<p>“When I said my kids went to our public schools, I’d get that pained look, as if, poor dear. It is a status thing.”</p>
<p>Hogwash.</p>
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This is a simple concept. I’m not involuntarily taxed by Ford or GM (well, with the exception of the bailout 
) and therefore don’t need a voucher regarding them. However, with the public schools one has to pay for them whether they want to or not and to go anywhere else will have to come out of one’s pocket in additional funds - i.e. they have to pay twice. They’re given no choice. It’s the lack of choice that’s the issue. It’s “we’re going to take your money and dictate that it’ll be spent for your child’s education at this particular school whether you like it or not” that’s the issue. And it’s the people who don’t have the extra funds who also tend to be the people stuck in the worst districts who truly end up with no choice since many who can financially manage it (some posting on this thread) either made the choice to send their own kids to private or at least were able to make the choice even if they ended up with the public either directly (because they thought ‘their’ public was acceptable) or indirectly (i.e. by moving to the neighborhood, usually one of the more expensive ones, with the ‘good public schools’).</p>
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<p>We certainly don’t know that Matt Damon is sending his kids to private school for the “cache” or “status.” Simply by being an academy award winning A list actor, he already has plenty of that, as do his kids by virtue of family association. I doubt he is looking to further “impress” people by sending his kids to private schools. Whether he is right or wrong, he seems to feel that the public schools in his area, for whatever reason, are not the best option for his kids. I, too, wonder what he really means by “progressive,” but as it stands, it seems that most here are projecting their own interpretation of the word on him.</p>
<p>Speaking only for my DH and myself, our decision to send our kids to private schools had zero to do with “status,” although I’m sure there are people who do it for the “cache.” And as two public school educated individuals who have proceeded to send our kids to public universities, we would never give anyone a “pained” look for choosing a public option. So it’s possible that you might be projecting that on some of them.</p>
<p>“They’re given no choice. It’s the lack of choice that’s the issue. It’s “we’re going to take your money and dictate that it’ll be spent for your child’s education at this particular school whether you like it or not” that’s the issue.”</p>
<p>People who have no children still have to pay school tax and people who no longer have children young enough to be in the public schools still have to pay the school tax because public schools are for the common good. Same is true for people who choose to send their kids to private schools. </p>
<p>My obligation to our public school system is no less because my student is in college now.</p>
<p>GladGradDad: Local German friends, with kids nearing elementary school age, were appalled to learn they had to move to certain neighborhoods to access the acceptable public schools. The problem, imho, is not insisting all public schools be of equal quality. While there are some differences in highway upkeep, overall I think we can count on a serviceable interstate almost anywhere it exists. We just accept that some schools aren’t up to par. WHY?</p>
<p>I’m not impressed by the fact that someone sent their kid to a private vs. public for the sake of it although I’m interested in the reasons sometimes - i.e. if someone chose not to use the public school in my area I’d be interested in knowing why if that was the one my kid was destined for.</p>
<p>But I don’t doubt the poster who said ‘some’ people might roll their eyes at the idea someone would send their kid to a public versus private in some areas. It takes all kinds. Some people are just arrogant, opinionated, and self-righteous in areas like this - like if they saw you driving an old pickup rather than a new Bentley or something. Unfortunately, those kinds of people do exist although I for one don’t care at all about their opinions on anything.</p>
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I know, that’s the social aspect of this, but that doesn’t solve the problem for those stuck. A voucher system would likely help.</p>
<p>In the end the problems are larger than the school building and the teachers - it’s the home environment of the particular kid as well as all of the kids attending the particular school. This is where vouchers would provide some choices for those stuck due to their geography and financial capabilities. As a taxpayer I’d rather have my school tax dollars going to a school that would provide better support for the kid than the default ‘public’ simply because it’s ‘public’. A little competition can do wonders sometimes as well which is why competition is fundamental to progressiveness in most areas.</p>
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This is true of a great many things in this world. Look at state and federal budgets sometime, you will see a ton of things that you pay for but do not personally use. The reason you pay for them is that there are benefits even if you do not use them.</p>
<p>There’s no evidence whatsoever that competition via vouchers improves public schools, at least as far as I know.</p>
