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michael22
reply to post by greencmp
Well, if it just the money you are worried about and don't want to change the tax structure (not my solution, obviously), why not just allow the already allocated funds to go to home or private schooling and eliminate public school altogether?
We spend an average of $10K to 15K per child here in Massachusetts, that seems to be more than enough.
Well it's not the money at all. Right now, homeschooling parents are self-selecting, so of course they're going to excel at it. And wealthy people (most of whom are well-educated to begin with) can afford private school, which has access to the best teachers, because there is this lower pool of public school teachers who want to make more money. (Right now, private school has a farm system.) For most rich kids, the having of smart parents is a profoundly relevant predeterminant to the raising of intelligent kids who go to good colleges. So you're looking at beautiful data under perfect circumstances.
I'd just like for this to go slowly, because there is a flattening of opportunity that comes with a decent level of access to a fairly inadequate K-12 education. Burning that down, tossing aside all learned lessons, and starting anew seems reckless at best. We're trying new models for homeschooling, and "private school" is not a monolith. I'm with you, a little.
I'll leave you with this unsupported assertion: there are public schools that outperform private schools in student outcomes.
By the way, how do you define student outcomes? [sets bear trap, puts leaves over it, whistles indifferently]
reply to post by greencmp
I am a bit confused, what are you saying exactly?
That there is no better way to spend $15,000 for a child's education than on public school?
Well it's not the money at all.
michael22
reply to post by greencmp
Well, if it just the money you are worried about and don't want to change the tax structure (not my solution, obviously), why not just allow the already allocated funds to go to home or private schooling and eliminate public school altogether?
We spend an average of $10K to 15K per child here in Massachusetts, that seems to be more than enough.
Well it's not the money at all. Right now, homeschooling parents are self-selecting, so of course they're going to excel at it. And wealthy people (most of whom are well-educated to begin with) can afford private school, which has access to the best teachers, because there is this lower pool of public school teachers who want to make more money. (Right now, private school has a farm system.) For most rich kids, the having of smart parents is a profoundly relevant predeterminant to the raising of intelligent kids who go to good colleges. So you're looking at beautiful data under perfect circumstances.
I'd just like for this to go slowly, because there is a flattening of opportunity that comes with a decent level of access to a fairly inadequate K-12 education. Burning that down, tossing aside all learned lessons, and starting anew seems reckless at best. We're trying new models for homeschooling, and "private school" is not a monolith. I'm with you, a little.
I'll leave you with this unsupported assertion: there are public schools that outperform private schools in student outcomes.
By the way, how do you define student outcomes? [sets bear trap, puts leaves over it, whistles indifferently]
I am a bit confused, what are you saying exactly?
That there is no better way to spend $15,000 for a child's education than on public school?
michael22
reply to post by greencmp
I am a bit confused, what are you saying exactly?
That there is no better way to spend $15,000 for a child's education than on public school?
Well it's not the money at all.
And now I'm a bit confused. I wrote a whole thing. Please see above.edit on 20-10-2013 by michael22 because: (no reason given)