Forced Public Education?

I'm a teacher in the UK and we have similar debate issues: albeit the Christian hard-right is much smaller so that is not as much of an issue. We don't have debates on whether evolution or climate change are real.

What you are witnessing in each of our countries is the political right blaming others for problems that they have created. Decades of underfunding and the splintering of education systems by the Charter School/Acadamany drive have created problems and produced mediocrity. Instead of looking at the best performing school systems in the world and learning from that (for example, Finland and Ontario) the right is determined to bring even more neo-liberal 'logic' and further compound the problems that they themselves created. It's based on the ideological belief that the market must always be more efficient and more effective than 'big government,' even in a natural monopoly and when the evidence says the opposite.

There is also the conspiracy that schools are 'indoctrination centres.' Whilst is true that most teachers lean towards the left, it's normally soft-left and some are barely political. It's quite logical that public sector workers are going to lean this way it's also quite logical that they are going to be in active unions when terms and conditions are under pressure. The motivation of teachers is based on a desire to educate the young and that is so obvious that I'm embarrassed to have to say this.

If teaching that the British Empire did bad things, that racism is bad and that climate change is real, constitutes a political conspiracy.... well sad to say folks: reality is conspiring against your belief system and it's you who wants to indoctrinate others. And indoctrinate others will bullshit you got from lousy media sources and internet conspiracies. I'm not going to teach children that BLM is Marxist or that Greta Thunberg is wrong, no matter how certain half of the SW politics section thinks it is. When it (rarely) comes up, I make efforts to be politically neutral in the classroom. To give credence to bullshit would be compromising professional ethics and there is no good reason other than it pisses off the right. Actually, that's not a good reason. 😎

Public education is simply regime propaganda.

So, you're saying public education is better than private? I don't think so. It's probably quite the opposite anyway.

As a separate point, I also agree with you on private education.

Of course, private schools produce great results, they are funded to do just that and pass on hereditary class advantage. There is not an easy answer to solve this problem but in the UK, they have tac reductions because they count as charities. This is ridiculous.

Nothing worse then being forced to believe fabricated garbage that only benefits the top tier war mongers. #Satan

About private education, I do agree about religious institutions as there's several issues that happen due to the closed off nature of such schools but public education has always sucked.

I went to a free government college and I don't regret it but at the same time, my teacher got her degree as a certificate online for six months and then thought she could teach lol. Some of the teachers are the same way and we don't learn how humans naturally learn in their natural environments so I hate all school for that reason. A lot of what we do is counter intuitive and then we blame the kids for not learning when it's our fault.

I've always been a fan of the Norway model of learning.

Oulawing private education would do away with religious indoctrination and a two class education system. So yeah only a well funded public education made accessible to everyone.

I’m pro public education too, because I think everyone should have access to a formal education, regardless of their economic status. But having said that, it’s a reality that many public schools are allowed to deteriorate because they’re perceived as having less value and status than private ones.

It’s a vicious circle; less status, less money, so fewer resources. The parents who can afford to send their children to schools with better resources and facilities do. And, alas you can’t blame them for that. Like in many situations, it’s about funding. 😠

Well I'm a victim of the New York City School System. When I say a victim, I mean they did not prepare me for college. If I wanted to go to a city college , or new york state college there would have been no problem. But since I applied to private schools and attended one I was forced to take remedial calsses in English, and Math, in order to be brought up to grade level and get accepted. Even though I graduated in the top of my class in High School, I was below grade level for my Freshman year.
Others that I had met, who came from private schools, or Catholic Schools came right out of High School and started there Freshman year with no remedial classes. What dies that tell you ?

I agree completely. All children are entitled to a decent education, independent of their parents' beliefs and prejudices. Universal state education is the only way of ensuring a level playing field and decent schooling for all.

we tried private Catholic school, and then a good local public school; neither of them worked out, we switched to homeschooling 4 years ago and never looked back

I agree with that, but I'm not against private schools. I preferred the private schools I attended than the public schools. However, my friends and step-siblings who went to public school did just fine overall.

I think good education is key and should be available to all.

You sound like a hate filled bigot

Anyone interested in this topic should read this enlightening piece from American Enterprise Institute:

https://www.aei.org/op-eds/oklahoma-has-approved-the-nations-first-religious-charter-school-whats-that-mean/?mkt_tok=NDc1LVBCUS05NzEAAAGMOWymcIKHLCc1oZ7iCo_LlQ8rG69CooTN7fFd_x0TXhmwTG3wcPfIgSUJLeogwp3ZWWl0S-WDi0r2NGOry6WCiVPGR4V4Yp5JvK4q6BqP2ydYyFY
[@MSwan] {@Gloomy]

I would love it, but there would be a riot from the fascist crowd.