Quote:Competition is not absolutely necessary for improvements.  Yes, public education has improved over the last fifty years.  Yes, they've gotten away from the conservative indoctrination values that people so love.  But it's made a lot of improvements.  Americans are in fact smarter now than they've ever been.  


Private schools only succeed where they do because they can choose to accept only the best, and they can kick students out for any reason at all.  Public Schools can't be as selective. In fact they have to take students who were kicked out of private schools as well.  Private Schools furthermore have the socioeconomic advantage over public schools.  When you account for socioeconomic factors, Public Schools actually perform better.  There's a good reason for this.  Public School Teachers are required to perform professional development. 


If Private Schools were forced to accept students like public schools do, you'd find them doing far poorer.


It was also found that those who attended private schools had the advantage of early education.  At the Kindergarten level, the private school students perform better, but by the time public school students reach 5th grade, they've passed them.  


Also math scores have been going up over the past 25 years, only taking a dip last year. 


As for internet... a town in Oregon provides 100 mbps internet to the residents of their town.  This is faster internet than most places in the United States (and certainly faster than here).  They don't work with profit in mind, instead only seeking to meet costs.  They charge only $40/month for those speeds, which is far faster than you'll find anywhere else.  Government seeks to improve because of it's citizens, rather than because it's profitable.  I can't even get 10 mbps from Verizon, and I pay $30/month.  They'll never bring fios into this area, because it's simply not profitable.  Nobody will.

 

Almost every private school I know takes a more proportional amount of low income students vs higher income students because of voucher programs. The idea that private schools are ivy league schools only taking rich smart kids is ludicrous, they're populated with lower income students. It's not easy to get your kids into private schools so I believe one of the bigger advantages is parent involvement. On the average you're going to find parents more involved with their kids school at a private school (since it takes a large parent involvement to get their kids in).

 

Most private schools do not require an entrance exam for admission, they require it solely for placement. You're acting like the entrance exam is a standard for attending the school, maybe in some higher end private schools but most private schools are religious institutions that run on a low budget and don't turn away students for low scores, they place them in the proper grade instead of pushing them through the system.

---