tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post4708150289412009445..comments2024-03-29T04:34:05.185-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: 10 Reasons To Support Public SchoolPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-28999220792526608372018-03-18T10:11:05.018-04:002018-03-18T10:11:05.018-04:00I appreciate the time and thought that went into y...I appreciate the time and thought that went into your response, even as I disagree with mostly all of it. But thank you for taking the time to articulate rather than just throw stones. Peter Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-2751289803574779532018-03-17T22:20:14.095-04:002018-03-17T22:20:14.095-04:006. Public Schools are a Glorious Mess
Have you eve...6. Public Schools are a Glorious Mess<br />Have you ever appreciated and been fascinated by anything you’ve seen walking around in “private” life? Have you been to a market, minus images of Black Friday, and marveled at the ingenuity of humanity to orchestrate and problem solve? What about that ever represented a “regimented, orderly approach that squelches variety and outliers?” Now imagine the public school, which is clearly the regimented, orderly approach that squelches variety and outliers. We are talking about a nationally established bureaucracy unresponsive to the needs of individuals and outliers without years of legislative battles and corrections without nuance in themselves. <br />7. Public Schools are Remarkably Efficient<br />This is one of your most unsubstantiated claims. The only thing that can establish efficiency is people acting in a market. It’s based on relative values and conditions. For a child who shouldn’t be in a public school, there is hardly anything they could do that is less efficient. Again: variables and outliers not being met in a public institution. <br />8. Public Schools are Staffed by Trained Professionals Who Devote Their Lives to the Work. <br />Thank you. Despite all of the objections to your reasoning here, I appreciate your choice to do this work. I have had great teachers who made an impact on my life.<br />9. Public Schools Help Create Citizens<br />Education creates citizens. If a school contributes to that, amazing. In the absence of public schools draining funds and incredible amounts of time, I wonder what kinds of customized and innovative education systems would exist in their place – perhaps created by the individuals you mentioned currently on the job. <br />10. The Promise of Public Education<br />The dream of education for those who care to seek it is an important one. We can agree that we have lofty motives for a peaceful, empathetic world. But we clearly don’t agree on public education being a helper versus a hindrance to that mission. I suggest giving a lot more attention to the incredible innovations and free sources of education charging our entire community forward. The real passions are the ones people find on their own and pursue out of raw interest. I’d be interested if you wrote about interviewing former students regarding their experiences reading fiction in school and then out of school and see which they enjoyed more and which influenced them more. <br />Kylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03587143512961017466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-72944490080636525492018-03-17T22:19:53.769-04:002018-03-17T22:19:53.769-04:00Hi Peter,
I will be honest, I came into this blog...Hi Peter,<br /><br />I will be honest, I came into this blog with a bit of an eye-roll, because I do not support public education. I think it is part of a system that snuffs the curiosity out of children – a cynical view for sure. However, I decided to read your post to expose myself to some alternative views. After reading, I found that the points you made are typical of what I’ve heard perpetuated and show a complete lack of understanding of what it means to demand for something to be public, and a lack of understanding of what cost means to people. I hope you’ll give me the sincere attention I gave you and consider these counter-arguments. <br /><br />1. Public Schools are Student Centered<br />This is simply a flawed compare-and-contrast because it fails to isolate the essential element you are advocating: public i.e. state sponsored education. Comparing two state sponsored education systems, one being relatively better than the other, darkly authoritarian system, does not support moralizing about state sponsored education in and of itself. Your point, as it appears on page, only indicates that liberating education from strict state direction is preferable for the individual. <br />2. Public Schools are Publically Owned and Operated<br />Taxes are forcibly taken from the public to pay for schools, they don’t have ownership over it. They get increments of choice. Toys R Us failed because they became inferior in the eyes of their patrons who stopped going there. People send their kids to private school, even after already paying taxes for public schools, specifically so they can control their education. <br />3. Public Schools are Enduring Community Institutions<br />The implication of this statement is that they aren’t allowed to fail for failing their patrons. They thrive because we are obligated, no matter what, to keep funding them. What good things could have been funded in their place? Cost means losing something. Have you thought about what opportunities were lost to this failing institution? The U.S. was not thrust out of poverty and difficult life in the industrial age because of enduring/obligatory community institutions... <br />4. Public Schools are Responsible for All Students, No Matter What<br />Public schools have abandoned many of their students, the ones with the most potential to excel, because all of the forces of the system direct it to cater to the lowest common denominator. This is the way of most state sponsored programs. Every action has a sacrifice. The fight between those who preach to authorize the state and those who fight against it is a fight between suffering you can see and suffering you can’t see. It’s the suffering you can’t see that allows your empathies to push in the direction you go and preach. <br />5. Public Schools are the Last Great Salad<br />I’ll start by reminding you that it was local governments and voters that zoned and red-lined to isolate minorities from wealthier white Americans. Authorizing a police state sounds good when you preach controlling it with your superior morals, but it bends to bad people too. Secondly, I find it really hard to believe that public schools don’t represent the same inner-segregation as we see elsewhere. But this is a huge subject to tackle honestly and in short, anecdotally I don’t believe this to be true.Kylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03587143512961017466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-6964848171911285932018-03-16T23:58:47.352-04:002018-03-16T23:58:47.352-04:00Thank you for sharingThank you for sharingAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01883227153120824805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-43166558854519083182018-03-16T10:49:08.893-04:002018-03-16T10:49:08.893-04:00Thank you for this, Peter ... again. I'm in aw...Thank you for this, Peter ... again. I'm in awe of your energy, compassion, and dedication. This consistently insightful and provoking blog, a full teaching load, and twins. Dang, whatever you're having for breakfast, I want some of that. Tom D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10908843209293739872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-77486170310987695712018-03-15T16:58:27.053-04:002018-03-15T16:58:27.053-04:00I think more rural school settings are what you sp...I think more rural school settings are what you speak of. The closer you get to urban areas (I'm outside of DC) it is ALL about the scores on the many tests that are administered and it's all about how to get those glorious scores on those BS tests. Competition is alive and well.edblisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792046029260177146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-49146647654863498382018-03-15T15:49:46.708-04:002018-03-15T15:49:46.708-04:00Fabulous posting!!Fabulous posting!!The Conscientious Communicatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15596642540091491774noreply@blogger.com