Re: Public Schools

[snow <snow@smoke.suba.com>]

James said:
> ronsimpson@unidial.com wrote:
> >I hate to burst any bubbles but, the school with the highest number
> > of National Merit Finalists and highest number of 1600 SATs is a=20
> > Public High School (Jefferson High in Fairfax, VA)
> The same is true for Montreal (Royal Vale) using the equivalent scoring methods.
> But there are public schools at both extremes of the curve.
> While it is true that Private Schools would not survive due to market forces if
> they did consistently poorly, it is also true that they filter their incoming
> student body in a manner that Public Schools can not.
> If you want to refuse those who are too stupid or anti-social from Public
> Schools in order to improve the social or intellectual climate, you better have
> a solution for the resulting cast-offs.
 
     There is a solution. Trade Schools, and Parental Envolvement. It could 
very well be (and if I had the money I'd make the bet) that _many_ of the 
"troubled" youth of today are simply undisiplined. (Fortunately, most of 
them couldn't afford to bet against their parents in an AP world). It would
also seem to follow that if parents were spending their own money (or 
perceived it as their own money) that they would take a greater interest in
their childrens education.
   
      For those that are truly not scholastically oreinted, there would be
trade schools. I would also bet that you could teach a child everything they
need to learn (other than a trade) to cope in this world in about 4 years. 

Petro, Christopher C.
petro@suba.com <prefered for any non-list stuff>
snow@smoke.suba.com