Galt's Gulch

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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 9 years, 6 months ago
    The next paradigm in this equation would be: Parents with children using that part of local taxes they pay, designated for education on schools of their choosing, not the funds allocated by local taxation; state and federal grants. My parents Paid for my education, my town did not receive state nor federal grants back in the day. But lets take it one Ayn Rand step further and not burden those without school age children with the taxation for education. That makes everyone accountable for their own choices or conditions of life and not everyone else.
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    • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 6 months ago
      Well, that suits me fine and I would love to see that happen, but upon consideration I think I will have to suck it up and pay for other people's schools. Why? Because if you carry this to its logical conclusion, people who are off the grid and grow their own food should not have to pay as much for roads as we who commute do. And people who have taken vaccinations should have a lesser public health tax. etc

      What is wrong with this? It requires that the government track whether I have kids, my life habits, whether I have had vaccinations...etc. Admittedly, this is the direction the gov wants to go, but I would rather not enshrine this sort of record keeping. I would actually rather pay the damn school tax and keep the gov out of my life.

      Jan
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      • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 years, 6 months ago
        A government limited to a military, a police force, and a system of courts would solve all your problems
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        • Posted by scojohnson 9 years, 6 months ago
          Government is reasonably useful for a few other things (but not many). Roads come to mind.. And reasonable regulation of natural resources / ports / import/ export / and currency is a natural function of government. I'd even argue that the postal service would do better as a system of private businesses.
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          • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 years, 6 months ago
            " And reasonable regulation of natural resources / ports / import/ export / and currency is a natural function of government.'I could argue this but a larger point is that it is impossible to be reasonable with those who flat out refuse to employ their ability to reason. And they seem to be the majority.
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      • Posted by $ jdg 9 years, 6 months ago
        I don't see that at all. If every parent pays for his kids' own education then government doesn't even have to be involved in the topic.

        The downside, though, is that children of welfare mothers won't get educated. I don't want to have a bunch of young adults around who can't read or add. They won't have any prospects in life except to steal.

        So before it is safely possible to leave education to the parents, we not only need to stop subsidizing poor people to breed, we would actually need to make it illegal -- and seize their kids. I'm willing to go that far, but I doubt most voters are.
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        • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 6 months ago
          But right now, we are discussing vouchers, which is not each parent paying for their own child's education, but just a way of making schools compete for children and the profit that goes with them.

          Jan
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        • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 years, 6 months ago
          " I don't want to have a bunch of young adults around who can't read or add." I read within the last year something like 7000 kids/day drop out of high school. And many of those who do graduate cannot do math or use English well enough to be employable. Nothing would change if we closed all schools.
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          • Posted by term2 9 years, 6 months ago
            Maybe not at $15 min wage, but maybe they could do the work the illegal immigrants now do if they were motivated by no prospects of welfare and no minimum wage
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            • Posted by IndianaGary 9 years, 6 months ago
              I doubt it. As long as drugs are illegal it will be far more profitable for illiterate, innumerates to sell them, further involving government in their so-called "war on drugs".
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              • Posted by term2 9 years, 6 months ago
                so part of the solution would be to de-crimminalize drugs and let the walmarts of the world sell them instead of street vendors
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                • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 years, 6 months ago
                  Do you believe that a walmart solution would lead to a more widespread use of drugs?
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                  • Posted by term2 9 years, 6 months ago
                    In the short term perhaps, but eventually things will find a balance. Drugs really arent that great a solution to having a good time in the long run. And the thrill of doing something thats illegal would be eliminated. With Marijuana, people will sit home and smoke out, harming no one but themselves perhaps. With more powerful drugs they might take too much and OD- a self correcting situation. At least they wont have to steal to pay the outrageous prices charged by the cartels.

                    In the meantime however crime will be reduced pretty much instantly, and the prices of the drugs will fall dramatically
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 6 months ago
    This is great! I can remember going to parent/teacher conferences and being frustrated by knowing nothing I said would be implemented or even considered. But if I said, such-and-such must happen or I'm pulling my kid....what power! Come to think of it, I probably would have pulled my kids out anyhow.
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  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 6 months ago
    This is probably not going to be a popular statement, but I think vouchers should be combined with periodic testing using universal tests like the SAT (or, what the SAT used to be...). The reason for this is that, for example, in Britain the vouchers are often used to support schools that teach such things as anti-evolutionary Muslim doctrine. I really do not care if that is what the students (and their teachers) Believe in their heart of hearts, but I do think that the students need to be able to pass a test that shows that they understand the principles behind evolution and genetics, whether or not they personally believe in it.

