Your political inclinations - who do you vote for?

Quote:

---

Why can't I paint all left wingers with the same broad brush? You do it all the time here toward the other side.

---

:p

I doubt that if you were told to tone down your finger pointing of those with a different political mindset you would not.

There are no right wing teachers in the US public school system?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malbec

Bingo? You clearly did not understand my post.

Claiming that private schools are inherently better than state schools because of academic results whilst continuously ignoring the rather different types of pupils they admit is worthless. I'm surprised you yourself if you switched from a state to a private school did not notice the cross-section of society your pupils were drawn from, and whether this in itself had a larger influence on your school's academic achievements than the way in which they were funded, run or indeed your qualities as a teacher.

---

I understood your point. I was just quite busy at work today and only had a moment to respond. And frankly I'm still busy. It's Monday in a teacher's world. This will be brief.

I will agree that not all students come from circumstances favorable for success. Of course I noticed that, no matter how hard we tried, some students (and their parents) could not have cared less about their kid's education. I got anecdotes from those days that are darn near impossible to fathom.

Starter did a magnificent job enumerating the litany of challenges facing public schol education.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BDunnell

As per Malbec's response above, this remark is utterly unrelated to the post to which it refers. It's also a spectacular generalisation, just as it would be to say that the government is automatically superior to the private sector when it comes to running businesses. One could cite many examples in the UK of privatisation having in no way brought about improved service — far from it. By the same token, I wouldn't want the state to start building cars, or selling coffee.

---

Then provide me an example of an industry or service that the state has run more efficiently than a private company. I can (and have) given examples of the converse.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by keysersoze

Then provide me an example of an industry or service that the state has run more efficiently than a private company. I can (and have) given examples of the converse.

---

SNCF, DB, EDF, Railways of India, Telstra, Areva, NHS, BBC...
Then there's other things like fire services, the Eisenhower Interstate System, water supply and sanitation...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by keysersoze

Then provide me an example of an industry or service that the state has run more efficiently than a private company. I can (and have) given examples of the converse.

---

British Rail in its latter days was superior to the privatised mess we have now, and it is very telling that no other country in the world has adopted the UK's privatisation model for railway services. To give one example, the East Coast mainline was brought back into nationalised ownership owing to the failings of the previous franchisee. In re-nationalised form, it has proved more profitable than ever it was in private ownership. The privatisation of prisoner transportation in the early 1990s was a high-profile disaster. And, in regular dealings with both private and public sector organisations, there is simply no way that the private sector demonstrates any form of innate superiority in terms of customer service.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BDunnell

British Rail in its latter days was superior to the privatised mess we have now, and it is very telling that no other country in the world has adopted the UK's privatisation model for railway services. To give one example, the East Coast mainline was brought back into nationalised ownership owing to the failings of the previous franchisee. In re-nationalised form, it has proved more profitable than ever it was in private ownership. The privatisation of prisoner transportation in the early 1990s was a high-profile disaster. And, in regular dealings with both private and public sector organisations, there is simply no way that the private sector demonstrates any form of innate superiority in terms of customer service.

---

That the transit system was not profitable is not the fault of privatization, but of the specific company that failed. Believe me, if there is a profit to be made, you should bet the ranch that companies would be lining up to take it over.

You may have noticed that we aren't big on public transportation here in our massive country--we own cars. In Europe it costs so much to own a car (astronomical fuel costs, etc.) that many are forced into using public transportation. Moreover, governments should be responsible for infrastructure, and since railroads are built by governments, it's no wonder they run them. Only NYC and (I think) Boston and Chicago have extensive train systems. Some may be headed by state and local governments, but not the federal government. My city's smaller (but still substantial) mass transit system, with its outrageous financials, is considering going private.

I have noted in my limited travels in Europe (UK and Italy) that the term "customer service" is an oxymoron, so it doesn't surprise me that private companies struggle there. Here, if you don't have outstanding customer service, word gets around, and you either fix the problem or you sink.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BDunnell

British Rail in its latter days was superior to the privatised mess we have now, and it is very telling that no other country in the world has adopted the UK's privatisation model for railway services. To give one example, the East Coast mainline was brought back into nationalised ownership owing to the failings of the previous franchisee. In re-nationalised form, it has proved more profitable than ever it was in private ownership. The privatisation of prisoner transportation in the early 1990s was a high-profile disaster. And, in regular dealings with both private and public sector organisations, there is simply no way that the private sector demonstrates any form of innate superiority in terms of customer service.

---

I'm not familiar with all the British rail services, but are you saying that First is not doing the job?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by keysersoze

You may have noticed that we aren't big on public transportation here in our massive country--we own cars. In Europe it costs so much to own a car (astronomical fuel costs, etc.) that many are forced into using public transportation. Moreover, governments should be responsible for infrastructure, and since railroads are built by governments, it's no wonder they run them.

---

Why then in principle shouldn't things like the health care system and schools be considered infrastructure? How does this square with questions of economies of scale etc?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by keysersoze

that many are forced into using public transportation. .

---

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a public transportation system so effective that, we would chose, rather than be forced, to use it????

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SGWilko

Well, any idiot could be at the helm of Labour and not fail to win the next election, just by dint of the attrocious mess tweedle dum and tweedle dummer running the current coalition are doing!

---

You'd think so, wouldn't you? But given the financial crashes and his own unpopularity it seemed that Gordon Brown had left an open goal last time round, yet the Conservatives were unable to win an overall majority. I've got a feeling that UKIP's surge will see them take votes off all 3 main parties and we'll be left with another coalition.

On a UKIP note, I hope that their new-found popularity will lead to them being properly scrutinised. Maybe then the public will see them for what they are: a loose collection of swivel-eyed loons with no clue how to run the economy (apart from leaving the EU), no clue how to improve healthcare (apart from leaving the EU), no clue how to protect the environment (apart from leaving the EU), no clue how to cut crime (apart from leaving the EU), and no clue how to do anything apart from... you guessed it.