At 12:11 PM 5/15/96 -0400, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
As long as this is now CypherCesspit and not CypherPunks, I might as well play the game.
I've been trolled too.
Perhaps its this sort of thing, and the fact that the literacy rate was higher BEFORE public education, that lead me to believe that we don't need any more "assistance" from the friendly neighborhood government. We need less, a lot less, and as fast as possible.
Since I am basically conservative (small c, original meaning), I always look for ways to ease into change. In the case of public schools (and specifically in California), I see that the top 10% can stand proudly next to the best of the private schools, and the bottom 10% are cesspools. We should start by issuing education vouchers to the parents of students in the bottom 10% of the schools for the state aid their districts would have otherwise gotten. We can monitor indicators such as the juvenile crime rate and standardized tests to see how the experiment is progressing. If the experiment is wildly successful, it will be extended quickly by popular demand. If it is mildly successful, it should be extended to more schools, but more slowly (perhaps the lowest 25% next), and monitored. In any case, when it reaches the top 10%, it ain't broke, schools, they will have had time to adapt to the change in funding. I should note that if I were sending my children to primary/secondary school today, I would still send them to the local public schools in Los Gatos.
Do you prefer using the U.S. Postal Service, or Federal Express when you absolutely positively have to get the package there?
Actually I use the USPS. They deliver to places I have to send things that FX does not (Some rural parts of the USA). However, since I am not sending life-saving medicine, I really don't "absolutely positively have to get the package there". ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA