In a deposition submitted under oath, Fredric Rice said:
bs> If you look at the gov'ment's figures, most homeschools and private
bs> schools are Christian oriented, and the scores on gov'ment approved and
bs> enforced national tests show that homeschooled and private schooled
bs> children score *much* higher than children in public schools.
 FR> You're going to have to provide evidence to back up that insane claim,
 FR> Bob.  There was a time when Catholic private schools adheared to a
 FR> higher academic ideal and produced quality educated graduates, but
 FR> that time has long past.
 FR> I'll expect your evidence by the end of the year.
    I hope you've been holding your breath all this time.
    First, don't 'expect' anything from anyone here except grief for
 your belligerent attitude.
    Second, the info is easy enough to get.  I won't make you wait as
 long as you make me wait for your alleged evidence, and certainly not
 to the end of the year.
    From the web site of the National Assessment of Educational Progress
 (NAEP), http://nces.ed.gov/naep (which is a tool of the National Center
 for Education Statistics), in the National Results section, are
 statistics collected by the US Government (which if anything should be
 biased *in favor* of public schools) and paid for by your tax dollars.
 The scores were compiled from national tests of 4th, 8th and 12th grade
 students from all racial, ethnic and socio-economic groups, and
 mandatory for students from all schools, public, and private, including
 home-schooled children.
    The reports all begin the same.  The titles are as follows, with the
 subject between the year and the words "report card."  For example:
    "NAEP 1996 Mathematics Report Card for the Nation and the States"
    Then there are a few paragraphs outlining the history and purpose of
 the NAEP, concluding with the following statement:
    "NAEP national and state data assess the performance of students in
 both public and nonpublic schools."
    I'm only going to post the kicker from each subject's report to save
 on space in the echo.  If you accuse me of editing the texts, you'll
 only look enhance your image as a fool.  Here's the URL again, for the
 second time in this same post so you'll have no excuse to whine that I
 excluded it in some conspiratorial plot, for anyone here to look for
 themselves:  http://nces.ed.gov/naep.
    In each report, the info we want is found under the following heading:
    "Major Findings for the Nation, Regions, and States"
    ...and under this heading for each subject, found in different html
 files, are the magic words...
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
 Mathematics (1996 Report, the latest available for this subject)
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
   Both public and nonpublic schools showed increased scale scores for
   fourth- and eighth-grade students. Public schools showed increased
   scores for twelfth-grade students as well. Students attending
   nonpublic schools continued to outperform their peers attending
   public schools.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
 Science     (1996 Report, the latest available for this subject)
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
    At all three grades, students who attended nonpublic schools had
    higher average scores than those who attended public schools.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
 Reading     (1994 Report, the latest available for this subject)
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
    In 1994, fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students attending
    nonpublic schools displayed higher average reading proficiencies
    than their counterparts attending public schools.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
 Geography   (1994 Report, the latest available for this subject)
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
    At all three grades, students attending nonpublic schools performed
    at a higher level than did those attending public schools.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
 U.S. History  (1994 Report, the latest available for this subject)
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
    At all three grades, students attending nonpublic schools performed
    at a higher level than did students attending public schools.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
    Now, would you like to argue about what is a nonpublic school?
    In an intro text file with tables that break the studies down by
 groups, the NAEP shows that the phrase "nonpublic schools" covers every
 type of school that isn't run by the government, private schools,
 Catholic schools, home schools, etc.
    So, how many nonpublic schools have no religious affiliations?
 Very, very few.  Take a look at the yellow pages of any city in
 America.  Browse the internet; for example, look on Yahoo for private
 schools.  There are a few boarding schools, military schools, etc.,
 which have no *obvious* religious connections.  Here and there you'll
 find some Native American schools (but I'd wager there's a bit of NA
 spirituality being taught in most of those).
    But roughly 95% are oriented toward some religion, mostly Christian.
 While you're in Yahoo, do a search for homeschooling and see that, if
 web presence is a fairly accurate sample of all homeschools, almost all
 emphasize some religion.
    There, in black and white, or whatever colors this text appears on
 your screen, is the evidence for my "insane claim."
... You're a living example of artificial intelligence.
--- PPoint 2.05
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