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I had a hard time reading this and I suspect I'm not the only one. What particularly struck a nerve with me was the absolutely out of left field mention of Colu

I had a hard time reading this and I suspect I'm not the only one. What particularly struck a nerve with me was the absolutely out of left field mention of Columbine as if it somehow amplifies the impact of public schools being bad (paraphrasing: "Schools are 2000-4000 child warehouses, like the now famous Columbine highschool"). The alternative of large schools (and what is being championed here) is home schooling children. Not only does that not scale, it also disproportionately favors the wealthy as families with already limited means are unlikely to be able to commit neither the money nor the time (on top of work everyday) to teach their children. Even if you fix the scaling issues and the disproportionate income problems, you still have parents that simply don't care. When I was in school it was in vogue (in my locale) to take your kids out of public school and begin to homeschool them. But it turned out that parents' seemed to think that was the magic bullet, and their children were largely left to their own devices to figure out material, a schedule, and to somehow still be able to interact with kids their own age. Obviously, I am not a big proponent of home schooling. I actually liked going through public school. I will forever wager my small town public school education against any home-schooled person's education any day.

jimwise 16y ago
I'm curious whether you think home schooling favors the wealthy more than the public school system does? Recall that public school funding is a local affair; the wealthier the local population, the better funded the school. I'm also not sure what you mean by `scaling issues'? Many districts here in New York State avereage 45-50 students per teacher. We have a large family by the national or local averages, and our five kids have one homeschooling parent all to themselves... This doesn't mean that homeschooling is affordable for everyone -- especially given that every parent (and non-parent, for that matter) is paying (directly if they own, indirectly if they rent) for the public school system, whether they use it or not.
- SHOwnsYou 16y ago
  > homeschool vs public school I can't speak with any authority on the relative value of home school vs public school for children of wealthy families. But I will point out that simply because a school district is well funded does not mean the school district will necessarily be better than better than a slightly less funded district. >scaling I did speak incompletely. I meant to to explain that school best works at scale (I meant to say "not only does that not scale down"). You have already explained this for me. Each family requires a parent to do the home schooling, where as public schools can provide a teacher for multiple children of multiple families. >pay for it regardless Fortunately those that own, they realize an associated cost of owning is taxation. The argument could also be made that in return for paying for the public school system, those residents are able to live in a place that has a compulsory education system. I'd be willing to bet that no one would flock to (let alone stay there for a significant portion of time) an area that did not require taxes that went to a local school system.

jimwise 16y ago

I'm curious whether you think home schooling favors the wealthy more than the public school system does? Recall that public school funding is a local affair; the wealthier the local population, the better funded the school. I'm also not sure what you mean by `scaling issues'? Many districts here in New York State avereage 45-50 students per teacher. We have a large family by the national or local averages, and our five kids have one homeschooling parent all to themselves... This doesn't mean that homeschooling is affordable for everyone -- especially given that every parent (and non-parent, for that matter) is paying (directly if they own, indirectly if they rent) for the public school system, whether they use it or not.

SHOwnsYou 16y ago
> homeschool vs public school I can't speak with any authority on the relative value of home school vs public school for children of wealthy families. But I will point out that simply because a school district is well funded does not mean the school district will necessarily be better than better than a slightly less funded district. >scaling I did speak incompletely. I meant to to explain that school best works at scale (I meant to say "not only does that not scale down"). You have already explained this for me. Each family requires a parent to do the home schooling, where as public schools can provide a teacher for multiple children of multiple families. >pay for it regardless Fortunately those that own, they realize an associated cost of owning is taxation. The argument could also be made that in return for paying for the public school system, those residents are able to live in a place that has a compulsory education system. I'd be willing to bet that no one would flock to (let alone stay there for a significant portion of time) an area that did not require taxes that went to a local school system.