[Godstud]

Private schools are a great alternative to public schools, but you want the public schools around to keep pricing reasonable and give alternatives.

My son(Age 2) is currently enrolled in a private school. He's getting a head-start that he wouldn't get in Canada, or if he simply went to a public school.

[Eran]

Well if you mean list an example of a latin american nation in which a very miniscule portion goes into public schools and private schools are expensive beyond most people's means...
Chile?

The vast majority of Chilean parents send their children to either public schools or voucher-based private schools. The portion that goes to public schools is about 45% (as of 2009), hardly "miniscule". While with vouchers, private schools are equally as affordable as public schools.

So what is the point you are trying to make?

Rather than look at Chile, how about consider the strong evidence in James Tooley's A Beautiful Tree, suggesting that even some of the world's poorest (residents of Indian slums and Sub-Saharan villages) can afford to send their children to private, for-profit schools, often in preference to "free" government schools?

[Rothbardian]

Private schools are a great alternative to public schools, but you want the public schools around to keep pricing reasonable and give alternatives.

My son(Age 2) is currently enrolled in a private school. He's getting a head-start that he wouldn't get in Canada, or if he simply went to a public school.

I'm not sure how you conclude that spending 10 to 20 grand per student per year on a system that will only have half of them able to read after more than a decade is affordable.

[Godstud]

The people are paying for that education with taxes. It's affordable.

The only thing you can try to do is teach people the importance of education, reading, writing, etc. Only you, the parent, has the ability to make sure your child is learning. It's not all up to the school, but too many lazy, stupid parents, like to think that teachers are supposed to raise their children, as well as teach them. Good parents have good students, as children. You have to look farther than just the education system.

I spend a WHOPPING $500 a year to send my son to private school, in Thailand. I have a friend in Canada who spends about $5400/year, but it's well worth it.

[Eran]

The people are paying for that education with taxes. It's affordable.

Not quite. At best, people are paying for schooling, not education.

Schooling is the service of looking after children at school. In many public schools, that is the only service actually being provided.

Private schools (that actually provide education) are affordable by virtually everybody. $500/year is affordable even in Thailand. Many private schools charge as little as $2-3 per month in tuition, making them affordable even to slum dwellers.

[Rothbardian]

The people are paying for that education with taxes. It's affordable.

The only thing you can try to do is teach people the importance of education, reading, writing, etc. Only you, the parent, has the ability to make sure your child is learning. It's not all up to the school, but too many lazy, stupid parents, like to think that teachers are supposed to raise their children, as well as teach them. Good parents have good students, as children. You have to look farther than just the education system.

I spend a WHOPPING $500 a year to send my son to private school, in Thailand. I have a friend in Canada who spends about $5400/year, but it's well worth it.

So anything paid for with taxes is affordable by definition. That makes a lot of sense.

[Godstud]

Well, we have to make an assumption that your tax dollars are being used efficiently and effectively(not always the case, of course). We do pay taxes for this, after all, and education is very important to any society that expects to thrive.

[Rothbardian]

Well, we have to make an assumption that your tax dollars are being used efficiently and effectively(not always the case, of course). We do pay taxes for this, after all, and education is very important to any society that expects to thrive.

Sounds like begging the question. If we just assume that the current system is affordable then we can agree that I am correct in arguing the current system is affordable.

Since value is entirely subjective all we have to do is consider whether or not people would be willing to pay $15,000 a year for a child's education with the end result being illiteracy and idiocy if they had a choice in the matter.

[ronimacarroni]

Sounds like begging the question. If we just assume that the current system is affordable then we can agree that I am correct in arguing the current system is affordable.

Since value is entirely subjective all we have to do is consider whether or not people would be willing to pay $15,000 a year for a child's education with the end result being illiteracy and idiocy if they had a choice in the matter.

Public schools don't create illiterate idiots.
I went to a public school and I'm not an illiterate idiot (atleast I'd like to think I'm not )

Public schools don't need more money, they just have some internal problems that need to be dealt with.
I don't think that creating a more expensive school voucher alternative is going to solve anything.

There is also the fact that some kids don't care about learning no matter what you do.
Based on what I've heard, private school teachers prefer lower pay to get away from those kids.
They still need to go to school though.

[Husky]

I don't think that creating a more expensive school voucher alternative is going to solve anything.

