ok, say we privatize k-12 education tomorrow.

[ulysses]

No more public schools at all.

Where are we in five years? ten years? twenty years?

[muntrv]

1. Only rich kids going to school, while the rest live as an underclass.

[ulysses]

3. but what about the ten and twenty year increments?

:)

[shraby]

4. What about them? Meaningless

without some context.

[ulysses]

7. assume all other variables to be static.

What is the effect 10 and 20 years down the line?

[cornermouse]

40. Steady progression to 3rd world status.

Would we then be the #1 largest third world country?

[liberal N proud]

20. Exactly

They will teach the poor enough to do the grunt work for the rich. The rich will get the education and leave every other kid behind. Which is kind of what bu$h NCLB does.

[shraby]

2. The cost would mirror college, with higher

tuition ever year until only the rich any education at all.

[MaryCeleste]

5. Distinctlly different classes in society, more so than we have now

[ulysses]

9. different how?

[teacher gal]

12. Yes

John Edwards spoke of the "two Americas". If all public education were privatized tomorrow, the great divide would multiply beyond belief (IMHO). And it's already bad enough.

Great question Ulysses.

[ulysses]

18. c'mon, think it through.

[Ilsa]

6. Kids with learning difficulties will be homeschooled, and their

parents will be broke. Because private schools aren't going to spend money on attending to their special needs. I know. I have an autistic son and one with ADD.

[ulysses]

11. DINGDINGDING!

First best answer of the thread. :thumbsup:

[margotb822]

8. 10% of the population gets an education

The rest are taught by religious organizations through charity.

[ulysses]

14. do the religious orgs take all comers?

[margotb822]

15. If the people are willing to submit to the religious beliefs

And, it's not Jesuits that are educating, it's the extremists and any one that can start up an organization. Think of it just like the middle east.

[ulysses]

17. LOL - no shit.

I taught for a year in a fundie school. Wouldn't take my boy within a mile of it.

[margotb822]

19. But, if you had no choice?

If there was no public education, and that was the only way for a child to become literate, to learn some math and science. After a generation, religious education would be accepted.

[ulysses]

22. but it wouldn't be the only way for him to become literate.

If the only alternative was a religious school, I'd homeschool him.

[margotb822]

23. I would too

But, what about parents who have to work to live? I'm thinking that there would be a large group of people who would get together to teach their children in a non-secular way. I think a new pseduo-public school system would form. Maybe it would run on donation, but if there were any tuition, it would automatically sort out by class. And, just like the ME, the religious schools that offer free education would be the only choice for many people that cannot afford tuition.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Fucked, that's where we are

:evilgrin:

[ulysses]

13. yeah, you're just an overpaid teacher.

What do you know?

Hey, wait, so am I! What do I know?

;-)

[teacher gal]

21. Oops

forgot to give this a rec....from another overpaid teacher.

[proud2BlibKansan]

41. Overpaid and underworked

Living off the taxpayers' dime. :evilgrin:

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Best case scenario Mexico

but more likely India, where less than 1% is even in the middle classes and the rest in poverty... a new form of serfdom

[teacher gal]

24. Well

no more outcries from the ruling elite for accountability.

[ulysses]

25. ROFL

Well said.

Of course, the market-based scenario would mean no real accountability at all, but they forget that.

[Juche]

26. Ask a muslim fundamentalist

School infrastructure doesn't exist very well in some muslim countries, so the kids are taught either free or low cost at madrassas taught by mullahs. Supposedly this is a major problem in Pakistan in regards to taming fundamentalism.

I doubt it'll happen here (the private schools are overtaken by agenda driven religious fanatics), but when you sadly consider how activist the religious right is, it is possible they'd become a major force in our new school system, teaching creation science and fear of social diversity.

Another problem is just that people'd stop going to school. School cost aroung $6k a year per child. A middle class family cannot afford the 12k a year to educate both kids, even with the tax savings from not paying education taxes. So blacks, latinos and poor whites would be SOL. So would everyone with a disability and every special needs child.

On the upside, the wealthy would still get decent educations. And all the poor can look forward to a life of serfdom to service their needs and wants.

What may happen though is so many moderate middle class families get disgusted that they set up their own school system. However due to a lack of funds, it'll probably match the education systems in college where you have 100+ students in a single classroom with some smaller classroom teaching and learning with a TA.

So probably a mixture of activist groups setting up schools to push an agenda, and the public setting up a system that is overtaxed and has one teacher per 100 students.

[varelse]

27. Speaking from the point of view of an employer

in that I interview and hire to fill some entry level clerical positions where I work... this would be a bad thing, and it might not take more than five years for the damage to register. It's bad enough that you just about have to hire college grads if you want to be sure to get people with grade-school level computer, math and English skills - take public education out of the mix and it'd be damn near impossible to fill many jobs.

Privatization of education is a BAD idea :(

[hatrack]

28. Oh, it will be reminiscent of Mexico - or maybe Sierra Leone, or Indonesia . . .

The main difference being that Mexico, Sierra Leone and Indonesia wouldn't harbor mystical patriotic delusional bullshit about being the "only remaining superpower" or "last best hope of Earth" and all of that.

We would, with all of the attendant bullshit and dysfunction delusional thinking tends to encourage.

[OwnedByFerrets]

29. IF schools are privatized....

the school can teach ANYTHING they want. The textbooks can teach that Monkeyboy was a hero and saved the world from the evil Islamofascists.
They can shove christianity down every childs throat. They can teach that the world is 6000 yrs old.
The list goes on and on.

[ulysses]

30. can and will.

That's the funniest part, when the accountability hounds start calling for privatization. To whom, exactly, will Joe's Middle School and Lube Jobs be accountable?

[teacher gal]

31. And no longer will we hear

phony outrage from the Business Roundtable over the fact that achievement gaps exist between advantaged students and their less fortunate peers. No more dramatic hand-wringing and outcries that students are not ready to assume their er, "roles" in the 21st century global economy. They will be very ready indeed.

[melody]

32. I attended a private grammar school. I can answer that.

An excellent education for rich white kids. The only reason I went there is because my father was a Wallace loving bigot and my mother drove a school bus to subsidize half our education -- and I present white (my NA heritage hides itself well).

This is the same private school George "Poppy" Bush used to go to every couple of years for photo opportunities, praising it as a "model for private education". In later years, my mom worked in the office of the school. She was told (as a matter of course) that if someone "sounded black" to tell them the school was full even if it wasn't.

[fortyfeetunder]

33. US = Third. World. Nation.

Need I say anymore?

[ulysses]

34. nope. n/t

[alittlelark]

35. We are already half way there.....

WHY do you say no?

[teacher gal]

36. I think

Ulysses was responding to the poster's question, "Need I say more?"

[alittlelark]

37. I thimk I need to go to bed.....

Either I responded to the wrong post, or I am too tired to stay up.

Nighty Night.:)

[teacher gal]

38. I probably

need to go to bed too! Night alittlelark!

[cynatnite]

39. In twenty years...we will have the most ignorant people on the planet...

who will believe that the Flinstones was a documentary.