:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Thursday, November 13, 2003 ::

Telegraph | Education | Why children should be equal: "Sticking with justice, I assume we can agree that private schools are unfair, in that they conflict with equality of opportunity. It's unfair that a child's prospects in life should depend on her social background, on her parent's willingness and ability to pay for an education better than others are getting. Principled defences of private schools will, I imagine, concede that , but claim that other values are more important. My mistake is to give fairness, or equality of opportunity, too much weight, or to ignore all the good things that would be sacrificed if we were to pursue it as seriously as I suggest. So let's look at those other good things, and see how much of value would indeed be lost if we were to abolish private schools."

"Freedom of religion, of expression, of sexuality: these are real rights. They protect fundamental human interests - things so important that we all have a duty to respect them even if we'd rather not. Is the freedom to spend your money on an expensive education for your child in that category? No."


"And we shouldn't kid ourselves. With a few honourable exceptions, independent schools are hardly bulwarks of pluralism and variety. The schools in question are typically means by which parents can enable their children better to compete in the game that everybody else is playing. Only rarely are they ways of playing a genuinely different game. "

And then there was an interesting comment on Crookedtimber's blog where I had found the article....

"In America, most of the upper-middle class do not go to private schools. Most move to a really expensive neighborhood with great public schools and send their kids there. The quality of the schools helps to drive up the property values.
The assumption seems to be that “no private school” equals “equality of schooling.” Anyone who has seen the variety of public schools would be under that illusion. Forcing people who live together to school together will merely cut down on people who don’t want to school together from living together. Posted by pathos ·"

Hmmm... shit I don't know what the answer is. Though I do have a big issue with private schools at least in concept.

:: Jim Nichols 11/13/2003 10:08:00 AM [+] ::
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