<p>If anyone can find a research study establishing that public school quality improved due to a voucher program, please post a link to it.</p>
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Vouchers will simply contribute to a growing class divide in a country where this is already a huge and growing problem.</p>
<p>I agree with cptofthehouse and sikorsky. I wasn’t really able to afford private school for my kids.</p>
<p>But I agree that the taxpayer should not be paying for private schools, and that the government should stay out of the running of them.</p>
<p>That’s why they’re PRIVATE.</p>
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The exact opposite is true. The divide already exists. A voucher system aims to reduce it by enabling more people to have the choices that people with adequate money to pay for the private themselves already have.</p>
<p>I don’t know why people defend public schools to death regardless of the performance, or lack thereof, of some schools. </p>
<p>Look at it another way. If you’re a person who made the decision to place your kid in a private school and were able to due to your financial capabilities, and given that a certain amount of money is being spent per pupil at the public school you didn’t want your own kid to attend, why would you think the kids at that school whose parents might have wanted to make the same move as you but couldn’t swing it financially, should be stuck at that school? Wouldn’t they be better off having the choice you had? This is where things start to get hypocritical.</p>
<p>Note - this has swung somewhat off of the ‘Damon’s a hypocrite’ topic into the voucher discussion no thanks to me. Since the voucher discussion will be predictable and there have been others on CC and since some people consider it political for some reason, maybe we should veer back to the Damon’s a hypocrite discussion.</p>
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<p>Ditto to this. Not everyone around here agrees, unfortunately, but most people do.</p>
<p>jonri,</p>
<p>According to this article that was published a couple of weeks ago, Damon’s stepdaughter is 15, so if it is correct, I assume she is going into 9th or 10th grade this fall, and Palisades High would be an option.</p>
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<p>[Matt</a> Damon: where did it all go right for the leftwing activist, devoted dad and intelligent action star? | Film | The Guardian](<a href=“http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/aug/02/matt-damon-activist-star-elysium]Matt”>Matt Damon: where did it all go right for the leftwing activist, devoted dad and intelligent action star? | Matt Damon | The Guardian)</p>
<p>I just don’t see this as hypocritical. I think Damon has a policy preference that people don’t like and that’s why they’ve proclaimed him a hypocrite.</p>
<p>There are so many similar circumstances to what’s been labeled hypocrisy. </p>
<p>Let’s say I buy a lot of books. And I say I support public libraries. Am I a hypocrite because I don’t want public funds expended to help people buy their own books? I think not.</p>
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<p>PNW,
I don’t follow you here. You are saying that Damon would likely not support public charter schools because they remove resources and involved families from “real” public schools? How would sending one’s children to a private school be a better option in that regard?</p>
<p>Palisades charter takes students from inside the regular attendance area first (like “real” public schools do), and then fills any openings with siblings, family of staff, and then anyone from inside LAUSD based on a lottery.</p>
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I don’t see enough in the article to conclude one way or the other about Damon’s hypocrisy. It really doesn’t say much.</p>
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Well, what if the public library is in an appalling state in certain areas of a city and a private business (Amazon for example) decided they’d be willing to provide the book lending for the same taxpayer rate as the public library gets. Would you support that or would you say ‘no way’ to public funds going to the private business of Amazon, even under these circumstances, and that the people need to just live with the awful library in their neighborhood?</p>
<p>I’d ask Amazon to give the books to the library, so everyone could use them.</p>
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And then they’d go out of business due to no profit so that’s not sustainable and wouldn’t help anyone.</p>
<p>Germany is the size of Oregon. Much easier to accomplish all sorts of things.</p>
<p>If you read the SOS text of his speech, he doesn’t sound radical. More, disappointed.</p>
<p>If I felt that strongly…well, we did. I adored my public k-12 education; those days are gone. I would have gladly sent them to public if it were any sort of fit, even with some challenges. The choices we had were not.</p>
<p>A huge proportion of parents in my extended neighborhood send their kids to non-public and overwhelmingly support public, but not as currently run. Not when the local m/s was a site of violence and minimum academic focus. It reopened, targeted at local neighborhood kids and quickly filled. With neighborhood kids.</p>
<p>We aren’t going to overhaul by wishing it so- or simply by sending “our” kids. In many districts the problem is huge and each idea has ramifications and repercussions.</p>
<p>I can imagine the academic competition at Pali. Not sure I’d want that.</p>