comma or dash with apposition [difference?]: a panacea, or a perfect

[better_in_time]

Hello,

I found these two sentences in my ESL textboook:

1. Homeschooling is not a panacea, or a perfect solution, for the institutional deficiencies found in American public schools.

2. Homeschooling is not a panacea--not a perfect solution--for the institutional deficiencies found in American public schools.

Both have the same meaning. I wonder why, in the second sentence, "not" is inserted after the dash, while, in the first sentence, "not" is not inserted after "or." In other words, why can't we say "Homeschooling is not a panacea--a perfect solution--for the institutional deficiencies found in American public school."?

Thanks for your help!

 

[sdgraham]

Hi Better

Welcome to the forum

In the first example (which I find to be awkwardly written) the writer is choosing to define the word "panacea."

In the second, the writer is choosing to define the phrase "not a panacea."

Why? - I don't think there's any particular reason.

I find your suggestion equally acceptable, although - assuming we're teaching the word "panacea," which probably doesn't need defining to educated native speakers, I would have used parentheses (brackets):

"Homeschooling is not a panacea (a perfect solution) for the institutional deficiencies found in American public schools."

or, the imported Latin id est

"Homeschooling is not a panacea, i.e., a perfect solution, for the institutional deficiencies found in American public schools."