michael yates
Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> Rkmickey at aol.com wrote:
>
> >The schools are not lacking in resources.
>
> Yes they are. The Trinity School in Manhattan, which educates the
> likes of George Soros' kids, spends something like $23,000 per
> student. It shows. The average NYC school spends something like a
> quarter that. It shows, too. Of course, any school will likely do
> better with a kid who grew up in the Soros household than one who
> grew up poorly nourished and surrounded by rats. But money matters.
> We hear a lot about how wonderfully Catholic schools do on a tight
> budget but 1) they get to kick out those students they don't want to
> bother with, and 2) their graduates do no better when they get to
> CUNY than do the products of NYC public schools.
>
> The quoted sentence is a crucial part of the voucher argument: it's
> not that our public educational system is starved for resources, it's
> that what we are spending is poorly allocated. It's neoclassical
> economics applied to education. The right-wing advocates of vouchers
> are at least clear on their desire to break teachers' unions. This
> poster says:
>
> >One last point. Those familiar with the usual left arguments against school
> >vouchers will notice I've not said anything about the need to defend the
> >teachers unions against this capitalist plot to undermine them. I just want
> >to say it was not an oversight.
>
> I assume that means he approves of union busting but is too shy to say it.
>
> It's understandable why black and Latino parents might look to
> vouchers as a way out of horrid schools they're offered now. But this
> demand:
>
> >So I say, vouchers for all, and not a measly thousand dollars or two, but
> >vouchers that cover the full, real cost of an education at the BEST schools
> >in a given area, including aftercare, including clubs and teams and music
> >lessons and ballet recitals. Down with the state monopoly of education,
> >which condemns millions of Black, Hispanic and other poor children to
> >ignorance!
>
> implies vast increases in public education spending, which kind of
> begs the whole question. Unless he thinks everyone, armed with
> vouchers, can go to the best schools in the area.
>
> Doug