[summer]

While I like any progress towards full privatization of K-12 Education

Not me, Mudboy. Did you know that President Bush sent his daughters to public high schools in Texas? Do you think that's because he couldn't afford to send them to private schools? Or, is it because he and First Lady Bush were happy with the quality of education in those public schools?

Not all private schools are great. The idea that just because a school is private means it's automatically better than every public school is just plain false, and parents (and teachers) who have substantial experience in both settings will honestly tell you that.

So, dream on about the illusion you have with respect to all schools being wonderful just because they are private. Not true in every case. Believe me.

And, don't even get me started on how much LESS money teachers in private school are paid in comparison to their public school counterparts. The only reason any of those private school teachers stay is because the kids are so well behaved and the parents are involved. If those two elements didn't exist, many private school teachers would quit their jobs in about five minutes.

[Mudboy Slim]

"...full privatization of K-12 Education"

"Not me, Mudboy. Did you know that President Bush sent his daughters to public high schools in Texas? Do you think that's because he couldn't afford to send them to private schools? Or, is it because he and First Lady Bush were happy with the quality of education in those public schools?"

Hey...I went to public schools, too...there are certainly many good ones out there, just not enough.

I misspoke when I said "full privatization", although I believe we'll eventually end up there. We can all agree that the Federal Guv'ment has no business whatsoever in the school system, right?! Ever since we've had the RAT-Punks do-nothings at the Dept. of Education, performance has steadily gone down...teachers don't need yet another level of bureaucracy and the DOE needs to be phased out as soon as possible, IMHO. States and localities--especially--need to work with the parents of the locality to provide educational options for the children/parents...but we must give the Power to Educate their Children back to the Parents!! That's what I'm talking about...if I've payed taxes all my life to help put other folks' kids through school in my area, then my kids reach school-age and I'm not satisfied with the local public school, I ought to have the opportunity to spend that money elsewhere for education. Before long, the educational options that would spring up would boggle the mind...and many/most of them would be the brainchild of teachers who know better methods of teaching their particular student base than some Centralized BureaucRAT regulation-writer.

"Not all private schools are great."

I never said--or implied that...however, a big difference being that Private Schools either succeed or they go outta business; while public schools can fail year after year after year and continue to pollute children's minds with nonsensical garbage.

"So, dream on about the illusion you have with respect to all schools being wonderful just because they are private."

No such illusion, my FRiend; however, Socialism fails every time it is tried and we now have a very Socialist K-12 Public Education System and seem confused that schools continue to perform below expectations despite huge expenditures in Taxpayer $$ and Effete Elite Expertise...ever-increasing amounts of competitive Capitalism will fix what the RATS never will, IMHO.

FReegards...MUD