[busterarm]

So you're saying you don't want parents to have the choice to send their children to better performing schools and provide better opportunities for their children?

Or are you saying that should only be a privilege of the rich?

Having gone to both public and private schools, while I had horrible experiences with both, at least there was teaching going on in my private schools.

My public school experience was horrific, even in NYC's so-called "gifted" schools. My brother's kid only went to NYC public schools and her experiences were so much worse. My public school tried to have me put on psychiatric medication without a diagnosis from a qualified professional and my niece's public school spent two years trying to gaslight her that she was not gay but trans (as well as a whole bunch targeted harassment from her teachers for being vocally politically conservative).

Neither of those things have anything to do with what the schools' mandate should be: education.

[plorkyeran]

It only being a privilege of the rich is precisely the problem with school vouchers. Vouchers don't let poor students go to good private schools; they let good private schools charge more because the state is subsidizing part of the tuition.

[busterarm]

I grew up certified poor (rent control, foodstamps, hand me down clothes, donation program christmas gifts, the works) and was able to attend elite private schools because of programs like this.

Grew up with plenty of other poor kids going to those schools too.

[danaris]

> Or are you saying that should only be a privilege of the rich?

No: I don't think anyone should have the option of private schools.

Yes, I think public education should be mandatory in the US. That way, when there are problems with the public school system in a given area, rather than just pulling their own children—and money—out, the rich people would be personally incentivized to find ways to make it better for everyone.

[busterarm]

One of the things that I am most thankful for as am American is that we're not living in an authoritarian hellhole where the state-offered solution is the only solution.

As a kid my option was to be forcibly medicated by some random tyrant bureaucrat or not be allowed to attend school. I had no disorder or diagnosis that required this. Luckily I was able to escape to private school.

More importantly, children are not one-size-fits-all in terms of learning requirements or ability, but public schools only provide one-size-fits-all opportunity.

[consteval]

> public schools only provide one-size-fits-all opportunity

This isn't true - there's many specialty public schools. Schools for the deaf, schools for the blind, schools for those with severe learning disabilities.

The core issue with private education is it gives richer people an incentive to screw over public schools, which is exactly what we're seeing. They're greedy, it's not just enough for them to have private schools. They also have to siphon money from public schools, which hurts poorer Americans.

In theory, private schools could be fine. But when we give millions of public dollars to private schools, we have a huge problem.

[Ferret7446]

They'll just do what they did in Baton Rouge. The people who care don't want to fight against the people actively making the situation worse.