Isn't there anything better than paying inner city black kids to go to school?

Question

What about everybody else? How screwed up is the national public education system, anyway?

Answer 1

First, there is no "national" public education system.  Education systems are state-funded and locally managed.  

Second, I always hear conservatives whining about how the "market will straighten it out."  Well, they found a way to get the "market" to straighten out the school attendance problem in some areas - is that such a horrible thing?  I thought conservatives were pro-capitalism.

Answer 2

That actually reminds me of a story about a Greek mathematician (maybe it was Euclid), who was teaching some brat about geometry, and the student complained about how useless it the subject was, so Euclid ended up giving him a small stipend for learning the subject as a way to diss him for being short sighted.

Honestly though, if it turns out to be an effective strategy to get students to learn, then I have no problem with them doing so. After all, I remember in public school that uninterested students that only went to school because they were forced to go seemed to be half the problem with the school system.

I think to be most effective, the payments should be partly based on grades. So the higher your GPA, the higher your payments, with a minimum amount payed for just attending.

Answer 3

let em remain as destitute. there is no free meal ticket anywhere in the world and they just sponge off everyone.

Answer 4

The high price of government education can be directly tied to the teachers unions that basically rip off most of the money.

The best solution is what they do in Denmark.  Let the money follow the child and the parents will pick the best school to take their child.  This increases competition and makes the schools better, which increases teachers pay and gives the kids a better education.

Everyone wins except the unions, but they're such powerful lobbyists they'll never let people have a choice in education. The way it stands, only the rich can afford to pay the taxes as well as pay for a private or charter schools.  The poor are forced to go to public schools and get an inferior education.

Answer 5

Yes, there are many different programs underway in public school that are attempting to address the problem of scoll drop-outs.  One problem in many inner cities is that many children need to earn something to help with family finances and some do not even have families.  Paying them to attend school helps to get them closer to at least a high school diploma and eventually into a career.  The cost is many times cheaper than having these same children just wandering the streets.

Answer 6

Probably, but that would teach them there is a direct link between hard work and better money.  That is not such a bad lesson.