-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Monday 01 May 2006 21:02, Matthias Julius <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> was heard to say: > > The public schools in the United States spend MORE THAN $10,000 > > (TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS) per student EACH YEAR, EVERY YEAR, and > > it's only going up. > > Why is that so? Just because it is a public school? Why is a > public school by definition so different from a private school? Is > there no way of making a public school more (cost-)efficient?
That's an exceedingly basic question, but one which it is important to make sure gets an answer. Other posters have been correct, that it is due to incentives, but let me give you an example: ==========Ok, I tried Google to find a citation for this story, but can't. Sorry. I will leave it has anecdotal "from memory".====== Just a couple of years ago, there was still a one-room schoolhouse in Vermont. It was a small community, with few students, and the school had been producing well-educated graduates by any standard. But it wasn't up to "standards". The state education board and the Department of Education came in and made sure there were some administrators, a Principle, secretaries for them of course. The community could no longer afford to support their own school. It closed down, the kids are now bussed to a different town, and their academic performance has dropped to match the rest of the state. ==================== There is a book you really need to read: Bureaucracy by Ludwig von Mises (1944) http://www.mises.org/etexts/mises/bureaucracy.asp Since you're still here, did you bother to read the short articles I linked to early in the discussion? Here are two again, just in case: http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Apr-16-Sun-2006/opinion/6593902.html http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Apr-23-Sun-2006/opinion/6595142.html - -- September 11th, 2001 The proudest day for gun control and central planning advocates in American history -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.3 (GNU/Linux) iQEVAwUBRFdONC9Y35yItIgBAQLWggf/angIMojlItF9Q3Zk3F8w3tV3xD2Gu5dQ PF8Irh9LNOFb7YUf4GDWmg1yOegCE6o+5VNIUU9HyXTYA0jkwvxviOjpJQb6i+ta tjsteBKAESP9uT4ukJPpG+3tOIH+6AWDZcZO6DtrlYyvVtaW5x8vyHMivxZIJfPp OBCtxo70mP42b9Y2eenyGD4AE810k+SiV7OkhLtuLtLmgZUoczmhpYPSbOseRAHZ ZkUoxS6HMgwXBn3uwwpN7wgUBJWBpPiUnBB7HfAaUlBB+0J//v41Z4xjbOJ9TZ3t gfwTYf3uJ9NDFGYWnuEqD4Rw3yR8vUIDNZuH3ClY78nrgfi9e9UhYQ== =qsgb -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
