Challenger School at North Austin (buy, public schools, live)

[GVK]

We are thinking of this school for our preschooler and evaluating options to may be continue with this for private kinderGarden and up.

Any reviews or recommendations would help.

Thanks.

[Aquitaine]

A family friend teaches at one of these schools in CA (even though he lived in Austin, he never taught at the campus here). He was thinking of moving to the one here if the opportunity arose though.

He likes them a lot but you do have to want their brand of kool-aid, which is very libertarian in nature. That'd be just fine for me but definitely something to be aware of.

Hopefully others will have some perspective on having a kid in their program though!

[centralaustinite]

For me personally, I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

Carefully investigate their mission and history, I see them as a institution that rose up 40 years ago and as a rightful correction to some issues common in California at the time but I see them today as outdated and out of touch with more recent educational research. Plus the "liberty and values" Ayn Randian stuff makes my teeth grate.

You need a certain type of kid to make this school a good fit.

[eirenecat]

Tell me more about the Libertarian Kool-Aid. This school is right by our house, but I can't seem to find concrete examples of what the "traditional American values" they teach are. What does your friend say, Aquitaine?

[Aquitaine]

I don't think they're super secretive about it. It's a fundamentally libertarian if not entirely Ayn-Randian approach to education. How radical that is probably depends on whether you think traditional public schools are centrist or left-leaning in their social curriculum and education philosophy. So, not about revisionist textbooks or teaching creationism, but definitely a focus on the framers and the constitution.

I don't want to mis-represent them as I've got nothing to do with the school and have never set foot on one of their campuses.

Challenger School gives you a good idea.

From what my buddy (who is somewhat conservative though hardly a member at the Rand institute) says is that it's more of a philosophy than indoctrination: you're going to get material presented framed in how the issue was framed at the time more than how we look at it today.

I guess if you can imagine a Catholic school whose methods are going to be traditional but more informed by than focused on indoctrinating you in Catholicism, and then replace 'catholicism' with 'libertarianism' to the extent possible given that libertarianism isn't a centralized patriarchy.

EDIT: I don't actually know what they have to say about creationism (if anything) but the anecdotes I've had are more libertarian/political than conservative/religious.

[ericsami]

I wonder how efficient they are . I pass by it all the time and it seems like they spent a pretty penny on it.

[Lafemmenikita1]

I just had an interview with them two weeks ago.
I had to fill out a math/verbal assessment in less than 10 minutes and then a political questionaire.
That was the fun part!
I'll give you an example.
John and Sara are your students. It's lunch time and John has forgotten his lunch and Sara has a big lunch. What do you do?
A. Take money from petty cash and buy John his lunch. B. Make Sara give some of her lunch to John. C. Call John's mother and make her bring a lunch.
I picked C. (If you picked B, then they would probably burn your application)
This one was relatively tame compared to the others which were clearly anti-welfare and anti-constitutional reform.
The very last question had a paragraph for you to write your answer to "What is your opinion on socialism?"
o.O
I knew I was not getting this job because I'm clearly a pro choice, pro welfare, left leaning Bernieophile. I'm glad I was not tempted into working there. Too bad. Their new school is so close to me!
Does this sound like a school you want to send your kids, where the main quality they want in a teacher is that teacher's belief in not changing the awesomeness of the original constitution?

[clarksvillemom]

Are those questions real? Wow, what a scary place! sounds like a cult, not a school. so much for different ways of thinking and all that. I know most schools have a certain "bent" and you ahve to realize that, but this seems to shut down any debate before it even starts. Even in Catholic school in the 70s, we were exposed to all kinds of different viewpoints!

[scm53]

Given Challenger's excellent test scores, I could care less what they ask their prospective teachers in a job interview. Besides, merely asking the question doesn't mean there is a right and wrong answer.

Still fun to watch the clucking tongues of the cognoscenti.

[Aquitaine]

I think it's naive to assume that regular schools don't do this - they're just not honest (even with themselves) about it. At least Challenger is pretty clear about what they want and they're not spending taxpayer dollars on it.

Try getting a job in an NJ, NY, or CA public school while holding anti-union beliefs about anything. Even if it happens, they'll make it so unpleasant for you that you'll be out of there in no time.

FWIW, the example question strikes me as much more anti-theft than 'conservative constitution reading.' Is that really the best example you have of their indoctrination? Do you really believe that A) or B) is more correct than C?