There are only two school systems

Re: Private schools deserve funds for safe return too, premier (Aug. 7)

Independent day schools are very popular, especially for parents who think they're giving their child some kind of an advantage, but can't afford a private school's expensive tuition.

There is only one taxpayer. If a school wishes, for whatever reason, to be independent from the public system then the key word should be “independent.” An institution can't call itself independent and yet still want the taxpayer to pay the bills.

Private schools run their own show, and pay their own bills because they want to be private. There are really only two truly private schools in Ottawa, Elmwood and Ashbury. I briefly attended a private boarding school in my teens, to curb my rebelliousness, but regrettably it didn't do me any good because I was too set in my ways at that point. The public school system is still, though, the most important because not everyone can afford to (or wants to) participate in private schooling. Schools today are too much like franchises, where someone goes out and establishes an independent school.

There are really only two systems — private or public, not semi-private or socalled independent, etc. The taxpayer shouldn't be asked to fund schools that choose to venture out on their own, separating themselves from the public system — until, that is, they run into money issues.

Douglas Cornish, Ottawa