Debate: Public schools

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What are the pros and cons of public schools? Should government run schools?

Background and context

In the United States, institutions of higher education that are subsidized by U.S. states are also referred to as "public." However, unlike public secondary schools, public universities charge tuition, though these fees are subsidized, particularly for "in-state" students, and are usually lower than those charged by private universities. Community colleges are examples of public institutions of higher education, although there are many highly-regarded universities that are deemed 'public', both due to their subsidized tuition for "in-state" students, and because the administrations of many of these universities are elected via the general electoral ballot.

Some believe that public schools are an essential part of the infrastructure of the United States. They are available to all citizens regardless of income level. These schools meet a fundamental societal need by creating an informed electorate, and promote the general welfare by creating a more skilled workforce. Others believe that most, if not all, public-school users benefit from government subsidies in attending public schools, thus their parents incur a lower cost (if any) to attend public schools than do their tuition-paying private-school counterparts to attend private schools, and given the existence, support for, and proliferation of private schools, at present it remains indeterminate whether public schools are a government entitlement program, or a feature of the welfare state. The debate generally asks whether public schools should exist, or whether a private system would be superior.

See Wikipedia: Public schools for more background.

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Should all children be educated through the public school system?

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Yes

• By educating all children through the public school system, equality can exist. If all children are educated through the public system there will be equality as all people will be educated through the same system, regardless of their wealth.

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No

• Having total control over lives through education is unjust. Thurgood Marshall: "Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds."

• People should have choice. By telling people what school they have to go to you are ignoring there right to have a choice regarding their education.

• Public schooling ruins childhood John Taylor Gatto "Government schooling is the most radical adventure in history. It kills the family by monopolizing the best times of childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents. The whole blueprint of school procedure is Egyptian, not Greek or Roman. It grows from the theological idea that human value is a scarce thing, represented symbolically by the narrow peak of a pyramid."

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Should people who avoid the public school system contribute towards it?

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Yes

Click on the pencil icon and research and write arguments here

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No

Click on the pencil icon and research and write arguments here

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Pro/con resources

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Yes

• The US department of education
• Quotes supporting public schools

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No

• An article critical of public schools
• An article showing an unpopular decision made by a public school
• Quotes against public schools
• Opposition to government involvement in education in the United States

External links