<p>Hmm, I did fix Sweden when I saw that earlier. Sorry about that.</p>
<p>As for the rankings, I was referring to, in general:</p>
<p>Program</a> for International Student Assessment (PISA) - A summary of findings from PISA 2006</p>
<p>and then dishonestly splicing data from some recent studies done in Newsweek. I wasn't planning on being so thorough in a debate.</p>
<p>*A tip regarding pathos in rhetoric: sometimes less is more.</p>
<p>Or were you just trying to compare me to a reactionary neo-Nazi?</p>
<p>It's an expression, bud. A neo-Nazi, no. A reactionary... well, you are portraying teachers as brainwashing students for political motives, and with little evidence to support you.*</p>
<p>Well, I suppose it's a regional thing. As for evidence, I can only cite the fact that the NEA has a fund devoted to political candidates and almost universally gives them to democratic candidates. Or local curriculums that mandate Howard Zinn and Karl Marx for all history and English classes, but not a single conservative writing.</p>
<p>Really it's more personal experience than anything else. And I don't have links to the latter. </p>
<p>As for my pathos, perhaps, but it was a rather hasty response. It's not my best writing nor speaking, and was an outlash of rage. </p>
<p>And as for the Jews comment, I found it particularly insulting, but perhaps it's just a regional difference in acceptability. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>This appears to me to be less a criticism of education in the country than of societal attitudes in your part of New Jersey.*</p>
<p>Perhaps it is, I know very little else. I only have the ability to extrapolate it. If I am mercifully wrong, then I am glad. If not, then I have no more nor less to add.</p>
<p>*
I pay at least a bit towards them. Yes, most comes from property taxes that I don't pay, but it's the attitude of it that annoys me so very much. That I am indebted to them for some reason.</p>
<p>Well, teachers pay taxes too, so in a purely financial sense they are contributing as much to your education as anyone.</p>
<p>And I know very well who Oscar Wilde was, thank you. He was a master satirist who skewered the cultural attitudes of his society. It's not a large stretch to imagine you comparing yourself to him. I'm pleased to hear you weren't.*</p>
<p>True, I'd suppose. Something always seemed awry to me. Perhaps I mistake their purposes.</p>
<p>It seems strange when students are berated in class without room for retort for their opinions in essays. But I hope it's different elsewhere.</p>
<p>*
High schools are drastically innefficient, specifically in the United States, and exist solely as a means of containment during a preset period that Americans have chosen as being capable to operate in the specialized post-industrial society.</p>
<p>I point out this sentence as a grammatical nightmare, not because I'm a pedantic, but because I cannot figure out what "during a preset period that Americans have chosen as being capable to operate in the specialized post-industrial society" is supposed to mean.*</p>
<p>Pardon again, in short society is, by means of rapid specialization brought on by the industrial revolution, not capable(as were past societies) of utilizing young citizens for much, and therefore need to keep them contained lest they be a danger.</p>
<p>Or so I am told in school, strangely enough(about the WPA, but the concept remains similar.)</p>
<p>blah blah blah jarring shift into past tense with no explanation blah blah okay I am not even going to attempt to address the rest of this section. You don't substantiate a single argument you make, and the piece in its entirety reads like a Dickens knock off.</p>
<p>Admittedly I haven't read much of Dickens, and what I've read never really endeared me to him, so sorry about that. I imagine my thoughts went into about 1850 with education, if the past tense makes any sense.</p>
<p>Sorry if it's entirely incoherent. I merely wanted to propose something, as you suggested.</p>
<p>*Homeschoolers show, in many states, tremendous educational advantage to those who are schooled conservatively.</p>
<p>Biased sample - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>I was midway through refuting the rest when I noticed you don't specify why school choice (by which I assume you mean implementation of a voucher system, sicne you never specify) would fix any of the problems you're describing. When you're done philosphizing and ready to get to the point I'll be happy to debate the merits of public education, but right now I haven't been given anything off of which to go.*</p>
<p>Sorry, I wasn't much expecting to actually have a debate. As it is, I was mainly ranting.</p>
<p>Well then, for my purposes:</p>
<p>School choice-any system whereby students and parents are in control of the schools they go to without life changing consequence(such as moving.)</p>
<p>Points:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>American schools constrain a group of people together by age and geography, leading to an insular world view, and a fear of other age groups(I have no evidence, I'm afraid. Merely the myriad students I see who are incapable of talking to adults as equals.)</p></li>
<li><p>American schools are considered neigh holy. Abandoning them is largely condemned, likely but not necessarily due to the fact that most have to go through them and become rather nostalgic. Thus there is a certain nature to them where they can get away with much more without fear of consequence.</p></li>
<li><p>Public schools are unable to do anything unconstitutional and are thus restrained heavily. Yet they act outside those bounds, making them highly ineffectual and victim(rightly or not) of many lawsuits.</p></li>
<li><p>Schools encourage an atmosphere of blind obedience by means of tremendous negative reinforcement(detention, suspension) for any perceived diversion from the status quo.</p></li>
<li><p>Schools encourage the dead opposite of democracy by providing an entirely autocratic nature, many times violating the laws they are meant to be bound by. For example, at my sister's school, walking about without identification is punishable. Some, though not many, believe this could lead to society ignoring their laws in later life. Controversial but I stand in favor of it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Is this a good starting ground, or should I provide more research. Admittedly I'm not much in the mood to research at the moment, and my laziness is affecting the quality of my arguement. I only wanted to open some students eyes to any injustices by means of extreme words.</p>
<p>Mainly, to me, as I've said, any word whispered against a teacher will be punished either by law or by some other method. I only imagined that it was the same elsewhere. That seems to not be the case, and though my words might not reveal it, that makes me happy.</p>
<p>Also, sorry if my words came off as unintelligible/pretentious/argumentative/etc.</p>
<p>I was rather angry at some of the tone of your post, especially the implication that I should be blaming the Jews. I've not heard that statement before, in that context anyway, so it equated to me as an accusation of racism that seemed misplaced.</p>
<p>I was also just rather angry from a string of scholastic affairs and general dismissive nature of most to my complaints, in addition to never speaking out against them(ever) that I made my arguements particularly strong.</p>
<p>I can't imagine there being some brilliant man in a leather chair manipulating the whole thing, but I do feel there is a certain atmosphere of subservience and suspicion at the schools I've attended, based on inane policies and such that I only imagine all schools must be so.</p>
<p>If they aren't, then perhaps my anger is misguided. But I fear they are, by all local accounts, anyway.</p>
<p>Sorry, if I've seemed too upset. I'm normally rather calm.</p>