Responding to a message by Matt, to Charles on ...
MS>CB> Some say, if schools were run like small businesses, they would save 
MS>CB> money and educate students better.  But small businesses fail at the 
MS>CB> rate of 50% a year.  Do we really want our schools to be run like 
MS>CB> small businesses?
MS>
MS>You said in another post the same day that the NAEP found that only
MS>38% of HS seniors could come up with an adequate written 
MS>response to some sample they were given to read.  That 
MS>means that public schools already have a higher failure 
MS>rate.
Although low reading scores ARE a significant problem, it is nothing 
compared to the chaos that would be caused by 50% of the schools 
closing down every year, sometimes in mid-year.  What would the 
students do then?  Not only would fewer than 38% of our children be 
unable to write reasonably, about 50% of them would be on the streets.
MS>Those of us who want public schools "run like small 
MS>businesses" are talking about cutting the non-teacher 
MS>bureacracy.  We're talking about all the very-well-paid 
MS>central-office people who have redundant job titles in a 
MS>typical school district.  We're talking about all the perks 
MS>the bureacrats get, like the deputy superintendant who 
MS>gets paid to drive $25/day to drive to work.
You can try to run a school like a small business, but it will never 
be a success.  There is no profit in schools and there is no way to 
assure quality control when there are no standards in place.  As 
long as every little school, public or private, demands the autonomy 
to set its own curriculum and its own standards, quality control is 
impossible - the product (well-educated children) will be too inconsistent.
Chuck Beams
Fidonet - 1:2608/70
cbeams@future.dreamscape.com
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* UniQWK #5290* Any fool can make a rule (Thoreau).
--- Maximus 2.01wb
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