I’m a public school junkie and since this is Texas Public Schools Week (who knew?), I’m hopping up on my Public Schools Soapbox. My three siblings and I are all products of Texas public schools, which served us remarkably well-academically and socially. Like so many other Americans, we lived in a mostly segregated neighborhood: all of our neighbors were white and middle-class. We went to school, however, with kids from all walks of life. In the first grade, I had a crush on a black boy named Horatio. My parents looked up his phone number in the phone book and allowed me to call him the night before Valentine’s Day to ask if he would be my Valentine. My mom painstakingly braided my blonde hair in cornrows for Show-and-Tell Day so I could look like some of my classmates. [I wish I had a picture of that!] In the fourth grade, Héctor (whose English wasn’t very good) sat at our lunch table and kept us all laughing with his antics.
However, I shouldn’t paint an idyllic portrait of the public schools I attended. There was tracking-especially in the later grades when we started getting into honors and “college prep” classes. All my closest friends were white, like me. There was one black friend in our group, and her black friends sometimes called her an “Oreo” for hanging out with us. But life requires us, or at least it should require us, to interact with people who are different from us. We can pick our neighbors, and unfortunately we all too frequently pick people just like us, but we can’t pick our co-workers, and we can’t pick people with whom we interact in gas stations, grocery stores, movie theaters, restaurants, and other public places.
My kids also attend public schools. They even attended public schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana-the city with the highest private school attendance rate (nearly 30%) in the nation. When we first moved to Baton Rouge, we were puzzled that almost no one we knew (from church, work, or our neighborhood) sent their kids to public schools. In fact, it was a moral imperative to keep them out of public schools. One mother told me: “I would dig ditches before any child of mine ever set foot in a public school in East Baton Rouge Parish.” A father said: “I would get a night job delivering pizzas just to keep my kids out of those schools.” After hearing many similar comments, we visited some of these supposedly terrible schools from which we should surely want to protect our children. Some were in shockingly poor condition, but nonetheless, we were impressed by how not terrible they were.
I began stopping conversations whenever I announced that my little tow-headed daughter would be attending South Boulevard Elementary-a public school. And not just any public school-a public school downtown. People asked me in hushed tones if I had been to the school at night. They asked if I worried about what would happen to my daughter if there were no other white kids in her class.
And thus began what I anticipate will be a life-long campaign for me-championing public education to everyone I know. I didn’t realize how important public education was until I saw it being attacked and abandoned by so many. Public schools serve a critical social purpose: preparing students for life in the real world. That real world is full of people from other countries and other parts of this country; it’s full of people who speak other languages; it’s full of people from varying socioeconomic statuses and diverse religious persuasions. In fact, forget the world-our town is full of people from all walks of life. I want my kids to go to school with kids that look like our community. And public schools are the only real way that my children and others will have that opportunity.
So for me, it’s all public schools all the time. Say “charter schools” and I start to twitch. Say “private schools” or “vouchers” (damn you, Arne Duncan) and I break out into hives. Say “home school” and I’m circling the drain. I believe in public schools kinda like I believe in God. Public schools (and God) have so much potential to do good. Public schools (and God) can-and sometimes do-really change people’s lives for the better. Public schools (and God) can-and often do-really mess with people’s lives, too. Just like God, they sometimes fail, they seem to neglect some of us, they disappoint us, they privilege some people over others, they sometimes let people slip through the cracks, and they sweep things under the rug.
But they also do so much good. And so I continue to support public schools and the teachers who work in them. I (almost always) look the other way when they fail my kids or disappoint me. I don’t mind-at all-that other kids in my kids’ classes seem to get more attention from their teachers than my kids. Luckily for me, the other kids need that more than mine do. My kids’ teachers stay late after school to help kids. They wrap their arms around sad kindergarteners. They wipe runny noses and help kids tie their shoes. They come to literacy and movie nights. They accompany busloads of kids on 14-hour band and UIL trips. Two public school teachers are about to chaperone my daughter and 29 other 8th graders on a week-long trip to DC and NYC-during their spring break!
So yeah, sometimes public schools don’t do everything they could or maybe should. But they’re sacred spaces for me. I tread softly when it comes to public schools. Those public school teachers watch over my kids approximately 185 days out of the year. I want them to know I’ve got their back. And despite a rare disappointment or two, they’ve earned my trust and my gratitude–in spades.
Thank you very much for this, Heather. For all the complaining that goes on about public education, the public schools are indispensable.
