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A comment on FIXME: zero ideas in the dept. of education's open government idea board. Parent comment

Re:FIXME: zero ideas in the dept. of education's open govern... by natrius on Monday February 08, 2010 @10:27PM (#1111459)
"Will you subsidize the "private" schools with government money? That would defeat the whole purpose of having private schools as you aren't allowing them the operate in the free market."

I don't understand this. The most common proposal I've heard is a voucher system that would allow people to defray the cost of an education at a school that has some sort of certification. In what meaningful ways is that not a free market? How will competition be any less effective?

It is clear to me that restoring choice to the education market will allow competition to occur, which will likely result in increased quality.

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Re:FIXME: zero ideas in the dept. of education's open govern... by dhume on Tuesday February 09, 2010 @01:02AM (#1111652)
It is clear to me that restoring choice to the education market will allow competition to occur, which will likely result in increased quality.

Except in this area, the quality of the student seems to matter quite a bit more than the quality of the school. When Chicago Public Schools used a lottery-based system for granting spots in the top-performing schools, it turned out that students who won the lottery didn't turn out significantly better than those who lost.

http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/CullenJacobLev...

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Re:FIXME: zero ideas in the dept. of education's open govern... by wisty on Monday February 08, 2010 @10:49PM (#1111494)
Maybe. Public education is a good way to mix student though, otherwise you have segregation. Ghetto schools are bad, because the bad students get worse, and the good students don't learn any street smarts.

Cutting school time, then supplementing it with tutoring vouchers would be my preference. You get a bit of both worlds. It would be tricky for teachers, who would need 2 jobs (one of which they would actually be accountable in) but that could be partly positive. Exposing teachers to a bit of business might be good.

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Re:FIXME: zero ideas in the dept. of education's open govern... by natrius on Monday February 08, 2010 @11:03PM (#1111510)
Segregation is alive and well. Public schools don't solve that at all. Human beings naturally stratify by class. Regardless, improving education is a greater good than increasing diversity. If there is actually a trade-off between the two, it's an easy choice.
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