Speaking only on the U.S. system since that's the only one I have any experience with. I attended schools in several different states over my career, from top ranked to "get the kids out functionally literate." I don't have high regard for any of them.
I find it interesting that there are studies and statistics backing up private school vs public school performance, and the reporter mentions those. But what about studies and statistics about the *person* behind those scores?
I didn't send my child to private school because of my history of being bullied in school. I simply assumed that all schools allow and encourage bullying and my child was going to have to learn to kick the ass of several students and I was going to have to back her up every step of the way. But in sending her to private school, I've been astounded that so far there is absolutely no bullying. And I know this is not the case for her friends who go to the public school she would attend, and it's not the case for the summer programs she has attended which include students from that school. Having this experience now? Makes me even more reluctant to consider ever sending her to public school. This is anecdata, but now I wonder. Are there studies about stuff like this? I'm clearly too lazy to go look right now, but thought you might know!
So, why did I send her to private school? Smaller classes, which she need(ed ... I think she'd be fine in a class with 30 children now, but I also think she'll do better in her smaller classes). Daily extensive physical activity, which she needs. Other benefits were foreign language beginning in kindergarten, regular music and lab science also beginning in kindergarten, art beyond gluing macaroni to construction paper.
So, the author thinks that if she went to public school, I'd be agitating for those programs. I wouldn't. I'd deal with it in extra-curricular activities, because I know what a pointless waste of time it is to agitate for ANYTHING within the public school system - I'm a graduate of said system. It's a system with a profound disinterest in the students and their parents. Occasionally you get a bright spark of a teacher, rarer still a bright spark of an administrator, and you revel in that bright spark while you have it. The rest of the time, you deal with people who probably ought not be around other people, much less children.
I didn't used to be so bitter about my own educational experience. I figured school's what you make of it, everyone suffers, who cares. Then I encountered my daughter's school and I am sad for what I missed.
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Date: 2011-04-01 12:48 am (UTC)I find it interesting that there are studies and statistics backing up private school vs public school performance, and the reporter mentions those. But what about studies and statistics about the *person* behind those scores?
I didn't send my child to private school because of my history of being bullied in school. I simply assumed that all schools allow and encourage bullying and my child was going to have to learn to kick the ass of several students and I was going to have to back her up every step of the way. But in sending her to private school, I've been astounded that so far there is absolutely no bullying. And I know this is not the case for her friends who go to the public school she would attend, and it's not the case for the summer programs she has attended which include students from that school. Having this experience now? Makes me even more reluctant to consider ever sending her to public school. This is anecdata, but now I wonder. Are there studies about stuff like this? I'm clearly too lazy to go look right now, but thought you might know!
So, why did I send her to private school? Smaller classes, which she need(ed ... I think she'd be fine in a class with 30 children now, but I also think she'll do better in her smaller classes). Daily extensive physical activity, which she needs. Other benefits were foreign language beginning in kindergarten, regular music and lab science also beginning in kindergarten, art beyond gluing macaroni to construction paper.
So, the author thinks that if she went to public school, I'd be agitating for those programs. I wouldn't. I'd deal with it in extra-curricular activities, because I know what a pointless waste of time it is to agitate for ANYTHING within the public school system - I'm a graduate of said system. It's a system with a profound disinterest in the students and their parents. Occasionally you get a bright spark of a teacher, rarer still a bright spark of an administrator, and you revel in that bright spark while you have it. The rest of the time, you deal with people who probably ought not be around other people, much less children.
I didn't used to be so bitter about my own educational experience. I figured school's what you make of it, everyone suffers, who cares. Then I encountered my daughter's school and I am sad for what I missed.