    So: vouchers for everybody and periodic testing likewise.

    Jan
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  • Posted by Ibecame 9 years, 6 months ago
    I know there was a posting for "Your Best Teachers" and I had a few, but I remember quite a number of teachers that could suck the motivation and inspiration out of you until there was nothing left but vacuum. When I look back those people would not have been teachers in any other place but in a Nationalized school system.

    When i started into college I had one good teacher the first year but they drove him out. Then I decided to go for a capitalistic, pay your money for education and went to DeVry. When I graduated the economy was at a low point and I still had 18 firm job offers. I remember: It was so stressful trying to make up my mind which one to take. The truth is, I really learned something there.
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  • Posted by $ Abaco 9 years, 6 months ago
    This is amazing. Meanwhile, here in California they are taking away the right to a free education for any kid who doesn't get 35 vaccines by the start of kindergarten (including stuff like chicken pox, flu, etc..) The exodus is about to begin... My dad lives in Reno and we've discussed joining him over the hill.

    Seriously...this is huge.
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  • Posted by term2 9 years, 6 months ago
    BUT contained in that same bill are huge tax increases for the same public schools that are lucky to teach chimpanzees how to eat bananas. What needs to be done is disband the public schools, selling off the assets to private buyers and stopping the property tax support for them. Public schools are a real waste in my opinion
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  • Posted by samrigel 9 years, 6 months ago
    Shutdown the Federal Dept. of Education and then Privatize all of the Pre-K through 12th grade schools. But base the privatization on LOCAL needs and dollars. Since there will be no more public school budget those that use the school will pay for it using the dollars they once paid in School Taxes. I believe that it will cost far less and put out a more intelligent student! This would also be a savings of $$ to those that don't use the school system including Seniors whose children are no longer at home!
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  • Posted by H6163741 9 years, 6 months ago
    So, Ms. Garcia fears vouchers because private schools might favor (GASP!) smarter kids? Horror of horrors! They might actually excel beyond the mediocre standards of common core! Again, Rand has predicted the future (in Anthem). Ms. Garcia; if your immigrant friends would bother to learn the language, maybe their kids could get into better schools. I'm just sayin'...
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    • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 6 months ago
      Catholic schools have managed to make scholars out of poor and ESL kids for decades - maybe centuries. The nuns left many a negative mark on the youth of the world, but the concept of taking poor and illiterate and turning them into brilliant achievers has been field tested.

      Jan
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      • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 years, 6 months ago
        I have mixed feelings about my time in a Catholic grammar school. On the plus side, I was taught what Occam's razor meant. However, getting whacked on my knuckles and naked ass by a nun wielding a triangular ruler sucked.
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        • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 6 months ago
          Yeah. I did not get that treatment, but I did go to a Catholic HS. The traditional Catholic teaching did included a lot of dross, but I think it does provide evidence that some voucher schools would accept poor and ESL students and turn out bright metal from them.

          Jan
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          • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 years, 6 months ago
            Yeah when I was a kid they were basically free from the influence of John Dewey and the NEA. They were, thankfully, heavily influenced by the rationality and logic of Thomas Aquinas.
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    • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 years, 6 months ago
      " "There's no such thing as the intellect. A man's brain is a social product. A sum of the influences that he's picked up from those around him" "All thought is theft..." " Dr Ferris Chapter VI Atlas Shrugged.
      I wonder if Ms. Garcia has read AS?
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  • Posted by $ Radio_Randy 9 years, 6 months ago
    Why, again, are middle class families getting $600 less than low income families? Since the middle income families are more likely to be contributing much more in property taxes (for schools), it seems odd, to me, that they would be getting less back.
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    • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 years, 6 months ago
      Equality to a Marxist means that every citizen possess exactly what every other citizen possesses. This is what drives them to try to implement socialism in the face of failure after failure. They will not stop until stopped.
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  • Posted by $ Abaco 9 years, 6 months ago
    Just spoke with my dad (in Reno) a little earlier today. He seems to think that this law may have been influenced by what is happening in California. The Gov might really see an opportunity here to lure families with involved, caring parents. If he's successful, this could easily result in a financial positive for the state. Sure, we'll all come over with our educations, work ethics, etc... Property values, up. Education level of workforce, up. Employers happy.
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