Warp wrote:

>   Ok, it might not be "fair" that all children are not given the same
> opportunities, but do you really want to lower the overall education level
> of your entire country just in the name of "fairness"?

As somebody who actually lives in the UK, I don't think banning private 
schools would do anything positive.

Hypothetically, everybody should have an equal chance in life. Obviously 
this is impossible, but we can still strive to get as close to it as 
possible.

However... closing private schools isn't going to make this happen.

If you're going to ban "private schools", first you have to define what 
one is. If that sounds silly, consider that people run phone-in 
competations which are really just gambling, but manage to circumvent 
gambling laws because they add a question to the competation, therefore 
placing it under a different branch of law.

If you try to ban private schools, there will be similarly absurd 
loopholes that people will exploit. And even if they can't, rich kids 
will still end up getting the best books and learning materials, the 
finest tutors for after-school extra tuition, and so on and so forth. 
They'll still have a vast advantage over everybody else.

Yes, it would be nice if the world was perfect. But this isn't the right 
way to achieve that. Banning private schools would just make a lot of 
work for law-makers and law-enforcers without actually achieving anything.

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Invisible wrote:

> As somebody who actually lives in the UK, I don't think banning private 
> schools would do anything positive.
> 

As somebody who actually lives in the UK, I think that church schools 
should be banned too.

-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen

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Stephen wrote:

> As somebody who actually lives in the UK, I think that church schools 
> should be banned too.

They still have those?! Man...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Warp wrote:

> >   Ok, it might not be "fair" that all children are not given the same
> > opportunities, but do you really want to lower the overall education level
> > of your entire country just in the name of "fairness"?

> As somebody who actually lives in the UK, I don't think banning private 
> schools would do anything positive.

> Hypothetically, everybody should have an equal chance in life. Obviously 
> this is impossible, but we can still strive to get as close to it as 
> possible.

  I really do think that forcing "equal opportunity for everybody" by
removing privileges from the rich is *not* the proper solution.

  That's a bit like saying that everybody should have the same quality of
vision, and to do that, we make everybody blind so that now truly everybody
will be equal in terms of vision. That's just silly.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Stephen wrote:
> 
>> As somebody who actually lives in the UK, I think that church schools 
>> should be banned too.
> 
> They still have those?! Man...
> 



-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen

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Stephen <mca### [at] aoldotcom> wrote:
> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> > Stephen wrote:
> > 
> >> As somebody who actually lives in the UK, I think that church schools 
> >> should be banned too.
> > 
> > They still have those?! Man...

> Just name a religion, C o E, catholic, Jewish, Muslim???

  The right for people to indocrinate their children into their own religion
is today as holy as it has always been. (The only difference is that now
there are more religions in the same places.) So don't expect those schools
to be banned anytime soon. Maybe in the next millenia.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Warp wrote:
> Stephen <mca### [at] aoldotcom> wrote:
>> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> Stephen wrote:
>>>
>>>> As somebody who actually lives in the UK, I think that church schools 
>>>> should be banned too.
>>> They still have those?! Man...
> 
>> Just name a religion, C o E, catholic, Jewish, Muslim???
> 
>   The right for people to indocrinate their children into their own religion
> is today as holy as it has always been. (The only difference is that now
> there are more religions in the same places.) So don't expect those schools
> to be banned anytime soon. Maybe in the next millenia.
> 

One can only hope.

-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen

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Warp wrote:
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> Warp wrote:
> 
>>>   Ok, it might not be "fair" that all children are not given the same
>>> opportunities, but do you really want to lower the overall education level
>>> of your entire country just in the name of "fairness"?
> 
>> As somebody who actually lives in the UK, I don't think banning private 
>> schools would do anything positive.
> 
>> Hypothetically, everybody should have an equal chance in life. Obviously 
>> this is impossible, but we can still strive to get as close to it as 
>> possible.
> 
>   I really do think that forcing "equal opportunity for everybody" by
> removing privileges from the rich is *not* the proper solution.

I think that was not the point of that article, but I seem to have lost 
the link somewhere in the long discussion.

> 
>   That's a bit like saying that everybody should have the same quality of
> vision, and to do that, we make everybody blind so that now truly everybody
> will be equal in terms of vision. That's just silly.
>

Post a reply to this message

>> Hypothetically, everybody should have an equal chance in life. Obviously 
>> this is impossible, but we can still strive to get as close to it as 
>> possible.
> 
>   I really do think that forcing "equal opportunity for everybody" by
> removing privileges from the rich is *not* the proper solution.
> 
>   That's a bit like saying that everybody should have the same quality of
> vision, and to do that, we make everybody blind so that now truly everybody
> will be equal in terms of vision. That's just silly.

Yes, yes it is. What we *should* of course be doing is making sure 
everybody has really awesome vision.

Oh, and really awesome schools. And shutting private schools doesn't 
advance this goal. (At least, not measurably.)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Warp wrote:
>   That's a bit like saying that everybody should have the same quality of
> vision, and to do that, we make everybody blind so that now truly everybody
> will be equal in terms of vision. That's just silly.

Wasn't it Harlan Ellison who did a short story about that? And it's turning 
into a film now, I think?  I couldn't find the name of it, tho.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Human nature dictates that toothpaste tubes spend
   much longer being almost empty than almost full.

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