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P.J. O’Rourke comment: Jan, you may have some good ideas there... A public/private mail-delivery system and privatized DMVs might serve the public better and save taxpayers a lot of money. I believe in choice and individual preference but that’s an oversimplification that doesn’t consider diversity and equality whether due to race or economics. Allow parents to send kids wherever they want to but don’t cut funding of public schools. – Jennifer B. P.J. O’Rourke comment: Jennifer, it’s not really a question of cutting (or increasing) public- school funding. Money doesn’t seem to be the key metric. Annual per-student spending in the Washington, D.C., public-school system is $29,000. Annual per-student spending in the rural consolidated public-school system where I live in New Hampshire (a place with plenty of inequality too) is $17,450. Washington’s public-school system is notoriously bad. Ours is pretty good. Am sick of listening to these teachers boo- hoo about how broke they are paying for the kids’ supplies, etc, and I personally know two who are on holiday cruises. My husband and I worked all our lives and could never afford a “cruise.” Get rid of the teachers union and things would be a lot smoother. – Vicki O. P.J. O’Rourke comment: Vicki, I went on a cruise once and was sick as a dog. Your
The voucher system is a lot like trickle- down economics... It’s good bumper sticker common sense to simple people but as such it is in fact overly simplistic and has never come close to working. – David B. P.J. O’Rourke comment: David, we don’t have space to argue the issue here, but I suggest you dig a little deeper into the subject of school vouchers before you declare that they’ve “never come close to working.” You mention common sense. There’s often a lot of sense in it. When you’re giving help to strangers (in this case, other people’s children trying to get a good education) one common sense rule is to ask, “Is this the kind of help I’d give to my own family?” In the matter of school choice, the answer is yes. Most people who can afford it either live in places where the public schools are excellent or send their children to private or parochial schools. What has made America truly great is its excellent public education system, which is available to everyone. If it’s failing [Betsy] should be urgently engaged in its repair. Suggesting that public tax money should be given to private schools is like suggesting that if you don’t like your postal service, you should be given taxpayers funds if you wish to use FedEx. Or if you don’t like the service at the DMV, you should receive taxpayer funding to be able to get your license at a private provider. – Jan A.
American Consequences 17
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