>>73
Your ability to dispense illogical and unreasonable thought while at the same time brushing off any notions to the contrary is almost staggering. You truly belong here, if more cogent people were around more to shout you down from your perch you'd lose interest and the world at large would have to suffer your vitriol.
Your appeals are in the right place, liberal coddling of impoverished areas to guarantee votes has strip-mined what little responsibility left to parents and teachers, the feedback loop of pouring more money into these schools while generally expecting less, and the role of many teachers as glorified babysitters. Fine, I agree to those problems, and also believe that they should be fixed. Your solution, however, is terribly narrow and unworkable in the long term.
You clamor that private schools are inherently more efficient, but why wouldn't they be at this point? Mostly, these privileged classes who do not earn their pay are the customers for this service; they already have invested in their children to succeed, have the options available to shop around for the best school, and one infers, have provided these children with the groundwork to actually learn. It is quite easy to be efficient and effective when you can lure away the best teachers from public institutions and simply replace them when they disappoint.
Honestly, take your solution to its natural end. Private schools now are in direct competition for the most qualified and effective teachers, and students are in direct competition for the best private schools. Those students whose families cannot afford this have to settle for the lower-end opportunities, and the poorest still would have to make do with whatever stripped down public school system still available, if they even pursue an education. Why should they, if their available options still end with untrained labor? Go a step further, what private organization would even bother to open a school in a urban area filled with, as you say, pre-criminals? What profit is to be made in it, unless it travels to absurdity and your education is simply brought to you by Pepsi Co.?
If I am asked to accept cold logic, wouldn't the most logical path be to repeal 100 years of child-labor laws, strap these wastrel children next to their parents in a textile factory/prison along with their teachers and union reps? Could we throw in those bleeding-hearts too? Or wouldn't it be more reasonable to try and punish the parents for their terrible parenting, force the government to tell us where our taxes are going, offer the best education we can to as many as are willing to better themselves, and have someone in this godforsaken country hold a mirror to it?