DAVID HARTUNG wrote in a message to ROY J. TELLASON:
-=> Quoting Roy J. Tellason to David Hartung <=-
 DH> My question is simple, the way I read this, the LP wants to 
 DH> completely abolish the public school system. How would those 
 DH> who cannot afford private school tuition educate their 
 DH> children? I am not neccesarily opposed to shutting down the 
 DH> public school system, but I am concerned that doing so risks 
 DH> producing a large pool of folks who do not have the tools to be 
 DH> producers in our society. Would the proper course not be to  
 DH> return control of our schools to the local school board, which 
 DH> would,  theoretically be controlled by the parents of the 
 DH> students?
 RJT> I don't see abolition of the system as being advocated...
 DH> Okay, you don't, but unless I read the platform plank 
 DH> incorrectly, the  plank does seem to advocate abolition of 
 DH> publicly funded education.
They advocate doing away with a *LOT* of "publically funded" stuff,  figuring 
that this money is all being spent because they _can_ spend it,  and they can 
spend it because they can always _take_ more of it from us.  My view on taxes 
is that they're nothing more or less than theft.  Legal,  maybe,  but theft 
nonetheless.
 RJT> What I do see is removing the authoritarian aspects of it.  Right now,
 RJT> we have school systems that are able to _compel_ attendance,  with the
 RJT> law backing them up on that.  There's currently a situation going on, 
 RJT> for example,  in Harrisburg,  PA where they are so out of control with
 RJT> regard to one particular school that they're talking about establishing
 RJT> a _daytime curfew_ for school-age individuals,  where those who were
 RJT> caught outside of school during school hours would be cited and fined! 
 RJT> Where is the authority given for them to even consider such a law?
 DH> Yet another indication of the headlong rush to socialism in 
 DH> this country!
Yep.  I know of one instance a while back where a kid was out of school a 
number of times,  and the mother and the school disagreed with each other 
about whether these absences were "excusable" or not.  Me,  I can't see 
running to a doctor for something minor when they're not going to be able to 
do anything about it anyhow (like a cold,  ferinstance),  especially when 
you're dealing with a low-income situation.  The end result of this was that 
the mother was _fined_ by the school system!  This wasn't recently,  either, 
but close to 20 years ago...
 RJT> Worse yet,  in these parts a school district has taxing authority,  on
 RJT> the same level as a local municipality.  Yet there's no real
 RJT> representation of the citizens in the structure that runs that stuff.
 DH>  Isn't the school board elected?
I'm not real clear on that part of it,  nor on how much chance they'd have to 
change things even if you could elect someone that wanted to.  Not that I see 
election as a way of changing much,  these days.
And speaking of school boards,  there was this deal done in Harrisburg where 
they hired this guy,  brought him in from out of state and all,  and just 
recently ousted him.  But!  He ended up with some hundreds of thousands of 
dollars in one of the best sweetheart deals I've ever heard of,  they've 
gotta basically pay him for the remainder of his contract whether he works or 
not (and he's not).  The latest is that he's suing,  for some rather large 
sum...!
Of course, all of this ends up getting out of the pockets of the taxpayer. 
(
 RJT> It would seem to me that if the compulsory aspects of this stuff were
 RJT> done away with,  we'd have the folks who are running that stuff being
 RJT> forced to provide some other incentive for folks to want to use their
 RJT> facilities.  Like maybe getting some better results than what they're
 RJT> getting now.  You speak up there of "producing a large pool of folks
 RJT> who do not have the tools to be producers in our society."  Don't you
 RJT> see that as happening now?  It sure looks that way to me more often
 RJT> then not.  I read recently somewhere or other about how some businesses
 RJT> who were hiring "HS Graduates" had to give those graduates remedial
 RJT> reading courses _AT A THIRD GRADE LEVEL_ in order to get these people
 RJT> to the point where they could become basically functional.
 DH> I am quickly coming to the point where I am advocating that 
 DH> compulsory school attendance be done away with, but you also 
 DH> seem to be advocating that we also do away with the taxes which 
 DH> support the public schools.  Do I understand correctly? If so, 
 DH> how would you fund the schools?
I'm not much for funding anything that can be funded privately.  Look at what 
they did (and for "public" schools,  too) before the current system was 
established.
 RJT> That being the case,  what the hell are we paying all those taxes for?
 DH>  Excellent question!
And I'm still looking for a good answer,  other than to satisfy the power 
lust of some individuals.
 DH> ... Carry concealed.  Cemeteries don't take bail.
...rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.
email: roy.j.tellason%tanstaaf@frackit.com 
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