A few days ago in USA Today there was an article on how teachers and administrators cheat on achievement tests in order to show that students are learning when they actually are not. The problem is especially acute in charter schools, and the very worst at cheating are the charter schools in Arizona. Every day I drive past buildings with signs that say Liberty Academy or Freedom Institute. These are schools where the social studies teacher is certified by the Skousen Institute for Constitutional Studies and where they use Genesis as the primary science text. I’m not kidding and I’m not exagerrating. And the really sad fact is that LDS people are disproportionately represented in the student body.
Agh! Yes–I’m with you, Mark. One of my kids asked me a while ago if charter schools are public schools . . . and I laughed and told them that yes, technically, they are public, but that they are “cheating public schools.” They don’t play by the same rules as everybody else. And I know that’s their whole schtick (sp.?), but it’s disingenuous. Not only that, but from what I’ve read, most charters are NOT doing better than everybody else.
And I work in a teacher ed. program, so I’m totally biased when I say that we do a better job than Skousen whatever (yikes!) or Teacher for America or whatever alt. cert. program you can find. That doesn’t mean we’re doing everything right (by any means) or that we can’t improve–just that we generally do a good job within the parameters that we have.
You’re joking about Genesis as the primary science text, though . . . right? Right??
If only I were joking.
Look here: http://www.kimberacademy.net/?p=72
and here: http://www.kimberacademy.net/?p=90
All in all, prettty appalling. This is so discouraging for me to see, and I can imagine that for you, in your profession, it is doubly so.
(Maybe I should have warned you take a few deep breaths first.)
That is a joke. Incredible.
But then I realise that I know people who would probably just LOVE to get their kids involved in something like that.
Education in the marketplace. But perhaps the kids should have a human right or something to guard against this kind of thing.
Andy, what’s the school situation like where you are? I attended a presentation on school choice in Ireland (and I know that’s not where you live) that was absolutely fascinating. The criteria parents were using (or saying they were using) to choose schools for their kids were SO DIFFERENT from what parents use here.
The city I live in is very affluent, in relation to surrounding areas, so we have a number of quite expensive private schools. I’ve always attended public schools, though – except for one year when my Dad taught at a private school in Australia, and we got a discount. My parents always had the opinion that it mattered more how parents supported children than how well-funded the institution was. I think I agree with that.
You know, I was just commenting on a post over at BCC today where we discussed the reality in the UK that in order to get into the very top universities in the country (Oxford and Cambridge), you have a much better chance if you attended a private school. I think that private education prepares you for a different kind of higher educational experience and perhaps – a different kind of life. A class-specific life, I think.
I’m glad I went to public schools.
Heather, I feel so much the same way. There are many reasons to send kids to school and to public school – and not all of them are academic. We found ourselves somehow planted in “the best” public school district in the East Bay (or so those parents and test scores keep telling us!) and while we’re blessed with a variety of different nationalities, colors and cultures, I struggle knowing that my kids do not have a big variety of influences when it comes to socio-economic diversity.
We have a popular charter school where I work. It may be marginally better than it’s mainstream public schools – only because they require parent participation as part of the attendance requirements.
My sister and my mother are/were public school teachers, and I’ve always had my kids in public school. Sure, there’s been an occasional teacher who didn’t measure up, but 98% of our teachers work to the bone and give all they’ve got. I’m always very grateful.
God bless public school teachers and all the rest of the folks who support them.
Thank you for your support of public schools. After retiring from my public school teaching career, I taught part time in a charter school–and it did meet the needs of some kids better than the public schools–primarily because it wasn’t sports and activity oriented. However, charter schools are expensive–and top-heavy with administrators. Our charter school of 100 students had a full time principal and a full time counselor/asst. principal. The money going into charter schools is coming from the state education budget–therefore taking money from the public schools.
I think it is hugely important to support and invest in our public schools!
Adding to the reasons already cited, the idea of a public/free education for the our citizenry (regardless of their financial or ethnic background) is a very special thing and is core to the success of our country and a functioning democracy. The success of our democracy depends upon an educated public. Little people will grow up to be big people and they will be able to vote. If you can educate them on “bible science”, then they will grow up voting in ways that are not rational and not productive for a secular government.
I really feel like the privatization of education (in its various forms) goes against achieving greater equality and representation in our nation.
I also feel like public schools are sacred places for our country. They represent very powerful universal ideas that can be shared. Equality, Opportunity, Empowerment, Diversity, etc.. In that way they are a means for us to discover what we share in common rather than how we are different.
