From: "Eric Bryant" 
Subject: SNET: [piml] Fw: Release: Colorado massacre
Date: 23 Apr 1999 18:30:29 -0400
To: 


->  SNETNEWS  Mailing List


-----Original Message-----
From: announce@lp.org 
To: Libertarian Party announcements list 
Date: Thursday, April 22, 1999 4:59 PM
Subject: Release: Colorado massacre


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>=======================================
>NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
>2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
>Washington DC 20037
>World Wide Web: http://www.lp.org/
>=======================================
>For release: April 22, 1999
>=======================================
>For additional information:
>George Getz, Press Secretary
>Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222
>E-Mail: 76214.3676@Compuserve.com
>=======================================
>
>
>Are public schools a contributing factor
>to Colorado-style school massacres?
>
>        WASHINGTON, DC -- Public schools may be a contributing factor
>in the recent spate of school shootings -- which is why parents who are
>concerned about their children being gunned down in a Littleton,
>Colorado-style massacre may want to consider placing them in private
>schools or homeschooling them, the Libertarian Party suggested today.
>
>        "All the recent school shootings have occurred in
>government-run facilities, so we have to ask: What is it about public
>education that seems to foster these kinds of tragedies?" asked Steve
>Dasbach, the party's national director.
>
>        "After all, high schools should provide an education -- not a
>death sentence. If government schools cannot assure safety, then
>perhaps parents should start looking for alternatives."
>
>        Dasbach's comments followed the horrific massacre on Tuesday at
>the Columbine High School near Denver, Colorado. At least 13 students
>and teachers were killed by guns and pipe bombs after two students went
>on a rampage.
>
>        Unfortunately, the tragedy in Littleton was part of an
>increasingly common trend: At least six similar school shootings have
>occurred over the past 18 months, killing 14 people and wounding
>another 46, noted Dasbach.
>
>        All the shootings happened at public schools, which prompts
>Libertarians to ask: What's wrong with government schools?
>
>        "We're not suggesting that public education in and of itself
>caused these shootings," said Dasbach. "However, it's a fair question
>to ask -- on behalf of grieving parents who have lost their beloved
>children -- whether there is something about the culture of public
>education that encourages these kinds of gruesome events."
>
>        And, in fact, there is evidence that public schools are more
>vulnerable to mass shootings because of federal and state regulations,
>the massive size of many government schools, and the lack of control by
>parents over school policies, he said.
>
>        For example, federal and state mandates make it very difficult
>for government schools to remove dangerous students or enforce
>standards of conduct, he noted.
>
>        "State and federal funding comes with strings attached: Public
>schools are required to maintain certain graduation rates and required
>to minimize drop-out rates," noted Dasbach. "This means that schools
>will lose some of their funding if they expel too many students. So
>many public schools allow dangerous students -- and students who
>exhibit the same kind of disturbing behaviors as did the teenage
>killers in Colorado -- to stay in school, putting all the other
>students at risk.
>
>        "Government schools also have to jump through bureaucratic
>hoops to expel or discipline unruly students. So students can push the
>boundaries of acceptable behavior without facing serious consequences.
>
>        "By comparison, most private schools have much stricter
>standards of conduct, and much more liberal policies about expelling
>troublemakers," he said. "There is no so-called right to attend private
>schools, so discipline and safety take precedence over turning a blind
>eye to disturbed or dangerous students."
>
>        The size of many government schools also seems to be a factor,
>he said.
>
>        "Columbine High School had close to 2,000 students. In such a
>massive educational factory, there is simply no way that teachers or
>guidance counselors can treat each student like a unique individual,
>and learn about their unique hopes and troubles.
>
>        "By comparison, private schools tend to be smaller, and can
>devote more personal attention to students. That's even more true with
>homeschooling, where loving parents can lavish attention on their own
>children," he said.
>
>        Finally, public schools, run by government bureaucrats, taught
>by politically powerful unionized blocks of teachers, funded by
>mandatory tax payments, and populated by students who are required by
>law to attend, make it more difficult for parents to exercise real
>control over the school environment, he said.
>
>        "In government schools, parents are not customers -- they are
>supplicants to the political process that funds and manages those
>schools," said Dasbach. "As a parent, you have only marginally more
>influence over public schools than you have over the Post Office or the
>DMV. As a result, you have very little control over the curriculum,
>policies, or employees that determine your child's educational
>environment in public schools.
>
>        "By comparison, at a private school, if you want stricter
>safety policies, or tighter controls over dangerous students' behavior,
>or better educational standards, they must listen to you -- because, if
>they don't, you can take your business elsewhere. And homeschoolers
>have almost complete control over their children's educational
>environment."
>
>        So, what's the solution to the epidemic of school shootings?
>
>        "There is no perfect answer, and we can't promise that such a
>tragedy will never occur in a private school," acknowledged Dasbach.
>"However, it's clear that government schools make the problem worse,
>not better -- and that moving in the direction of a free market
>educational system would make our children safer, and would make a
>Columbine High School-style tragedy a rare exception, rather than a
>growing problem."
>
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>The Libertarian Party
http://www.lp.org/
>2600 Virginia Ave. NW, Suite 100                          voice:
202-333-0008
>Washington DC 20037                                         fax:
202-333-0072
>
>For subscription changes, please mail to  with the
>word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the subject line -- or use the WWW
form.
>


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