Re: Re: Paying for Schools

From: Miriam English (miriam@werple.net.au)
Date: Sat Aug 25 2001 - 09:14:57 MDT


At 02:59 AM 25/08/2001 -0700, Olga Bourlin wrote:
>From: "Brian Phillips" <deepbluehalo@earthlink.net>
>
> > If you think public education is all that... wait 20 years and look
> > at the number of homeschooled kids who become professionals.
> > Vs. the criminal farms we have now.
>
>It's a continual wonder to me that I, my children, friends, acquaintances
>and relatives all seem to have come out of these criminal farms unscathed,
>educated and ... have even lived to tell about it.

Maybe the private schools teach some people to be snobbish about schools
and to have little empathy for those less well off than themselves. :-) Of
course I know there are plenty of people who go to private school who *are*
tolerant; but maybe the petty intolerance of some of those speaking here in
favor of dismantling public school might be at least partially explained
that way. :-) (Just so there is no mistake, I am mostly kidding when I say
that.)

Like Olga, I also went to a public school. I seem to have turned out OK. I
and one of my best friends (also in public school) were chosen as some of
the smartest 50 kids in NSW. (Frankly I think they made a bit of a mistake
with me. There were others I'm sure were considerably smarter than me.)

Some of our teachers were wonderful people, often staying back long after
after school hours helping kids.

My father went to a private school and after his terrible experience with
the bullying and overly strict discipline he swore that no kids of his
would ever go to private school.

One of the things I value most about my time at school is the wide
cross-section of kids I befriended. One quite wonderful kid was retarded,
another of my best friends was very smart but had a nervous breakdown each
time exams came around. My very closest friend was devoutly religious but
had one of the best, most agile minds I have ever come across. We spent
many happy hours discussing topology, electronic logic circuits, nuclear
physics, theories of matter, etc. This was back in the 60s. Very happy
times for me.

Breeding grounds for criminals Brian??? I don't think so.

Cheers,

         - Miriam

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