What's so good about public education?

[dgriffin]

I never tire of beating up school districts for the way they spend my money and I sometimes have doubts they even have a right to exist. I don't mean legally. But an educated citizenry is the basis of a democracy, so it's been said, and I think it's time to discuss that point. NOT how good we are or are not doing the job, but the basic premise of educating ourselves in order to live usefully in a workable society. Is this an obtainaable goal? Or your other thoughts.

[Swimmy]

Well American society has mixed up priorities these days. As long as we promote the easy way and continue to create their sense of entitlement without earning it, we'll begin to fall short of your suggested goal. How many kids are all up-to-date on their celebrity gossip but have no idea what the square root of 49 is? How many know how to send text messages and know their "tolerance" levels, but have no idea how to use a semicolon?

It is getting so bad that it is spilling over into older generations. It's easier to spout out generalized conclusions rather than cite facts to support an argument. One need only look at the od forums to see that. But how many times have you seen CNN or MSNBC with their army of experts "debate" an issue. I use that term loosely because none of them have any facts to support their arguments. Debate has come to mean how many zingers you can sneak in, how many times you can out-shout your opponents and how much better you can recite party rhetoric.

Aside from the above and several flawed legal policies, there is quite a bit. Many public schools rival those "elite" private schools. Students learn to interact with different people with different backgrounds. In today's "global" economy, that is a vital skill to have. I'd like to expand more, but my brain is spit firing about a hundred different ideas on some of the law I have been studying.

[dgriffin]

I agree with you. And yet, through public schools, libraries, mostly factual current affairs channels such as C-Span, and of course, the Internet, the information is certainly available to those who want to find it. But I guess it's always been that way. I'm reminded of B. Franklin's Junto club and the Lunar society in the UK (so named because they met only on the night of the full moon for safety reasons because there were no streetlights) who met in Birmingham's industrialized midlands and included Darwin's grandfather (Erasmus) and Watt and Wedgewood and others and who literally changed the face of England. As long as we can meet and discuss and exchange ideas, we have a chance.

[thelma]

When I went to High School, they had Debate Teams that would meet with other schools and debate an issue. This was very beneficial as it taught the students public speaking skills and HOW to debate an issue without using insults or other unacceptable methods.

Do the High Schools of today even still offer these courses, or have they been eliminated as many others have?

[countrygal]

I'm lucky that my kids go (and will go) to Oriskany. It is a very good small school. Now with that being said, I went to RFA back in the 80's and it was HUGE as far as students numbers go. I always thought I had it pretty good with so many sports choices, class choices, etc. Oriskany doesn't have a lacrosse team, a swim team, hockey, etc. You can't choose from 5 different languages to study. I always thought that mattered. Now that I have a child going to a small school, I wouldn't change a thing. The kids seem to get more attention and have better hands-on learning. But there have been times when I wished I had the patience to home school because he has learned things from other kids that curl my toes. I have friends whose children go to Rome Catholic and they don't seem to have the same behavior issues that public school does. But they don't have other choices that a public school does.

My kids are in 4-H and right now they have to prepare a public presentation to give to the club. There is a judge and they are judged on how well they are speaking, eye contact and knowlege of topic. Also, we give farm tours to school groups and my 8 year old helps talk to the kids when they are here. They tend to ask him questions more than they would an adult.

I guess there are pros and cons to public education and you have to weigh them and decide what you feel is best for your child. There are days that I don't always feel it is best for mine.

[frankcor]

I was in the Forensic League, RCH's first debate team. In our first inter-scholastic meet, the issue was: Should the government fund rest homes for senior citizens? The format involved a series of argument presentation, rebuttal and cross examination. Each participant was required to argue both pro and con sides of the question with scoring by judges throughout the event. After the meet our coaches reviewed our scoring with us. While I received high marks for preparation and presentation, I was horrified to learn that I had spent most of the afternoon arguing about rest rooms.

[dgriffin]

Knowing you only slightly, frankcor, I can believe you were in the Forensic League, but I suspect you tried to sneak into the La Leche League.

[frankcor]

I volunteer for the LLL, Dave. I work in the Quality Control department.