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The lack of free markets in housing and land use prevent many poor people from moving to places where they would be able to send their kids to better schools, especially when they are competing with more affluent parents who are shopping for the best neighborhoods and school districts they can get into.
I call bull
that's why people are leaving NY and CAli in droves going to lower cost of living areas
your kid succeeding, is based on two things..the work the kid puts into it, and the work the 'loving' parent puts into it...nothing else should be EXPECTED
your EXCUSE of a low paying wage....a sorry excuse
They can get a second job to afford private school
Hmm. Jobs that pay, I dunno, $10 an hour aren't going to pay for private schools that cost in the five figures per year.
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The answers aren't easy, and wont be solved by folks complaining about equal opportunity.. the parents that truly care about their child's education do something about it while the others cry about equal opportunity.
I send my kids to the best public school district in my state. Not everyone can do that.
Well what makes them inferior ?
The teacher you say ? Nope..failing schools still fail.
Not enough money ? Nope..failing schools still fail.
Usually - not always - the inferior schools are in violent, unsafe areas. I use Philadelphia as my most pertinent example of this.
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Let's try the students...well sorry but you can't expel them even if they have been to jail and come back. You cannot segregate them either.
You can't get the bad kids out of the system and give the good kids a chance to learn.
Right.
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Gangs, drugs, crime along with an "I don't care" attitude towards school.
The parents of these kids are no better..that is if you could EVER get in touch with them.
Those parents that care are stuck there. I feel sorry for them.
I work with some home schooled graduates. They are nothing to brag about.
it has been proven many times that home schooled children OUT DO the public school kids
Standardized test results for 16,000 home educated children, grades K-12, were analyzed by researcher Dr. Brian Ray. He found the nationwide grand mean in reading for homeschoolers was at the 79th percentile; for language and math, the 73rd percentile. This ranking means home-educated students performed better than approximately 77% of the sample population on whom the test was normed. Nearly 80% of homeschooled children achieved individual scores above the national average and 54.7% of the 16,000 homeschoolers achieved individual scores in the top quarter of the population, more than double the number of conventional school students who score in the top quarter.
Survey of Admissions Personnel
In 1997, Dr. Irene Prue, Assistant Director of Admission of Georgia Southern University, released a nationwide survey of admissions personnel's knowledge, attitudes and experiences with home educated applicants. In general, a total of 210 (out of the 1,289 surveyed) respondents to the study reported:
•Homeschoolers are academically, emotionally, and socially prepared to succeed at college.
•Parental motivations and involvement are in the best interest of their children.
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A Harvard University (MA) admissions officer said most of their home-educated students "have done very well. They usually are very motivated in what they do." Results of the SAT and SAT II, an essay, an interview, and a letter of recommendation are the main requirements for home-educated applicants. "[Transcripts are] irrelevant because a transcript is basically a comparison to other students in the school."
In addition to Harvard, prominent schools like Yale (CT), Princeton (NJ), Texas A&M, Brown University (RI), the Carnegie Mellon Institute (PA), the Universities of Arizona, Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii and many others all have flexible transcript criteria, accept parental evaluations, and do not require any accreditation or a General Equivalency Diploma (GED). At Kansas State University and others like Lipscomb University and Middlebury College (VT), transcripts are optional.
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The following comment, made by Jon Reider, Stanford’s senior associate director of admissions concerning the success of homeschoolers, was reported in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal: “Homeschoolers bring certain skills – motivation, curiosity, the capacity to be responsible for their education – that high schools don’t induce very well.”3
A report on the accomplishments of homeschool students has been published in Brown University's (RI) January/February, 2002, edition of its alumni magazine. In an article titled, "Homeschooling Comes of Age," Dean Joyce Reed states, "Homeschoolers are the epitome of Brown students. They are self-directed, they take risks, and they don't back off."
In 2002, an employee of Ball State University reported that "eighty percent of first time freshman who were homeschooled were admitted to one of our upper levels of admission, with 67% being admitted to Honors College—our highest level of admission. They tend to be very involved socially on campus, especially in groups relating to their academic major and in student religious groups."
