Originally Posted by MegMeg
I don't know if I'm oblivious, or if it's that I'm at a university known for its emphasis on social justice. Most of my colleagues hold the liberal belief that if you support public schools, you are morally obligated to put your children there, and to talk yourself into believing that the education they're getting is good. (I have never understood this line of argument.)
Oh boy yes, mine too. One gets a more caricature version of the argument at general-public sites like the UK's Mumsnet, where any thread touching on choosing between a state and a private option can be guaranteed to dissolve into it. I think the argument goes something like this:

- It ought to be the case that all children can get their needs met at a state school, [I'm with you...]

- My children are getting their needs tolerably well met at a state school. [OK, good for them and you]

- Therefore I have made the right decision in sending my children to a state school instead of an expensive private one/therefore I don't have to regret not being able to afford an expensive private school. [OK...]

- In fact, those signs I thought might be indications that my child's needs weren't being perfectly met at the state school? I was wrong about those, the state school is the best possible school for my child. [Post-purchase rationalisation/Confirmation bias]

- In fact, state schools do meet the needs of all children better than any other educational solution. [Availability/Confirmation bias]

- Although one reason someone might make a different school choice from mine is that their circumstances or their child's needs differ from mine, another is that they might have different values, in fact they might be morally inferior to me. [Mmm...]

- It's because they're morally inferior to me! [Fundamental attribution error]

- In fact, the state school would have fitted their child's needs just as well as it fits my child's needs. [Belief bias]

- And they sent their child to the expensive private school just out of snobbery/in order to get the child spoonfed to good grades/in order to make contacts that will give their child an unfair advantage over mine.


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