[speaker001:] all right do you have any uh strong feelings on schools
[speaker002:] well um I think that uh the majority of the problem with the school system um is similar to the majority of the problem in a lot of other areas in it's a question of economics and the school system is not designed to be successful um by that uh it's not really profitable for good teachers to be in the school systems uh if there are good school teachers good really qualified people as school teachers it's because they're dedicated not because they're rewarded for doing so um the school the public school system uh needs to be viewed I think kind of like the highways and hospitals and everything else it's part of the infrastructure it's something that has to be and has to be you know highly highly maintained in order for the nation itself to be successful and when you um when you neglect part of the infrastructure be it the roads or the schools or whatever then everything kind of follows with that it's just a question of how long before you pay the price
[speaker001:] I've I've uh heard heard the that proposed before and I'm not uh discounting it completely but the counter argument to that is that uh there are schools around that are uh private schools not necessarily uh parochial schools where the teachers are paid no more than they are in the public schools and they and their track records are much better
[speaker002:] hm
[speaker001:] uh the uh in in fact these days there's a lot of uh there a lot of uh Catholic and other parochial schools around that are not staffed by nuns and and I'm not a Catholic so but I was just reading about this and what they were the the argument that I've heard is that uh and I subscribe to some of it by the way that uh our schools are reflecting the same kind of mismanagement that uh lead to the demise of the Soviet Union and that is when you've got an absolute monopoly and uh you can't uh you know it's a one party system so to speak then what you're going to have is gross inefficiencies and nobody cares and reality uh uh is just not a market base system and I know I've been in the Orient for about three years and the public schools are not very good but the all all of the good schools are private schools over there and uh it's not that we're spending I I think that we're spending a lot of money uh relatively speaking on schools but uh as with other things you know it like Detroit Detroit or some of the other problems uh with Detroit it's not the worker it's the uh it's the management
[speaker002:] hm
[speaker001:] and uh management frankly just doesn't have to they don't have to compete these days
[speaker002:] yeah I'd heard something as a matter of fact uh kind of along those lines with I think it was the New York school system where they suddenly instituted a sort of market system where um basically the kids were allowed to take whatever classes they wanted to and go to whatever school they wanted to and it was up to the schools to attract the kids um and offer stuff the kids wanted and what turned out happening this was like area of the country with the highest drop out rate and all this kind of stuff and what ended up happening is people didn't just take fun classes or anything like that uh it ended up that
[speaker001:] yes yeah
[speaker002:] uh the rate of of graduating students went way way up and they ended up taking real courses but it was because they wanted to and because they chose to instead of were being forced to and and the the people were forced to compete and and the good teachers were getting the students and that kind of stuff
[speaker001:] yeah and and well I see that as a as what I consider the biggest problem uh as with with uh oh there there are other problems and number one it would be nice if if teachers got paid uh uh I I hate to see the how shall I say it the garbage the guys that collect garbage and and uh uh
[speaker002:] sanitation engineers
[speaker001:] yes you know well the sanitation engineers that go out there with uh and just lift uh I hate to see those guys get paid more than teachers
[speaker002:] yeah and um-hum
[speaker001:] and different teachers are uh under a lot more stress and don't get any tips at the end of the day at you know at Christmas time
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so uh uh from that standpoint and frankly the private school systems uh uh including colleges and things like that uh do quite well uh because there is a lot of competition
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and if somebody decides that they're going to if their decisions are out of step with reality uh pretty soon people don't stop going there
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and uh or they get a horrible reputation and they get this uh what do they call that uh