Favourite public school system?

[Machjo]

What is your favourit public school system between:

1. Secular.
2. Separate (e.g. the Ontario system with separate religious schoo boards).
3. Voucher (give parents a voucher for each child and let them cash it in at the school of his choice).

 

[Machjo]

Voted 3, 1, and 2, but could have voted 'other' too.

 

[AnnaG]

2,1,3

 

[gerryh]

2,1,3

 

[Machjo]

Interesting. Why? What is the advantage of giving a particular religious community a distinct privilege that other religious communities aren't titled to. From the standpoint of justice, it would seem that either of the other two would be more fair. In the voucher system, no religious is given any preferential treatment, and in the secular system, there just isn't any public religious school.

 

[gerryh]

Interesting. Why? What is the advantage of giving a particular religious community a distinct privilege that other religious communities aren't titled to. From the standpoint of justice, it would seem that either of the other two would be more fair. In the voucher system, no religious is given any preferential treatment, and in the secular system, there just isn't any public religious school.

I have had experience in both he "public school system" and in the "seperate school system" with our 7 kids. We recieved the most support for "special needs" in the seperate school system (Catholic) than in the public school system. The level of education, we feel, is superior in the seperate school than in the public school..... and the thing with the seperate schools(Catholic) you don't have to be Catholic to attend the school.

 

[Machjo]

I have had experience in both he "public school system" and in the "seperate school system" with our 7 kids. We recieved the most support for "special needs" in the seperate school system (Catholic) than in the public school system. The level of education, we feel, is superior in the seperate school than in the public school..... and the thing with the seperate schools(Catholic) you don't have to be Catholic to attend the school.

So in that case, why not just provide more funding to the secular school system or, alternatively , raise the voucher value?

The problem I see with a separate system is that we must submit the children to a particular religious education to benefit from waht you mentioned above.

 

[gerryh]

what makes you think that the make up of public/seperate school systems would be any different than they are now under a voucher system?

 

[Machjo]

what makes you think that the make up of public/seperate school systems would be any different than they are now under a voucher system?

It would be more just. We have private Jewish schools now, so some parents could use their vouchers there. Other parents who now can't afford private school might want to take advantage of this too. It would just be more just.

 

[AnnaG]

Interesting. Why? What is the advantage of giving a particular religious community a distinct privilege that other religious communities aren't titled to. From the standpoint of justice, it would seem that either of the other two would be more fair. In the voucher system, no religious is given any preferential treatment, and in the secular system, there just isn't any public religious school.

You didn't specify about religions, so I assumed that anyone could have a school of their chosen religion.
My problem with the voucher thing is parents would tell kids which school they'd want to go to anyway and there'd be thousands showing up at one school over there and the other school a few blocks away would have maybe 2 students showing up.

 

[gerryh]

It would be more just. We have private Jewish schools now, so some parents could use their vouchers there. Other parents who now can't afford private school might want to take advantage of this too. It would just be more just.

Why couldn't they take advantage of the jewish school right now?

 

[Machjo]

You didn't specify about religions, so I assumed that anyone could have a school of their chosen religion.
My problem with the voucher thing is parents would tell kids which school they'd want to go to anyway and there'd be thousands showing up at one school over there and the other school a few blocks away would have maybe 2 students showing up.

But then the market would take care of that. The voucher would have a set monetary value. So if that happened, then the price at one school would rise and parents would have to pay the difference, whereas at the other school, prices would drop so that it could provide a better quality education at the same price. So then, parents would swing back to it. Here's how it works in Sweden:

School voucher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Machjo]

Why couldn't they take advantage of the jewish school right now?

They could, but it's a matter of principle, If you're a Catholic parent, your taxes could cover your child's Catholic education. But if you're a Jewish parent, you still have to pay taxes, but the government does not fund Jewish schools, so then you'd have to pay twice, once n taxes, and then again in private tuition.

 

[gerryh]

They could, but it's a matter of principle, If you're a Catholic parent, your taxes could cover your child's Catholic education. But if you're a Jewish parent, you still have to pay taxes, but the government does not fund Jewish schools, so then you'd have to pay twice, once n taxes, and then again in private tuition.

wrong..... as long as they teach the provincial curriculum, they get provincial funding.

 

[AnnaG]

"But then the market would take care of that. The voucher would have a set monetary value. So if that happened, then the price at one school would rise and parents would have to pay the difference, whereas at the other school, prices would drop so that it could provide a better quality education at the same price. So then, parents would swing back to it."

In the meantime, kids would be swishing back and forth between schools till everything settled.
Personally I like private schools and home schooling. Kids learn better. P-schools in BC teach to the lowest common denominator, so the brighter kids are bored all the time. Our kids complained about that so we pulled them and taught them at home.

 

[Machjo]

That's why I'd voted 3, 1, and 2. With a voucher system, parents are free to send their child to any school of their choice, public, private, secular, or religious, all on an equal footing. With a unified secular system, no religious school gets any public funding, and in the current system, if you're Catholic, you're in luck.

 

[Machjo]

wrong..... as long as they teach the provincial curriculum, they get provincial funding.

In Alberta, I don't know.

But in Ontario, if they do, it's not 100%. The parents do have to pay at least a portion... if they're not Catholic. If Catholic, it's 100% covered by taxes. It's a blatant double standard.

 

[Machjo]

"But then the market would take care of that. The voucher would have a set monetary value. So if that happened, then the price at one school would rise and parents would have to pay the difference, whereas at the other school, prices would drop so that it could provide a better quality education at the same price. So then, parents would swing back to it."

In the meantime, kids would be swishing back and forth between schools till everything settled.
Personally I like private schools and home schooling. Kids learn better. P-schools in BC teach to the lowest common denominator, so the brighter kids are bored all the time. Our kids complained about that so we pulled them and taught them at home.

I doubt it would work out that way. Seems to have worked in Sweden just fine. Most will choose the geographically closest school as is the case now. Some catholic or secular aschools might switch to Jewish, or Protestant, etc. Most would likely remain secular. I can't see a radical shift overnight.

 

[Machjo]

All we'd have to do is look at how Sweden went through the transition. So we have an advantage over Sweden in that we can learn from their mistakes in the process too.

 

[AnnaG]

In Kloneville, we had a Catholic school on the next block over from us. Damn, those kids were well behaved, pleasant, friendly, and knew their stuff.
I have no idea if BC partially funds religious schools or what.