I recommend, at the very least, you Google the topic before making a completely uninformed decision

[Baff]

Private schools (that actually provide education) are affordable by virtually everybody. $500/year is affordable even in Thailand. Many private schools charge as little as $2-3 per month in tuition, making them affordable even to slum dwellers.

£26k a year each.

Call it a third of a million through to the end of University.

Not everyone can afford it here.
That's more than the average wage and that's for just one child.
Even with both parents working, that's a lot of dough to find.


I'd love a voucher system. It sucks to pay tax for a service you won't be using.

[ronimacarroni]

I recommend, at the very least, you Google the topic before making a completely uninformed decision

Wow thanks, I've just found a bunch of articles reinforcing why school vouchers are bad.

http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2013/04/24 ... r-dollars/

I'd love a voucher system. It sucks to pay tax for a service you won't be using.

Uh the vouchers would be paid with tax money for a service you won't be using.

Although you probably did use it at some point, you jerk.

[Rothbardian]

Public schools don't create illiterate idiots.
I went to a public school and I'm not an illiterate idiot (atleast I'd like to think I'm not )

Public schools don't need more money, they just have some internal problems that need to be dealt with.
I don't think that creating a more expensive school voucher alternative is going to solve anything.

There is also the fact that some kids don't care about learning no matter what you do.
Based on what I've heard, private school teachers prefer lower pay to get away from those kids.
They still need to go to school though.

American public schools = over 50% illiteracy rate. The UK is similar. But you're not illiterate, so it's all money well spent.

[Godstud]

Canadian literacy rate is 99%, as is the USA. Where are you getting your stats from?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... eracy_rate

[Eran]

Public schools don't create illiterate idiots.

No, they don't. But many of them (though clearly not the one you attended) leave children of average intelligence as illiterate as they were when they entered.

£26k a year each.

Nonsense. That's like arguing that nobody but the wealthiest can afford cars, because there are some Bentleys selling for £250,000.

In the current environment, people of low and moderate means can rarely afford to both pay taxes and pay for private schools. Hence private schools aim at upper-middle and upper class earners.

In India, however, some private schools aim at lower-income people, and tuition costs there are unbelievably low ($3-5/month).

There is no reason whatever that a private school needs to be expensive. There is nothing inherently expensive about it. As soon as there is demand for low-cost private schools, entrepreneurs would provide it. As they do in many countries already.

Typical tuitions are $6-8k (£4-6k), a small fraction of the number you quote. In fact, private school tuitions are typically well below average spend per student in the public system.

[ronimacarroni]

In India, however, some private schools aim at lower-income people, and tuition costs there are unbelievably low ($3-5/month).

You mean like this one?



Hey I mean good for them for doing what they can with what they got, but its hardly something to strive towards to...

[Godstud]

It doesn't matter what the school looks like, ronimacarroni, if they are learning. You're just being ethnocentric and not recognizing, nor understanding, that not everyone does things in exactly the same way as in the US. Often this works out very well for them, too.

[Eran]

You mean like this one?

Actually, much worse. The children in that school are sitting on chairs, and they each seem to have notebooks and writing implements.

I have visited schools in India in which students sit on the floor, share textbooks, and do much of their writing on slate.

But then, you probably wouldn't be very happy with where these children go to sleep, what they eat, the quality of the health-care they receive, etc.

People with western-level incomes (even as unskilled workers) could afford to pay much more, and thus get much better quality of schooling.


Go through this simple calculation. Assume a teacher is paid $60,000/year for teaching 30 student class. That translates to $2,000/student/year. There are other expenses (administration, books, classroom space, etc.), but those need not be that much higher. In the paradigm of frontal teaching of 20-40 students at once, good quality private schooling need not be expensive.

[ronimacarroni]

It doesn't matter what the school looks like, ronimacarroni, if they are learning. You're just being ethnocentric and not recognizing, nor understanding, that not everyone does things in exactly the same way as in the US. Often this works out very well for them, too.

Hey I didn't mean it like that... Like I said I think its good that they're learning...

[Godstud]

Yeah, I realize that , and at the same time I've met people who don't travel and when they see some things in foreign countries they just assume that their way is the best. I used to be of the same mind til I actually LIVED for a time in one of these places and learned that it need not be 5 star for it to be great.

Yes, fewer students usually means better class, and then again you can go to college where you have 50 students in a class, and teachers teach well, despite this obstacle. A lot depends on the quality and motivation of the teacher. A good teacher can overcome the obstacles, and is worth their weight in gold(obviously an exaggeration).