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It has been 27 yrs. since I was in a classroom as a pupil. However, I have more awareness of what goes on in a classroom than you might think. Your 60% figure and 80% figure are just pulled out of the air and not relevent to a classroom in a good school with a good teacher. I have only been exposed to those through my own experience and that of my sons. I had no problem with either of their curriculems in public and private schools.

State control of schools is not as great as the mythologists like to pretend. Outside of mandating a few basic classes not much of the curriculem is demanded by the State. Most of the better schools have many electives after the required courses are taken none of which is State imposed. Local school boards make most of the major decisions i.e. your neighbors and mine.

As I explained in other posts the U.S. scores are dragged down by the explosion of single parent minority children, handicapped children and non-English speaking children which the State mandates be educated. Public schools are not allowed to throw them to the dogs as would be the case without public schools. How can "home schooled" kids be in public school classrooms? Why would they be there exposed to all the nefarious influences of the Satanic evils which run rampant there? Surely their parents would not approve?

Millions of fine kids are educated by the Public school systems of this nation. Their achievements are poo pooed and denigrated by the ideologues here and elsewhere who seem to know little of which they speak and subsist on a diet of fantasy and Bullshiite. And who are supremely thin skinned and defensive towards less than abject kowtowing to the sacred beliefs of the anti-social and ill-educated. The public schools my sons attended all had test scores far above the national average in reading and math. They also had the involvement of two loving parents. That is the most important factor in educational success.

Edison was not a true scientist but an inventor. They are not the same thing. Franklin was similiar. Einstein was educated in German technical schools. Again you have to disaggregate the scores of American students and separate out those whose social situations restrict their learning abilities. We really have a two tier public educational system in this country and they have much different results starting with much different student material. Those in the upper tier compare favorably with student anywhere in all subjects. Those in the lower tier bring down the scores of all. Sad but with their families essentially out of control there is little that can be done about it.

Ideologues are fond of broad and sweeping generalizations from small data sets and are rarely accurate in their assessments of anything much less education. I also suspect that the most fevered critics are also the least educated.

Schools without homework? Betcha learn a lot of language, Statistics, Adv. Math, Adv. Chemistry and Physics that way. NOT! And where are you going to find Greek and Latin teachers to teach that "Classical" education?

The 60% figure and 80% figure are not just pulled out of the air, I will find the report. It is a Government national assessment report. Also these numbers were use in building the Bush policy on national testing and failing schools.

These numbers also prove that no matter how many sons you have had get a good education, the trend is otherwise for the majority. Your sons school had scores higher than the national average, which shows the failing at most public schools.

You talk allot about the "better" schools and the "good" Teachers, yet the statistics say that those are not the norm.

Some home school and private school children attend various classes at public High School. These are usually Band, Choir or some such other "arts" program. The Schools allow this for the statistical advantage Private and Home School children bring to their scores. It also allows them to take up 100% of the allowance per student for "part timers".

You show your bias in your comments towards parents that would allow their children to attend certain classes. You obviously do not know the reasoning most parents Home School. I do not Home school to keep my children safe from Satan, I do it to ensure my Childs place in his/her future. I would never send my child to a public school, they are too important to me. It is private or home school, no second rate education for my kids.

As for State mandates on Rules, Regulations and Curriculum, there are many court cases showing the clashes between Parents and School officials, State Bureaucrats and the federal government. These would be non-existent if not for the control of the Government in education.

You should read the real statistics and stop comparing the issues only to your own experience. The real state of education is abysmal and everyone but you admits it. The only question is what to do about it.