Replies

Perhaps you're not paying attention.

ALL of the public schools in my area do this. I've seen the sheet that states what the child is expected to bring, and that it will be put into a community box.

It is NOT "overly emotional blather" as you put it. It's happening, I've seen it myself.

If this is the best argument anyone on this board can make against public schools, it's not wonder we can't win the fight to save our children's educations.

This is not, it's only the beginning.

If you think "this is the best argument anyone on this board can make against public schools", you are NOT paying attention! Look around, there are plenty of good reasons.

(By the way, I corrected the spelling in the excerpt from your post. I hope you don't mind.)

interesting that I counted 8 different posts from parents saying that they had no experience with compulsory confiscation of school supplies in their children's schools. Several other posters listed the schools in which it has happened. So it seems that I asked a reasonable question.

to be clear. yes, I believe in the Jeffersonian ideal of locally controlled, decentralized public education. It is through subsidized, no additional fee, public education that the US was able to assimilate the waves of immigration that helped build this country. It is through public education that a local community can communicate its values to the next generation. This has worked for 200 years, and in many parts of this great country it still does. Certainly, in many other places the public education system is broken, and needs some serious overhauling, but if it is going to be done well, it needs to be done at the local level. If there is compulsory 'sharing' of school supplies at your local school, it is your responsibility to fix it, complain to the principal, to the school board, to the mayor. Get a copy of the school budget (public information) and figure out where they are wasting the money. There are many successful public school districts that produce well educated citizens, if your district isn't one of them, figure out what the good districts do that yours doesn't. I personally see successful, efficient public education as the responsibility of the local citizens. The system CAN work, if we actually want it to, but what I see people here say, for the most part, is that they don't want it to. Too many citizens of this great country are withdrawing from community life, choosing not to fight for their community, and that saddens me.

No, people should not be forced to attend public schools, but we all pay for them, (I pay property taxes and don't have any children in school) so I work to try and ensure that my money is spent as efficiently as possible. There are no answers that apply across the board, what might work in Michigan may not work in Georgia, which is why schools should be locally run, by the people most responsive to local constituents. If your system isn't responsive, it's a local problem, not one that can be applied to everyone.