I already have a very low opinion of public school. It did me no favors and does not appear to have improved — perversely, there seems to be a systemic effort to relieve all public schools of the need to teach anything of value.
Sometimes, in isolation, I’ll allow myself to warm up to the idea of having Z go to public school, and then I’ll hear directly from a friend whose child in public school talk about what their kids are doing and I’m horrified again. Or I’ll see an article like the one I discuss below, and I’m horrified again.
I’m fully aware what an impossible task it is to measure the “success” of an educational system. But whatever it is this blueprint isn’t going to achieve any measure of success as I see it.
The emphasis on graduation rates is unfortunate. Who cares if 99% of students graduate if none of them can count change or get a job? It’s obvious from the chart adjacent that public school is successful at significantly reducing the ability for Hispanics and blacks to get into college. Wouldn’t it be better if the two thirds of ninth graders who actually go on to graduate high school were able to succeed in college? I think it would be a far better thing for school administration and staff to be able to say that all those who finish are “college ready” rather than only being able to apply this standard to “half of the white kids who finish and ten percent of the black kids who finish” as we have now.
Those in the education industry likely disagree, but I think we ought to reconsider the value of a college degree. Is it really something that everyone needs? Does it make sense to expect that everyone should go? The big picture is that there are a lot of things kids ought to know before leaving high school, and these things are simply not being taught. It’s not hard to find reasons why. Not enough money. Not enough qualified teachers. Too much emphasis on standardized testing.
These are all good answers, but the problem is systemic. Teachers complain that parents don’t spend enough time with their kids, when families have to work two jobs just to cover property taxes to pay for schools. Now they load up kindergarteners with homework and wonder why the kids don’t interact with their families more in the ten minutes between finishing homework and going to bed. I say these problems are systemic, but it goes far deeper than this.
The reason we will never be able to improve public school is because we don’t want to violate our precious national superstitions about personal equality and class blindness. If we were to say, “Oh, look! Black kids aren’t succeeding in a impressive way in public schools. Let’s set up special schools just for them — oh, don’t worry, we’ll make them separate, but equal.” Bam! We’ve got a constitutional violation. If we say, “Hey, let’s group the kids by their own achievement and not by age and create classes that teach kids at their own abilities,” and discover that the more affluent kids occupy the top tiers and poor kids inhabit the lower ones — especially if racial differences are so highlighted — and (bam!) we’ve got a constitutional violation. (Not to mention the fact that schools just can’t pay for enough teachers to properly attend to the students now.)
The standardized test is the apex of public education. One size fits all. The standardized test allows politicians and school administrators to talk about class and race without it being about class or race. It’s a great short-term goal to keep everyone distracted while the last of the liberal arts are swept away from curriculums. It’s a goal that politicians and administrators can agree on and stand behind, even to the point of dismantling schools down to test prep day cares. Those nominally in charge can then arbitrarily draw the line between “college ready” and “prison ready” kids. If it just so happens that more black kids fall below that line, they can just shrug and babble about parental involvement.
Public education was bitterly opposed in the early days of our country, and for good reason. Education then was largely a function of the religious institutions, and people just didn’t understand how you could put the Catholic and various types of Protestant kids together and not have a riot. Calmer minds reasoned that once enough controversial material was removed, that what was left would be a threadbare, homogenized excuse for an education, entirely lacking in moral and cultural values — and this was the reason, then, to avoid creating public education.
After over a hundred years of public education, the entire goal of the system has become this threadbare, homogenized excuse for an education — the standardized test.
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12 Responses:
May 30th, 2008 at 8:55 am
The elementary schools on our side of town are supposed to be very good. This is the one that Devin is slated for: http://www.austinschools.org/campus/cowan/
I plan to supplement school with martial arts, music lessons, and lots of trips to libraries, museums, and bookstores.
I may not be able to homeschool, but my Catholic school education taught me very good study skills that I can impart if I have to pick up my son’s school’s slack when needed. Part of those skills were test-taking skills too balanced by critical thinking skills. It’s too bad about the religion and cost, but I really did get an excellent education. I think I never worked harder than I did in 7th/8th grade (English/Literature/Science/Math/Social Studies) - b/c the teachers expectations were so high and they did not let you fail yourself. And so I graduated with all A’s. They wouldn’t let you leave for the day until you sat in the classroom after school catching up on your work and Sister Janice would sit there and help you but she didn’t take any excuses. They just can’t do that in public schools unfortunately.
May 30th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Can’t afford it in any near future.
I wouldn’t rule it in out in future if we could afford it and public school (even with pursuing GT programs) was not serving Devin well. I’d prefer the Catholics over any Southern Protestant systems though, in a heart-beat.
May 30th, 2008 at 10:47 am
I’m interested in some kind of objective metrics on the various Catholic schools in this area… Is it St. Mary’s downtown with the rep for academics?
May 30th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Yeah, same here. For one thing…..St. Mary’s downtown requires a baptismal record. Ain’t gonna happen here.
But then there’s http://www.stfrancis-school.org/ - interdenominational…not sure how effects their academics.
The Episcopalian Schools are generally more open-minded I believe, academically rigorous but Expensive ($13-$14K/year). yikes.
St. Francis costs less: http://www.stfrancis-school.org/web/page/15 nor do they require an entrance exam (like the Episcopalian school).
This school is south - is interdenominational, costs less (non-Catholics pay more): http://www.st-ignatius.org/school/administration/admissions
http://www.st-ignatius.org/school/st-ignatius-martyr-school/10-reasons-why-you-should-consider-enrolling-your-child-st-ignatius
May 30th, 2008 at 11:38 am
http://www.st-ignatius.org/school/st-ignatius-martyr-school/why-choose-catholic-school
May 30th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Do you really believe private schools function much better than public schools?
My understanding is that the problem with public schools tend to be highly localized. White suburban schools consistently score and produce with the very best private schools for a fraction of the cost per pupil. The problem is with inner city/minority and rural schools which are underfunded, have more problem students, and lower quality staff.
when families have to work two jobs just to cover property taxes to pay for schools
?
Median home price in austin is ~200k, AISD tax rate is 1.163/$100, 2326$/year, roughly 200$/month. Admittedly painful but quite a bit less than day care or the 7-10k/yr of a private school.
May 30th, 2008 at 11:42 am
This is kind of scary:
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/writing/results2002/schooltype.asp
May 30th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Those are very good points too. I would personally try to exhaust transfer-to-better public campuses before I try Catholic school.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
What I think is that private schools are less conflicted about what it is they want to teach and not as limited about what and how they can teach, and are therefore more likely to do a more complete job. I would expect that the results of a Catholic school education is a generally complete liberal arts education. I would expect that the typical high school student had been institutionalized and babysat for four years.
If you haven’t guessed, I don’t place a high value on standardized test scores. I question that the kids in the white suburban schools learn as much as 1/3 to 1/2 of what private school kids learn. Never mind the kids in the ghetto schools.
Re: $$ — Its my experience that there are many families with kids that barely scrape by and have to make decisions like cutting off cable or limiting vacation in order to cover unexpected expenses. $200 a month is a big chunk of change for such folks. If public schools were these dynamic, interactive places where kids and adults worked together to build educations, then I wouldn’t be complaining about the cost. All indications are that they aren’t and they don’t, so I play squeaky wheel on LJ.
May 30th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Do you really believe private schools function much better than public schools?
Only if your agenda is building character, fostering wit, and stewarding the spirit. If you’re producing workers who can be trained frequently to remember facts and behaviors, and measured easily, public schools can do nearly as well.