From: Brian Phillips (deepbluehalo@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri Aug 24 2001 - 19:18:03 MDT
From: "Mitchell, Jerry (3337)"
<<I was just talking to one of my Asian friends about this and his thoughts
were that the Asian schools and American were exactly opposite in one
aspect. He told me that all the way up in grades through high school, kids
in his country busted their ass, stayed at school from 9AM to 9PM and
generally excelled. In college, the pace wasnt NEAR as rough. His view of us
was one where we coast up to the college level and thats where we start
kicking it in high gear. He even addmitted that the reason that most the
innovation and excellence from college level education in the US was because
he knew his buddies back in Korea were slacking and partying. Keep in mind,
this isnt my view, just my Korean friend. I have no clue of the accuracy as
I have no experience with foreign school systems.>>
I always assumed this was because we don't try to educate
all the idiots at the collegiate level. :)
Because of the absurd way in which the US educational
system has developed we spend an inordinate amount
of time and gold on engineering social justice at the secondary
school level. This isn't true to the same degree at the college
level. My intuitive gut-instinct is to observe that any system
in which participation is mandatory will be cludgy, ugly,
and grossly inefficent. Thus the public school system.
On the surface level at least this seems valid..all the
secondary/elementary schools that don't suck quite
as badly, or even succeed, always have a larger component
of choice built in, whether it's poor religous/parochial schools
(where my education took place), magnet schools, or
simply public schools created by caucasian/asian demographic
clustering.
The weird thing is that unless you are talking to someone who
is fairly elite people get really passionate about how you
"should support the public schools". Literally I have made
tepid enemies of people by stating (after my opinion was
solicited) that before I'd send my kids to a public school,
I'd just not have any. I'd like to raise the point that to
a true asshole the public school system is a wonderful idea,
it's a sponge that keeps the proles in their place. Which is
more crypto-racist... a conservative who votes with his
feet..or a liberal who votes for continuity of a tiered
society via tyranny masquerading as social justice?
I ask you....
regards,
Brian
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