The Founders believed in public education, especially Thomas Jefferson, so it's good enough for me.
Back in the old days, the community paid for the teachers, not the Feds, and I think that's a better idea.
On the other hand, I went to a Catholic girl's school that didn't even have a science teacher. She died and could not be replaced so the gym teacher taught what she remembered. The only chemistry she remembered was organic, so I learned organic chemistry in high school.
They gave me the keys to the science lab and I was her assistant. One of the high points of my existence, the trust and the freedom and the ability to use my imagination and sense of wonder.
They couldn't afford frogs for biology class, so I dragooned the little kids into going out one night with flashlights and catching toads, and we put them in mayonnaise jars of formaldehyde so everyone could have one for dissection.
I tried making ethyl alcohol fermenting molasses and then distilling with bunsen burners but it was too nasty to drink so we threw it away. I tried making thermite but couldn't get it to ignite.
We had a lovely time throwing sodium into buckets of water.
I guess this might seem like an argument for private schools over public schools, but I do recognize that my education, while entertaining, was rather lacking. |
