A public school system, in itself, is indeed of enormous benefit to the race. But it is of benefit only if it is kept healthy at every moment by the absolutely free possibility of the competition of private schools. A public school system, if it means the providing of free education for those who desire it, is a noteworthy and beneficent achievement of modern times; but when once it becomes monopolistic it is the most perfect instrument of tyranny which has yet been devised. - J. Greshem Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, 1923
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3 comments:
What utter rubbish. Schools are kept healthy by accountability, transparency and rigorous standards. Competition from private schools entrenches class divides and allows public schools to become dumping grounds for less academically inclined, behaviourally challenging students.
You hit on my pet topic here Rick.
utter rubbish, really? I think you overstate a bit.
I don't think the private system is without its potential issues. You mention one of several potential issues.
Interestingly you mention some good correcting steps for the public system and presume there can be no correcting measures for the private system - you just write them off based on a caricature.
You discount the idea based on what has gone wrong. That would be like discounting public schools based on what has gone wrong.
The point of this quote wasn't to discount the public system, in fact effort was made to credit it. But it needs correcting measures and perhaps one way "accountability, transparency and rigorous standards" could be achieved is through that competition.
Jus sayin' ...
I'm overstating when your quote describes public schooling as "the most perfect instrument of tyranny which has yet been devised"!
To your point, Australia has a system where private schooling is a strong competitor, so I wasn't describing some hypothetical situation, I'm describing how the two is playing out in Australia. At the moment in Australia, socio-economic status is the most reliable predictor we have of student success, and that is primarily a result of private schooling taking the best teachers (they can pay more), the best students and some fantastic resources. And because the parents who are the most invested in their children's education (big generalisation I realise, but fair-ish) are taken out of the public system, the impetus for transparency in the public schools is lost, because schools become invisible.
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