What Would Schools Be Like? (commentary by Marshall Fritz)
Marshall Fritz, intrepid founder of the Alliance for the Separation of School & State, speculates on how American schools might function once they are out of the clutches of government.
After liberating schools from the government, what will they be like? Schools will reflect the variety in American society, just like restaurants and groceries do today.
*Schools will be smaller and more numerous. Parents will choose from variety; this will necessitate parents thinking about just what is important to them.
*Parents will usually choose schools where the teachers hold the same worldview as they do. Hence, teachers will be reinforcing parents rather than undermining them.
*Schools will be safe.
One more thing: Unlike today, teachers will engage children with the questions that challenge our species, e.g., Where did I come from? Is there any purpose to life? What is happiness? Why are some things “right” and others “wrong?” How do we know?
Under the banner of “separation of church and state,” today’s “public school” teachers are pretty much forbidden from this, resulting in demeaning education to mere schooling and turning children into test-taking robots. It would be like Wendy’s offering to “smally” your burger by taking the meat out.
I believe within two years of the Moment of Liberation, teachers will be saying to each other, “Why did we ever fight this for so long?”
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There are inherent dangers in this logic. If you take a look at some of the third world countries, one can see that if the government doesn’t provide at least primary (k-12), then only those with money are the ones with educated. As a result, the country more than likely will have a high illiteracy rate since most people will not be able to afford the cost of education. Instead of diversity as the author alludes to, the schools will be predominantly occupied by the privileged few. This can be seen in many African countries now, those with money go to school, and those without don’t. The reason why the Chinese and the Japanese are excelling is because a good education is provided to them by the government either free or at least a nominal fee.
While people are young, I think everyone should have an opportunity to some type of basic education that is the same across socioeconomic class, afterwards, people should at least have the opportunity to further their studies into some type of specialize area whether it is religion or otherwise. If what this person wants actually happens I think we would see a decline in the intellectual abilities of a country. In my opinion, if this happens, then we would de-evolve to a period when people thought the sun revolved around the earth, i.e. lose some of our intellectual abilities.
Comment by Cynthia | March 11, 2005
Cynthia, thanks for your comments!!!
If what this person wants actually happens I think we would see a decline in the intellectual abilities of a country. In my opinion, if this happens, then we would de-evolve to a period when people thought the sun revolved around the earth, i.e. lose some of our intellectual abilities.
I’m going backwards here on my response to you, so please bear with me
Well, for starters what do you define as “…decline in the intellectual abilities of a country?” I say this because it does not take a rocket scientist to see that we are already on that path. Many of our own kids are graduating way below the so-called standard that has been set since government funded education first existed in this country. Do you realize that on a whole, American children CURRENTLY lag behind the rest of the world (especially 3rd world countries) in most subjects?
As a result, the country more than likely will have a high illiteracy rate since most people will not be able to afford the cost of education. Instead of diversity as the author alludes to, the schools will be predominantly occupied by the privileged few.
Here is another point to consider. Did you know that America spends more on education than on our own military (I make reference to this fact on this site several times. If you do a search, I am sure you will find it)? Also, if you check out the John Taylor Gatto link on the left, you will read about how the public school system was not intended to educate, but to program children to think a certain way (in other words, independent thought was and still is highly discouraged).
How can we as a nation continue to justify spending more money on education when it appears that the more we spend, the weaker the results. Again, I strongly encourage you to look at the facts of this issue.
I would love to continue this discourse with you on a more open forum if you like. I think you do bring up some interesting points. All I would do is make our comments on this issue into its own posting if you would like. E-mail me by using my ‘Contact’ link to your right to let me know!
Thanks again Cynthia for visiting this website and for your input!!!
Comment by Duane | March 12, 2005
I do realize that the current system has inherent problems built into it and that the school system is not designed to work for all students, particularly minorities. However, Fritz proposal doesn’t take into consideration some key factors that will prevent some students from learning know matter what system that would be in place.
