Public Money Finds Back Door to Private Schools (NYT Article)

[Kibbiekat]

Originally Posted by Oogax3Girl

Thanks. I'm no longer in high school. I'm a student in college and doing quite well. The main reason why I have found success in college is because I completed my high school education in a college preparatory private school.

Self-study is great and students who are motivated learners will go far. That is the reason why some students are even able to "escape" the system. That being said, I think that going to a school that pushes students is crucial. In high school, I learned not only things like math and science, but I also learned how to manage my time. I learned how to study, how to push through the tough times, how to write essays, and how to use resources. I went to a school where in 9th grade Biology you have 2-3 essays due each week on top of the homework you have for your five other classes. That, right there, was something that made me very well prepared for college.

A lot of my friends, on the other hand, who went to decent public schools struggled to adapt to college. I remember one girl complaining about an essay she had to write for her English class on Facebook. I copied the comment and sent it to my friend from high school and we had a conversation about how well we were prepared. I remember my friend saying something along the lines of "Didn't we start writing essays like those in the eighth grade?"

My Statistics class first semester scared me. I sat in that class bored every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 AM. Every exam that we took had the 25%, 50%, and 75% marks for grades. We were a two thirds into the semester and had just hit the concept of "Mean, Median, and Mode". 50% of the class made a C or below on every exam. By the end of the class, 10% of the students had dropped it. I just sat there thinking, I learned about Mean, Median, and Mode in the fourth and fifth grades. How can people be doing this poorly?

It makes me really sad, too. I really wish that people had as good of an education experience as myself. I really do. After attending two public schools and a private school, I can attest to the difference in the quality of education. Even in college, I see students who are bright, but do not have the basic skill-sets that they should when entering college. It is just such a shame.

Apparently it is also a problem in other countries. In my French class, one of the debates that we had discussed whether or not colleges and universities should have Remedial Reading and Writing Courses. Apparently in France, universities are finding that new students do not have the reading and writing skills that a university student should. So maybe it isn't anything that can be helped, but I wish it could.

This is not the norm for all public schools. I grew up with good public schools, and I live in an area now with good public schools. I do remember having to do a group project in college with a woman who had never written a research paper so, yes, it does happen. I had written my first paper in 3rd grade. I think my experience was more normal than hers.

Originally Posted by scocar

Why is that the right direction? Not everyone can enroll in the "better" school, simply because there will not be room. So what it will end up creating is a bigger disparity between the "better" schools and the "worse" schools. Schools should be based on neighborhood plain and simple. Boundaries should be adhered to. Parents that care about it should think about that when they are choosing where to live.

I pretty much agree. the number of charters and all the open enrolling we have around here drives me nuts.

Originally Posted by scocar

But don't you see that there is not enough room to accommodate all the student's that want that "choice". And then it will in turn make the "bad" school even worse. I think that all children deserve an adequate education. There are students every year that come from crappy inner-city schools and go to Ivy League schools. All schools offer an adequate education. The bad schools just have a higher amount of underperforming students. That doesn't mean there are no opportunities for good students.

I taught ACT prep at a poor school that was rated a "1" on greatschools. They had some of the worst test scores in the state. The average ACT score was 15, where the national average is 21. But they still had students scoring 25+ on the ACT. They had kids in honors classes. They had a functioning National Honor Society on campus. The environment of the so-called "bad schools" is way overblown.

this is the problem. Instead of sticking around and fixing the problem, the parents take off for a "better" school.

Originally Posted by PaulaDunn

THe money is for a students education.... it really is that simple. If a private school is educating a student then teh money should go to the private school. If the public chool is educating the student then the public school should get it.

PERHAPS if pulic schools had to COMPETE for teir funding.... if their bottom line DEPENDED on delivering a top quality product then we might see some true reform.

With competition there is a winner and a loser. Do we really want the public schools (or the private ones for that matter) to be the losers?

Originally Posted by marigolds6

Have you seen the extensive conversations on here espousing the idea that college is not worthwhile unless it provides an immediate return on investment?
While I agree that many people target good school districts for their child's education, just as many if not more target good school districts because they have the most stable home prices.
(And remember, when we talk about the school choice debate, we are specifically talking about schools in poor performing districts, not schools in strong districts.)

This makes all the difference to me and how I see the issue. I live in an upper-middle class suburb with excellent public schools and several charter schools, yet the powers that be feel we need "more choice" and want to send the public money to private schools. It is just ridiculous. But I can kind of see the point in a low income with underperforming schools.

[marigolds6]

Originally Posted by Philip T

How much is your district's total operating budget and how many kids?

And what city?

Districts here do not correspond to cities. It is north St Louis County.
$136.4M budget. 12,185 students. About $6M of that budget is capital expenditures.