The Paideia Proposal

The article "The Paideia Proposal", by Mortimer J. Adler, illuminated a major issue in education. As the article states there has been great gains in human rights in the last century. Universal suffrage and universal schooling are two great achievements that were reached during this period. Social gain continues to be made. Who would have imagined a Black American president 50 years ago? The author believes that education is not equal for all, but I believe the problem is worse in the United States than it is is Canada. (I am assuming that the author is American.) Public education seems to be the route that most Canadians chose, especially in Saskatchewan. In my opinion our public education system provides the same opportunities if not more than its private counterpart. In the United States the public education system is thought of as secondary. It seems that if you have money you will pay for your children to be educated in a private setting. Where does this leave those children who are socio-economically disadvantaged? This is an injustice that Adler speaks out against, and something that needs to change.

An interesting video on public versus private schools can be found using the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP0xi0vKxNE. It shows the American Democratic presidential nominees of 2008 answering whether they send their children to public or private school.