Both my kids attended public schools in New York. Before enrolling them I asked a friend where he was planning to send his daughter..he told me the public school and where you had to live to get into it. Each child had one dud teacher. In my daughter's case..it did do some damage because it was first grade..but her second grade teacher was superb. My son's dud was the third grade teacher..no matter..he just didn't learn much at school that year. The rest of the public school experience was terrific..exceptional in fact. My son says he'd never send his kids to private schools ..because.."you meet a better quality person at a public school." They are both now smart adults, doing well..and my son is still best friends with a man he met when they were both six.

The very, very rich want people not to be able to afford a decent education, or to attain one in spite of money. Who else are they going to get to submit to the requirement that you work for $9 an hour and vote Republican, based on "security" or "social issues"?

One of my kids needed some help with learning skills--ADD and not very good hand coordination. The public schools in California were required to help him, and they have--because I live in a wealthy district! The private schools nearby wouldn't touch him with a pole, as they say. I guess they thought he was garbage in, so he would be garbage out. A GOOD public school is the best school. They exist. The private schools exist to continue the privileges of the privileged. They are no more interested in actually teaching your children something than any other schools, and they don't have to.

Sandra,

You are correct. Loved it! Right on!

Here behind the orange curtain the motive is to buy education in top rated private schools. Honestly, parents may not get what they pay for.

Qualified educators are trained by the State. State mandated thought objectives of alternative lifestyles, global village idiocracy, feel-goodisms, and general Marxo-corporate consumerism, etc. are necessary to secure the credential. Teachers in both the private and public system are for the most part form filler-in-ers training form filler-in-ers of tomorrow. There is no History, it is now only Social Studies and much of the information is false. Teachers mean well but they have no clue what they are programmed to teach is detrimental by design.

Anyone capable of critical thought processes will be dissapointed with education in general. Private education is like the Cadillac Escalade. You pay too much for perceived value but what you are really getting is a Tahoe with a few more bells and whistles.

I agree 100% that the best option is to get involved with your local public school. Make sure the principal and the teachers know you intend to be active in your child's advancement and learning success. Always supplement with home school if possible.

Sandra is correct, only concerned parents within the community can save public education. The indoctrination cartel must be made accountable. If not the establishment will just go through the motions to earn their $40 per student attendance day.

My parents had to buck the "trend" among Catholic children-of-immigrants by insisting that my siblings and I were to attend the (very good) public elementary and high schools in my suburban-Chicago town. This was the 50's, when priests and nuns were not afraid to imply that in bypassing the parochial school system parents were exposing their children to "occasions of sin" - you know, like hobnobbing with Protestants and Jews.

When I asked why we couldn't be like all the other neighborhood kids and go to Catholic school, the 'rents explained that they wanted us to be educated by professional teachers, "not some nun who knows less than I do." (Until the Vatican II reforms it was not unusual for teaching nuns to have only a high-school diploma.)

So we went to public school and after-school religion class at the Catholic school, whose faciities were clearly inferior (even to an 8-year-old). And when I "played school" with my Catholic-school pals, I was always amazed at how much I would truly have to teach them, especially with regard to science. (I think a lot of Catholic schools at the time sidestepped the whole faith-vs-science issue by ignoring the latter in the elementary grades.)

The "publix" got art, phys ed, science and music. The "Catlix" got religion.

Whether in the end one way resulted in "better" Catholics than the other...discuss amongst yourselves.

But I think I got the best of both worlds.

And how interesting now, during "Catholic School Week," most of the articles and ads in my local diocesan paper play up how the Catholic schools now have all the "extra" classes that were a mainstay of the public schools for generations. And oh yes, they also teach religion. And most of them are even co-ed.

Actually, I do not think the voucher system is the way to go either and I don't dismiss the need for public education. I do however, dismiss the notion that the federal government can do anything but harm the system, like it has for years.

We need a new system funded by private donations and corporate financing with the ending of the property tax upon the citizens to fund education. The system would be run by a private not-for profit organization, overseen by each state gov't with no federal interference. When I say overseen, I mean the organization being overseen to ensure fair practices, but not the education overseen. Is this simplistic? Of course, as an undertaking like this would be a huge endeavor, but if we care about education, it is worth it.

But in reality, I think it is best left up to the individual states anyway. If California wants public education, continue with it, but without the aid of the federal government and the entire nation's money, because schools have come down to money and government power over the minds of our children. It is no longer about education but money and who can get the most.

There are great public education establishments and there are lousy private ones and this wouldn't change unfortunately. What would change is the increase in privately held scholastic institutions, more closely held to the beliefs of its students and parents committed to an educational experience that would look after the future of its students. The great schools would continue and the dumpy ones would lose students, forcing it to either sell out or re-manage its approach.

I don't have all the answers by any means and I think there are thousands of committed parents willing to jump in and fine tune the project. So far, though, I do not see any compelling advantages for the current public education system except that it is "free" and private schools are for "snobs".