>>137
Finally, a postulation with cogent points to adress that state your opinion without trying to poison the well or attack me as a person. You've still managed to claim your points as flawless, so you still have some work to do, but I will cede that you've actually made an effort. Now, my take on things:
1.) I agree with you on this point, mostly. The public school system did in fact attempt to adress your (b) statement at one point, but were among the first programs cut to make money and time for hammering the 3R's into the inept. This is a travesty in the sense that you get social retards, you also lose the intangible benefit of having people realize that math and reading skills are actually important, and reinforce past learning.
2.) The failure of public schools has been a series of fixes, yes. However, none of these fixes have ever been anything but a series of stop gap solutions that temporarily fix the symptoms, not the root problem. What you consider to be fixes have been nothing of the sort, just bureaucrats tossing money at something they hope will go away. When those fail, people naturally just lower the bar a bit, hence our downward spiral. I steadfastly believe that if we had enacted the series of incentives NCLB offers, for good or for ill, we might be in a better situation.
3.) Taking note of what I just wrote, the solution is not always taking the harsher method, but the correct one for the situation. Fat people could simply eat less and change their habits, or they can have surgery and staple their stomachs smaller; both solve a problem, only one is actually beneficial in the long run. And the long-term solutions are the only ones I or anyone else should really be considering, if the need is that dire.
4.) Perhaps a trial of expanding private schools could be tried, but you are once again oversimplifying the actual problems to suit your argument. That is what makes your arguments sound delusional and makes nobody take you seriously. Reform of public schools doesn't need competition at this stage so much as it needs competent teachers' unions, teachers, students, and curriculum.
Now, questions for you:
1.) If educating the poor and minorities is a waste of time, what do you propose to do about them?
2.) Who guarantees the curriculum is correct and necessary? Who is to say that rich Jews of the world won't abandon subtlety to teach Zionism to our ignorant youth?
3.) What happens if/when this system becomes too large or insulated to regulate effectively?
4.) Short of complete abandonment and scrapping of the public school system, what actual fixes do you suggest?