Ron Paul for president of USA 08? Your thoughts.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by brownjenkins

I don't know what country/state you live in, but nursery school is not compulsory, and neither is kindergarten.

But, since this example was ABOUT "universal pre-school", discussing it as that is germane. You are aware that many people suggest that compulsory schooling be extended to the lower grades, aren't you?

And, while school attendence is required between the ages of 6 and 16, federal and state laws allow anyone who chooses to find alternate forms of education, from private to homeschooling. So all your arguments about parents not being able to make the choice are complete unfounded in reality.

Tell that the the shelter parent in KC who is being forced, right now, to put her child in school. She has all the options she needs, if she wants to live on the curb. Not to mention the custody suits and neglect charges being filed all over.

My assumption is that the above is a red herring, masking the true reason for disliking public education/programs: you don't want to pay for it.

Incorrect assumption. By that logic, no renters would take their kids out of public schools. People have a NUMBER of reasons that they feel public school is failing us, as a country. And numbers of reasons why it looks fixable to them, or not. Dismissing these concerns as "too cheap/heartless to pay for the kids that need our help" is not understanding and giving credit to real issues being raised.

But, maybe it's something else. I'm not arguing that public education is perfect. I'm saying that in many cases, it's an awful lot better than the alternative, which is no education and maybe even little or no attention from ones parents.

In many cases, putting people in jail, or in the military, could be 'the better alternative', right? I mean, it provides structure, 3 meals a day, gives people a way to contribute... But we, as a society, don't have compulsory military service, and perfer not to put people in jail. I have a cousin who spends a lot of time in jail. She's drug addicted. I can say truthfully, that her relatives breathe a collective sigh of relief when we know she's in, because she's safer there. And maybe she'll happen to learn something, who knows. But addressing HER problem doesn't require that everyone have to go to jail, even though maybe people would take more interest in prison conditions if they spent time there. Even though it's a publicly funded program.

The government publicly funds colleges without requiring people to go. Yet they go. I think education in the lower grades could work similarly.

And this, which I happened to run into, about what "not supporting public school" means to one family. http://www.mothering.com/articles/gr...-families.html