what is your solution to education in america? privatize? unions?

Question

i want to privatize it, and before you start saying i love the rich, i grew up a poor life. but my mother and I understood the importance of education and with finacial aid, help from other people, and cutting back a little on other things, i was able to afford five years of private education at an expensive school. and i commuted from the inner-city to the suburbs to do this. so its complete BS to say poor/middle-class people can't afford the education. i ate pb and j sandwiches, worked a job while taking a six-course load (all advanced) to help with transport and didn't spend my paycheck on 300 dollar tennis shoes and tv sets.

the thing i hate most about public education is more money goes to the salaries of the teachers than the classroom itself. for people who think that teachers at private schools get large salaries you are flat wrong. they may get paid thousands of dollars less, but in turn they are getting markers, textbooks, whiteboards, desks, etc..

PRIVATIZE!!!!!!

Answer 1

I am a teacher in the worse ghetto zone of my city. I get paid less than a sanitation worker. I don't know where you get your salary statistics but the teachers I know work damn hard for a below average salary.

And, whether private or public, what impacts children the most is parent support of education - something I get very little of.

Answer 2

I totally agree. The money spend per student in the public system is about double what we (my husband started a couple of private schools so I KNOW) spent per child.

There is waste and extravagance in the public schools.

Now, if there were vouchers for people, the public schools would improve and the families who preferred a spiritually based K-12 education could find schools, and the magnet schools could perform well.

Competition is a great improver of things.

So, yes indeed. Privatize. PLEASE.