Driven,

The states already use their tax money for the schools. One problem with what you're saying is that each state has a different amount of money. Some have more and some have alot less.

Charter schools can turn students away for what ever reason the want -low test scores, behavioral issues, or whatever. That's something to think about when looking at their scores.

There are 3 Charter schools in St. Louis. They are pretty new. They're not impressive, IMO. My child's friend, on our street, goes to one of the charter schools. The child is one grade ahead of my child. My child's education is a grade ahead of the friends.

Yeah, i get what you are saying. Sometimes they don't fit the bill. Sometimes they are discrimminatory.

We had a new highschool spring up in my local town. I was actually pulled out of the highschool i had been attending for two years and put into this new one. Had a big budget too. SOmething like $17 million for atotal population of like 800 students (when you included the 7th and 8th grade middle school attachment). They had the latest computers, $7,000 video cameras for the video class, a new, enthusiastic staff, etc.

I went there for a semester and got myself transfered back to my original highschool. Problem was, i fell behind the curve. my algebra two class at the new highschool put be behind by 7 chapters. I was also behind in biology, spanish, and a handful of other classes. Catching up was horrible. Almost failed...

New schools tend not to be successful. They seem to try too many "new" ideas and forget about reading, writing and arithmatic.

We have two local private schools, they are well known, and produce high quality educations. Infact, my best friend, the only one i knew that went to one of these schools, is a pharmacist today.

Obviously this is all personal experience, and stories. I still need to do some researching to support my assumption that private schools tend to provide higher quality education.

But, maybe that high quality is the result of them turning down anyone that would hold them back? Not sure...

Ok bare with me here.

Many of you are concerned about government involvement in schools, well the thing is I have never known it to be any other way, and I am almost 60 years old. Why is it such a feared thing all of a sudden?

I am 35, I went to a very good public high school, and I have been fighting against the public school monopoly since I was 17. The reason why is because those aunts and uncles that were not factory workers or construction workers were teachers. Including one uncle who chose to teach in the Detroit school system for the challenge of it. The public school systems in big cities are almost always a disaster, and our nation's youth deserve better.


You guys also say you are concerned about finances and the cost of education so why are we making things so complicated with private, charter etc. I don't understand why we would have to have so many options for parents to deal with. Dont we want a society where people learn to live together in some sort of harmony?

Private schools do not receive much tax support. They generally provide the best education, with some operating at much lower cost than a public school, or even a charter school.

Charter Schools are a hybrid between public schools and private (not religious) schools. Here in Michigan a Charter school receives a little more than half as much money per student as a public school. The difference between what the State (tax payers) give to charter schools and public schools goes to public schools to help offset the lost 'revenue' from the child attending a charter school. Charter schools tend to have medium quality education, being better than many public schools and nearly all big city schools. The state maintains significant control over the charter schools, including limiting the number of students who can attend a charter school. However, they do have a little more freedom than a public school.

Public schools are fully funded by the State, and heavily regulated by the State, as well as the NEA. Public school quality varies drastically by school, with big city schools have horrible educational quality. This results in poor inner city kids receiving a terrible education.



Why not have public schools where the education is equal to a private school. It seems to me that it's not 'always' better to have more choices, it's more confusing and more difficult for parents and the kids, no? Not to mention unequal due to finances and geography.


You are right, it is more confusing and difficult to have several schools to choose from. However, the public school monopoly in big cities has been an abject failure for decades, even though they get more funding per pupil. If the public schools were working, this would just be an academic discussion between libertarians, not an issue of growing importance and popularity with both democrats and republicans.


Everyone is so worried about what their particular children are going to be exposed to. To me that is strange, because in the end these kids need to be aware of reality, it's no wonder we adults don't understand each other, we have all been separated by our own parents fears of this or that, so we grow up already disliking half of society.

I agree that some students are being sheltered to much, but that is a tiny minority. The schools which are going to face the most competition from school vouchers are the big city schools where most of the kids families are poor or lower middle class. In schools like these, teachers are told to take self defense classes before their first day. Kids have to dodge and hide from gangs, even in the younger grades. Knives, guns, and drugs are a constant presence. More than half the students who enroll in kindergarten in the Detroit Public School system do not graduate from high school. Of those who do graduate, more than 20% are illiterate. This is a national disgrace.


I went to both catholic school and public school, in 9th grade I was in public school twiddling my thumbs literally because I already knew the material. So yes catholic school was more advanced, but tell me why public school can't be as well. And why do these charter schools pull money away from public schools. Oh and what the heck is a charter school anyway?

When I was completely out of school and on my own I discovered what I did not learn in catholic school and frankly that bothered me, it's as if my parents did want me to learn certain things like things about science, so I would be completely unprepared for an adult conversation about such things. I sometimes think we are all at fault for the way society is today, paranoid and frankly a bit off our rockers in some ways.

Every school, and every teacher has biases which affect the education of their students. There is just as much indoctrination in public schools as in private schools. It is just a different agenda being pushed.


Everyone is so concerned about indoctrination but that can be said about private schools and heck you can be indoctrinated in your own home. I know I was.

I will put a smile between your statement and my answer, then two smiles at the end of my answer.



I realize I am just a schmuck on the internet expressing an opinion. Even if you do not agree with my opinion, I hope you will consider the opinion of the parents. The last time Michigan had a State wide ballot initiative for school vouchers about 70% of black people living in Detroit voted in favor of school vouchers!

Just think about that for a few minutes. The parents of poor black kids in Detroit voted in favor of school vouchers by a 70% to 30% margin.

(((Cutemom)))

Well boo2 in our day we respected our elders and if we disagreed we argued our point intelligently instead of cursing the teacher,parent etc out.Of course spanking wasn't taboo then.