Question to public school advocates

[Gustaf]

Our current system doesn't work as well as it should, so something half-baked and unproven will totally work!

Funny, that's my exact sarcastic take on the current health care plans put forth by people on the left.

That doesn't make sense at all.  Wheras Bono's education plan involves massive decentralization, the left's health care plans (spc. Clinton's) involve consolidation and greater oversight.

Where is all that implied in the previous statement?

You are comparing apples to oranges.

Socialized medicine has been tried and proven in many societies that are actually healthier and longer lived than us.

Privatized education with "vouchers" hasn't been tried or tested... nor should it be, lest we fail a generation of students in the process.

Lol. Sweden has vouchers. And it works pretty well.

[Bono]

A.those countries populations live longer and healthier whether they have socialized medicine or not.

How on earth could you establish that?

I don't think you can establish that they love longer and healthier because of public schools either.

His statement doesn't say anything about public schools and nor does mine.

Sorry, I meant socialized medicine. I must have been looking at the thread title and got distracted.

[dead0man]

A.those countries populations live longer and healthier whether they have socialized medicine or not.

How on earth could you establish that?

Culture, history, diet, there are a thousand things that play into "length of life".  Does eating more fish make you live longer, science tells us it does.  Who eats more fish, people in, say, Sweden or your average American?  Who is more likely to smoke?  Who is more likely to work more hours in their lives?  Who is going to spend more time at high speed in an automobile?  How many crack and methheads per capita?  Who has more violent crime?  Who is more likely to go to war?

[JohnFKennedy]

A.those countries populations live longer and healthier whether they have socialized medicine or not.

How on earth could you establish that?

Culture, history, diet, there are a thousand things that play into "length of life".  Does eating more fish make you live longer, science tells us it does.  Who eats more fish, people in, say, Sweden or your average American?  Who is more likely to smoke?  Who is more likely to work more hours in their lives?  Who is going to spend more time at high speed in an automobile?  How many crack and methheads per capita?  Who has more violent crime?  Who is more likely to go to war?

I am well aware that there are plenty of different issues that are factored into life expectancy and I wasn't disputing that. I was objecting to your claim that life expectancy in countries like Britain would still be higher in the absence of the NHS because it's a baseless assertion. There's no way to prove it, especially given that healthcare is one of the factors that helps determine life expectancy. You can speculate upon it but you can't just say 'those countries populations live longer and healthier whether they have socialized medicine or not' in the same way that you can speculate about whether George W. Bush would have been re-elected if 9/11 had never occurred. It may be true, but you can't be so certain.

[SPC]

Privatized education with "vouchers" hasn't been tried or tested... nor should it be, lest we fail a generation of students in the process.

As if the current public schools are doing a great job...
Anyway, Chile and Sweden have school vouchers.

Try the Homeschooling Arhive of Lewrockwell.com. They have some reasons for getting rid of government involvement entirely, even vouchers. The articles point out that school vouchers only allow government to control private schools.