butch@drutx.UUCP (FreemanS) (12/05/84)
Mr. Stewart did you go to a public school? Up to 85% of all
children in this country go to public schools. I would also say
that the committment of this country to educate the masses are one
of the reasons this is a great country! Before this country funded
education and made it mandatory that all children go to school it
was a bastion for those who could afford it. M. L. King Jr. once
said that education was neccessary so that the poor and the
underprivileged could participate fully in american society.
There are those that are so selfish and concerned about themselves
that they can't understand society doing good deeds that are not
directly beneficial to themselves. Free education and an educated
society benefits everyone. Ignorance causes intolerance, just look
at all the injustices in the world such as racial and religious
hatred.
Most public schools teach more than just academics. In most public
schools there are a mix of children with various economic, social,
racial, and religious backgrounds. Thus children will be
understanding and tolerant of others with different backgrounds.
Free education benefits all americans and helps those to help
themselves!
Liberal as usual,
S. Freemanlaura@utzoo.UUCP (Laura Creighton) (12/08/84)
There seems to be some confusion here. A good many people really seem to think that it is the rich people who are screaming for free education. This is simply not the case. The rich may be bitching that they have to pay twice (once for the public schools and once for the private schools that they actually send their children to) or once when they don't have any children at all, but if you read the arguements for free schools you will find that they are overwhelmingly presented by poor, and especiually poor Black people. (References at home -- I will post if you don't beluieve me.) The education system does a fairly good job of educating people who live in white, middle class suburbia. (This is not to say that the white, middle class suburbanites are really pleased with it, but it is just not as incredibly rotten as the education you will get in an inner city ghetto school in a large US city.) There are poor people who think that the education their children are getting is abysmal, *but they cannot afford to move to white suburbia to get the better education*. There have been many experiments in schools, simply because the poor people think that they can do a better job than the governmet in deciding where their children should be educated. Before you talk about the greatness of universal education, talk to the people who are the supposed beneficiaries of this -- the poorest people -- and see if they are pleased with what they have received. Laura Creighton utzoo!laura