Should taxpayer dollars be used to fund private education?

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by Beestie

Absolutely not. The idea of a government supplied commodity is that you cannot opt out (of the burden or the benefit). It only works when participation is mandatory.

Opting out would eventually cause entire school systems to collapse. The costs to provide an entire education system are not incremental - schools, once built must be paid for. If a school is built for 1,000 kids and 300 opt out that leaves the remaining 700 families to cover for the 300 that left.

I can see the validity of this argument. and accept it. The families that can afford, or choose to make it a high enough priority to send their kids to better schools, can always fall back on the public system if they lose the ability to.

And it kind of kills me to hear the argument: why should a bright kid be forced to stay in a bad public school when the state could send him to a good private school? Some might worry about the one bright kid in a bad school. I worry about the 99 kids behind the bright kid that no one seems to care about. The bright kid should stay and the 99 kids who've been cheated of a quality education should be sent to private school to catch up.

this part i have a big problem with. especially that last sentence. educational socialism? i don;t have time to flesh this out right at present.....dammit