There are three reasons why I have recently decided to end all discourse with the generic world government school defenders anywhere and everywhere I find them:
1) Agreeing to a debate confers a veneer of legitimacy on their foundational premises where there is no legitimacy. For example, should we debate the merits of abortion? No, we should not, because the foundational reasoning of those supporting abortion is completely invalid. Their argument supporting abortion should be immediately and completely rejected. End of discussion. The same it true for government schooling.
2) Why bother with people who are not approaching a topic in a spirit of good will?
3) If there is no discourse with these people and no engagement with the generic government school defender, regardless of the Internet forum, it is harder for them to run to the moderator demanding that posts and threads be pulled because of imagined “personal” insults. Just as Obama managed to get rid of opponents though technicalities, it seems to be the Alinsky tactic to shut up their opponents by way crying about imagined personal insults or minor rule infractions. I’ve seen this tactic throughout the Internet on many forums.
4) And I am tired of the genuinely personal insults directed at me, my family, and the occasional threat by way of private mail. Yes, sometimes it has been scary. The generic government school defender, regardless of the message board forum, has closer ties to genuinely pushy union thugs than anyone I know in my life. We saw what they did in Wisconsin, and I bet the all those teachers who voted for these vicious and destructive union reps pretend to be as venerable as Mother Teresa in their communities and churches.
Not the apologists. But the true history of compulsory schooling in America is news to most people.