Take Down The Schools?
I’m not a fan of the public school system. I think anyone who has read my rants is perfectly aware that I’d like to tear the entire system down and start over again. However, I know that it would take a perfect world for something like that to happen. Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world. So we have to make do with what we’ve got.
And one of the things we have is public schools, paid for by our taxes. I found a post recently in my Google alerts from a homeschooling mom who might just dislike public schools more than me. Or rather, dislikes the taxes spent to pay for them. To her she feels that it is unfair for people not actively using the school system to have to pay for it with their taxes.
I absolutely disagree. Even though my children are not in public schools, and hopefully never will be, I still understand that public schools are benefiting me. When the kid at the cash register counts back my change it is his public school education benefiting me. When I read the newspaper I am benefiting from the writers’ public school educations. The person who made my fireplace, the person who fixes my car, the person who keeps my internet up and running. Chances are they all went to public school where they learned at least the basics of math, writing, and science. And without those basics to build on they would not be able to provide the many services I use today. I am more than happy to pay to make sure that the person I am engaging with at least partially knows what they are doing.
In a perfect world parents would be able to provide a more perfect education for their children, but that’s just not the world we live in. Many, many, many would go without any education at all. And that would hurt me in the long run.
June 21st, 2008 at 1:13 pm
A big thing I’m trying to teach my kids is the importance of doing things that help people even if it won’t benefit them.
Supporting public schools is part of that, too. Living in a society (and in a family) means sometimes doing things that are entirely for another’s benefit.
June 21st, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Wow. I didn’t mean to sound so terse. It’s a good argument - public education is a part of the commons and we need to support it for everyone’s good, including our own. I’ve been on a mission for a while, though, to catch myself using that kind of logic with my kids. (Thanks to Alfie Kohn’s books, I think.)
June 25th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I would interested in your thoughts about switching to a voucher system. While I agree that it is good to give to others, wouldn’t it be even better to give to others in a way that empowers them?
For instance, some of our taxes goes into the public school system. If instead it went to parents in the form of vouchers, they could use it to send their kid to a local public school, or subsidize a private or home schooling experience. Then we are helping everyone (even those who homeschool), and adding our capitalism ideals into the system too: Promoting competition and thereby improving the system.
Schools that work would get more money and therefore improve, and those that do not would disappear. Right now, it does not seem like there is any real accountability and just a cry for more money for the “system”. Adding a voucher type-system could add that much needed accountability.
Thoughts?
Thanks!
~Luke
June 25th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Luke, I am actually in favor of the voucher system to a degree. I know that in many areas it would not work well, such as where I live where there are no school options. However, I do think parents should be empowered to make choices about their children’s education and i think that if allowed to choose more parents would remove their children from poor schools or choose not to use poor teachers causing them to either shape up or go under.