Having said this, statistics show that American white college bound students overall are just as prepared as any other student worldwide. Minorities (Hispanics and African Americans) are the reason why American children lag behind I would say 2nd world instead of 3rd world countries just as we are the reason why America has a lower life expectancy than other first world countries. We do however know that the public school system can and does work even for some minorities since there are high performing majority and minority schools all over the U.S. In Chicago, Whitney Young, a predominately minority school has consistently out performed every other school statewide. The question then becomes - how do we create public funded schools that will benefit everyone instead of a select few?
We must look at other factors that are affecting our community before we can unilaterally say that this system should be scraped and replaced with something else. Otherwise, the problems facing our community will follow into the next system. There are many reasons why our children are not excelling. Some are entirely external such as the public school system is inherently geared against the success of our children creating a permanent underclass by purposefully not educating our children, whereas some factors are both internal and external and feed off the other such as poverty. Statistics clearly shows that there’s a general trend that poverty affects the ability of children to perform well in school partly because they are malnourished and maybe in part, because people don’t expect much from them and they are not pushed like their more affluent counterparts. How do we then as a people break this cycle of underachievement to bring about a situation that our children will excel in a world that provides free but unequal education to it citizens. Even in Fritz’s system, what guarantee do we have that the education will be equal and fair when we haven’t managed to obtain this type of fairness in the current system for the nations poor and minority students? Yes, the system is broke, but I think it can be fixed to benefit all and not just the privilege few, which I think would also happen in the system that Fritz’s is proposing too.
I still believe the government should be totally responsible for everyone having access to the same quality of primary education (k-12), which is lacking in the current system. As a group, I believe we are in this current predicament, partly because we were not encouraged by our parents and our teachers like Asians and whites students were/are being encouraged to excel and partly because our parents didn’t scream about the unequal distribution of resources that were allocated to affluent neighborhoods at the expense of urban schools. The U.S. hasn’t progressed past that whole separate but unequal situation.
Finally, I think a prerequisite for critical thinking is to have access to a good foundation that should be provided free to its citizens by the government (k-12 levels). The more the person learns at the earlier stage of their development, the better that individual will be able to interpret their environment and the world around them.
I don’t know if you got my previous email, but I don’t mind if this discussion went public, as I would welcome the opportunity to know what others think on this subject.
Comment by Cynthia | March 12, 2005
Another example of a parent’s commitment to education:
Daughter’s truancy nets 60 days for mom
TAVARES, Fla. — A Florida woman has been sentenced to 60 days in jail for her daughter’s truancy, the Orlando Sentinel reported yesterday.
Jaquisa Luke was found to be in contempt of court for violating an order to ensure that her daughter, Unique, attended Triangle Elementary School in Mount Dora.
School officials said it was the first time a parent in the county has been jailed for violating a criminal contempt-of-court charge regarding a child’s truancy.
Witnesses said the 7-year-old has 78 unexcused absences for the current school year and was late 21 times. In the 2003-04 school year, she had 111 unexcused absences, nearly two-thirds of the 180-day school term.
In October 2004, a judge ordered Ms. Luke to make sure her daughter attended school
After reading this, I ask again how is the school system responsible for this?
I do not watch much TV but I noticed something missing recently that I recall from my childhood: TV shows, particularly comedy, where a parent asks a child “Do you finish your homework?” or the command, “Go do your homework.”
Comment by EG | March 13, 2005
*Schools will be smaller and more numerous. Parents will choose from variety; this will necessitate parents thinking about just what is important to them.
What if the world view held by the parents is one of racism? What if their world view is informed by historical & factual inaccuracies. some people believe the holocaust did not exist. others that black Africans are the “true Hebrews Israelites” And others that the world is flat.
Lastly I suspect these new “Liberated Schools” would be private. If someone is poor how is he/she to see too the education of his children?
Comment by BH | March 14, 2005