They could educate handicapped kids more efficiently? Plain wrong. Since they pay such higher salaries and the requirements for both public and private schools concerning the education of handicapped children is the same…I just don’t know how you can make that statement???
2. Salaries…true but not across the board. Many private schools pay waaaaay less. Myopic union?, since ND does not have a teachers union, you will have to expand.
3. unions are bad…ship education over seas…Unions are good and bad….
4. NA
5.we agree…more money for teachers less for admin…bravo
6. I don’t think PC-ness is what drives Special Needs. While PC-ness is a pain in the butt, it is shallow to think that is what has brought about “mainstreaming”
7.When you point out how wrong I am…it makes me warm and happy in my heart.
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You guys are both invested in defending the status quo of an old broken system that, for the most part, is not serving our children well at all despited floods of money.
I don’t have the time or inclination to point by point go through your post but I want to make a few points and be done with it.
The average public school spends about $8000 per student while the average private school spends about $4,500. My guess is if they had to take handicapped kids, they could do it more efficiently than public schools.
Private school teachers make much more (25 – 100% more) than public school teachers. This is even without the “help” of the corrupt and myopic teachers union.
The other government workers unions also need to go as they contribute to the outrageous cost of public schools. In some instances, janitors make more than teachers. This makes sense to who?
Your analogy to the police is stupid. There is no comparison. You obviously can’t have dozens of private militias running around defending different households. You can have school choice.
I’m not anti-teacher, see #2 above. Teachers should make more money. School systems should stop wasting so much on administration and bureaucracy and spend it on teachers.
I have a brother-in-law & sister-in-law that are both in the school system. They hate the teachers union, are they anti-teacher? One is a teacher and the other is a personal aid for handicapped kids. Some kids should be “mainstreamed,” other kids shouldn’t because there disabilities are so severe that they would be better helped elsewhere. This is another result of political-correctness run amok.
Ummm, have I mentioned that you guys are just wrong? 😉
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agreed!
additional point.
Public Schools need the parents that “care” to help offset those that don’t. If we encourage, via voucher, those that care, to pull out of the public system it certainly will not help. Parents “are” the school. They “are” the school board.
Good communities= good schools (yes, a generalization..but accurate more times than not)
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