Is education a privilege, or a right?
A corollary...
If education were a right (and I say this strictly for the sake of argument), is it actually possible to provide a quality education when an inherent property of that educaton is that everyone is entitled to it?
And I don't necessarily mean that in the sense that letting the unwashed masses study alongside the... er... washed masses somehow sullies the product, but rather that the machine that implements that which is mandatory in this reality somehow simultaneously strips the product of its quality.
And don't even try to enter in the discussion unless you've read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and actually know what I'm trying to get at when I say "quality."
There, that oughta keep somebody busy for awhile.
posted by Holley Wilson Mayville @ 12:43 AM
3 Comments:
You know, this is something I've thought about often as welll, as a former English teacher who is now going back to education. It is a conundrum. And who determines what a "quality" education is? How is it measured?
I teach phy sci here in Georgia, and I tell ya, some of the knuckle walkers make it hard to teach the masses...
I am an elementary school teacher in Canada, and your question is one that I have pondered often.
Of course, elementary school is a whole different world to high school, but even in upper elementary / middle years, these issues exist.
I always find it frustrating when private schools wave their high test scores and shout their own praises. Do the people out there realize that these results are not due to better teaching per se, but the fact that any student not holding his or her own can simply be removed from the mix, leaving those who want to succeed and are willing to work?
We don't have that luxury in public schools.
I've enjoyed reading your blog.
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