-=> 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...
 Okay, you don't, but unless I read the platform plank incorrectly, the
 plank does seem to advocate abolition of publicly funded education.
 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?
 Yet another indication of the headlong rush to socialism in this
 country!
 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.
 Isn't the school board elected?
 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.
 I am quickly coming to the point where I am advocating that compulsory
 school attendance be done away with, but you also seem to be advocating
 that we also do away with the taxes which support the public schools.
 Do I understand correctly? If so, how would you fund the schools?
 RJT> That being the case,  what the hell are we paying all those taxes for?
 
 Excellent question!
 david.hartung@mcione.com
 Ilks of Metropolitan Walls/LENS
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