During a fall 2004 interview, Phil Caffrey, Iowa State University's (ISU) director of admissions, stated that "homeschool students, on average, have higher grade-point averages" than the student body as a whole. Because of this, Caffrey stated that ISU is considering actively recruiting homeschool students at college fairs.
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Research has shown that homeschoolers on average do better than the national average on standardized achievement tests for the elementary and secondary grade levels. Statistics demonstrate that homeschoolers tend to score above the national average on both their SAT and ACT scores.
For example, the 2219 students reporting their homeschool status on the SAT in 1999 scored an average of 1083 (verbal 548, math 535), 67 points above the national average of 1016. In 2004 the 7858 homeschool students taking the ACT scored an average of 22.6, compared to the national average of 20.9.
According to the 1998 ACT High School Profile Report, 2610 graduating homeschoolers took the ACT and scored an average of 22.8 out of a possible 36 points. This score is slightly higher that the 1997 report released on the results of 1926 homeschool graduates and founding homeschoolers maintained the average of 22.5. This is higher than the national average, which was 21.0 in both 1997 and 1998.
The 1996 ACT results showed that in English, homeschoolers scored 22.5 compared to the national average of 20.3. In math, homeschoolers scored 19.2 compared to the national average of 20.2. In reading, homeschoolers outshone their public school counterparts 24.1 to 21.3. In science, homeschoolers scored 21.9 compared to 21.1.
I guess there are no absolute guarantees in life...
And therein lies the problem. When it comes to general welfare, the primary job of the Government shouldn't be to pimp for private businesses and rely on them to do the good. Because...
"A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratic government only that requires ignorance for its support."
- Thomas Paine, 1792
Because...
"A system of general instruction, which shall reach every description of our citizens from the richest to the poorest, as it was the earliest, so will it be the latest, of all the public concerns in which I shall permit myself to take an interest.
- Thomas Jefferson, 1818
If the problem is that our public system doesn't work well, then it should be up to us to fix it, not eliminate it and hand over the responsibilities to the private business and religious organizations who are likely to take charge and promote their own agenda in the process. And, I'm afraid, BOTH are desires of the right wing in EVERY country I have seen in person.
And, because...
"The corporate State considers that private enterprise in the sphere of production is the most effective and useful instrument in the interest of the nation."
- Benito Mussolini, 1935
...when they go to great lengths to keep their kids out of failing public schools? (e.g. they often homeschool their kids or do everything possible to avoid failing public schools and put their kids in better schools)
It's simple if you claim equality already exists you don't have to do anything to change the current situation.
Does a kid who attends a failing public school have the same opportunity as a kid who goes to Hoity Toity Prep?
I went to public school in one of the worst states in the nation, Mississippi. Didn't stop me from starting my own successful business and making a great living. There were plenty of people, both black and white, in my graduating class that have gone on to become very successful despite attending a very low ranking school.
Success doesn't come to you. You go to it. People thinking that going to a bad public school equals failure are correct as long as they truly believe that. When they open their eyes and realize how much in life in America is there just waiting for them to go get it, failure will disappear.
Only read through the first six pages, but up to that point at least, nobody had mentioned it so here goes...
If you want your kids to have a good education, whether that means - to you - home schooling, private schools, living in a good district, whatever, you have an equal opportunity to NOT have children until you you can, with some degree of certainty, provide that environment for them.
There's been a lot of talk about blaming conservatives, liberals, teachers, etc., but nobody's mentioned that people are having kids when they can't even feed them, much less ensure that they have a reasonably decent education.
The bottom line is that if the parent doesn't care about the children's education, they won't get one. If mom's too busy partying to make sure that Junior is doing his homework, or if dad disappeared as soon as he heard the news that mom is pregnant, then the battle's already been lost. There are the occasional exceptions, but generally speaking, and with remarkable consistency, if the parent's aren't involved in their kids learning, then neither are their kids.
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