Alex and John, I'm over here cheering loudly. You guys are eloquent and insightful. I might add that it seems to be us liberal relics of those oh-so-dysfunctional publics schools who can spell and write a coherent sentence.

My friends send their oldest girl to a public school. They say they do this for quality of education... but they never even gave their local elementary school a chance. They are really just trying to make sure that the poor kid never has to suffer the torment of learning FOREIGN IDEAS! My God, she might meet an atheist at public school, or a kid who speaks Spanish! Horrors! I saw her first grade class picture once. Every single one of those kids was blond and blue-eyed. Kind of blew me away.

Guest, no matter how you slice it: today's private schools (especially the evangelical church-related schools) are *not* full of kids with ADHD and handicaps. Such schools don't accept kids like that. The Catholic schools do a little better; I've got a number of ADHD patients in Catholic school. But surprise! The kids seem to have just as much trouble as they do in public school, because the private schools just don't have the infrastructure to deal with abnormal kids.

Have you ever considered the idea that private schools are just a teeny little bit racist? After integration in the South, whites protested desgregation by removing their kids from the newly integrated public schools and sending them to private religious schools instead. The public schools were left for the blacks. Being religious in nature, the private schools are of course tax-exempt. And what minority would ever apply to get in?

If public schools were allowed by law to pick and choose amongst the pool of available students, then they would have a student profile similar to that of private schools. I thank God they cannot do this. I grew up dirt poor, going to a public school, playing on the playground with children who were foster kids and borderline retarded... who had ADHD, seizure disorders, you name it. I was always a sucker for the downtrodden, and I enjoyed helping those kids out with their schoolwork. I taught myself to read by age four, was valedictorian of my high school (and I don't appreciate the little comment about grade inflation) and received a full scholarship to a good college. Today I'm a pediatrician, perhaps echoing that elementary-school interest in handicapped kids. I say this not to brag but to point out that a bright kid will not be worse off in public school.

Those of you who send your kids off to private schools, think hard about what beneficial experiences they might be missing. My mother grew up going to an inner-city high school that was racially diverse; she credits that experience with teaching her tolerance. She didn't go any further in her education but has great common sense and generosity.

This debate isn't going to end. But I am of the opinion that the so-called performance differences in public and private schools have little to do with the presence or lack of government involvement, and more to do with the student population and the motivation level of the parents. I won't believe otherwise unless I see a large study, with good numbers, that shows better learning in a private school setting with a comparable student body. I challenge anyone to show me such a study in a competent, peer-reviewed journal.