Quote:
Originally Posted by NorCal Dude
Yea of course things vary by district level but you are failing to see the big picture. And that is that the vast majority of school districts are poor and have under performing students. State statistics show a hell of a lot and trying to ignore or make excuses or minimize their relevance only makes the problem worse. It is why california schools got into this mess to begin with... too many people making excuses rather than holding people accountable. I don't know how "new" you are to california but the state is in a real brain drain. All of the talent and knowledge in silicon valley is getting imported from china and India or other parts of the US.
I went to CAL and i can assure you a huge portion of the grad students there are from all over the world. Very few of us were actually from california.
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I brought up the district variation only because I think your original argument went something like this:
1. I attended a school in an average school district in Illinois
2. I later attended a school in a good school district in California
3. I thought the Illinois school was better than the California school
4. Therefore, the average school districts in Illinois are all better than the top school districts in California.
To comment on grad students issue: aren't the vast number of graduate students at any school from all over the country and world? That's the nature of graduate school, at least in competitive programs. I didn't attend grad school in my home state. I went where they had the best program that met my needs and interests. I don't think the nature of graduate study at a state's college or university system has any relevance to the nature of that state's public K-12 educational system.
I have never and will never deny that California doesn't have major issues facing its public schools, or that it's never useful in any situation to look at the big picture state-by-state, especially when looking at state policies or issues that do impact local school issues. My only point was that from the standpoint of an individual person looking at a possible relocation, the overall data isn't as important as what's happening at the local level. That's not minimizing anything or making excuses. Obviously there are issues; obviously there need to be massive changes. Just as there are major differences between districts inside of California, so, too, are there major differences between states. The issue should be on providing equal access to a good education to all students in all districts in all states. Local funding obviously hasn't worked, at least not for the many poor districts; maybe state control isn't the answer, either.
There are excellent public schools in California. Whether or not a middle-class family can afford to live in those districts is a different story, and has contributed directly to many of my friends' choices to leave the state. We can't afford to live in California, especially with the current economy; luckily, the public schools in our chosen state, Minnesota, are excellent (even in the cities).
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