Jacob
I’ll say it: home-schooling. That’s what I’m planning on doing. Now, it’s interesting to me to hear peoples’ arguments for the US public school system. It’s interesting for me because I went to school in Germany, and having had that experience, and then coming here to get a pique at US public education, I just cringe. I think my kids deserve better than what’s to be found here. I have zero interest in sending my 5 year off to school all day for pointless kindergarten crap. I actually don’t see any point in sending my kid to school for the long hours (but comparatively ineffective hours on an international scale – I’m talking PISA studies here) at any grade level. I think there are so many problems with the US public school system, I wouldn’t even know where to start. If I lived back home in Germany, our kids would be attending school (and would have to since home-schooling isn’t legal), but the US gives me the freedom to not send them to school here, and since I find the public school system so crappy, I won’t. I may change my mind in a few years when I actually have to tackle home-schooling, but for now I say “no thanks”.
While I agree that good socialization is absolutely crucial, and something I personally value more than, well, I don’t know, lots of things, I really don’t believe that school is the one and only (or best) setting for that to take place. I actually believe that parenting is a key factor in how children respond to the world. You could probably send a white child to a mostly black school, and they’d still hang out with the only other white kid, depending on what kind of thinking/socialization they’re taught at home. My school in Germany was definitely very homogeneous with a very few token Greeks and Turks…It was my parents efforts that probably helped the most for me (and my siblings) to be open-minded and comfortable with those who are different. We’d constantly have visitors from pretty much any country and/or any walk of life and I learned much more about the world and people’s struggles through my parent’s efforts than I did at school. Having lived here in the US now for almost 10 years, it seems to me that those ‘well-socialized’ people (that I’ve met) seem to be outgoing and interested in the world around them by nature, rather than a result of schooling. That’s just my personal gut-feeling here, so no one has to believe it. But there are also psychology studies that show that simple exposure doesn’t usually work well (there is a study in regards to racism that showed that exposure isn’t enough).
Anyway, so, with all that said, I think public education is still very important. While I’m convinced that a child can receive an excellent (and superior) education on many levels at home, I think it takes a very invested parent to pull that off. And clearly, not all parents have the time, ability, money or interest for that. For that alone, I think it’s important to have public schools that make basic education accessible to all. I also don’t think that all public schools are equal or cannot produce positive results. Most of my American friends are highly educated and very intelligent people, and all of them have attended public schools. Clearly, it’s working somehow. But, then again, it’s hard to tell if they succeeded because of the system or their own intellectual abilities. I don’t know. I’m also sure that I’m biased anyway. After all, I never actually gone to school in the US. From all my reading, hearing and working at a school temporarily, it’ll take a lot to convince me of the superior quality of US public schools. :)
Fran, I actually agree with many of your points (although I would never consider home schooling unless one of my kids were seriously bullied or abused in school). The experiences they get at public school are too important to me.
I figure my kids will mostly attend average public schools and most of their teachers will be average. They will hopefully have a few excellent teachers. And when they have those truly exceptional teachers, we really enjoy those years and are grateful. Unfortunately, they will also like have some duds. Those are different kinds of learning experiences and longer years. But we stick with it.
I can speak to my kids’ experiences attending a school that was about 80% black (and they are white). They didn’t even notice the race of the other kids in their classes. They didn’t hang out with the few other white kids. It was just a non-issue. When my oldest was started kindergarten, I expected her to at least NOTICE that almost everyone at her school was black. After about two weeks, she commented one afternoon: “Huh. It’s kinda weird that almost everyone at my school has brown skin.” And that was that.
Heather,
my point with the whole white kids amongst blacks etc. is that I think the attitude they pick up at home may greatly influence how they perceive such an environment. I may be totally wrong here, but from reading your posts, clearly you’re a very aware and open person. I would imagine your children have already learned at any early age to think in certain terms about the world, so that this environment would feel natural to them (as it should because why on earth should skin color matter anyway…). Maybe that’s not it. But, I really think that how parents think and handle “the world” teaches kids early on how think and handle similar situations. I think those influences can be really subtle. A lot of socialization is actually very subtle. I’m definitely all about exposure though. I’m just saying that there are also lots of people who will not happily mingle when thrown into such situations…
I should have read some of the comments before I commented…
When I read that a teacher is “Skousen” certified, I almost want to pack up my things and take my kids back to Europe. Freaky that such a thing is even possible, or using Genesis as a science text. That’s just crazy, though I guess part of what makes America unique. That is certainly not anything I’m aiming for, and I’m always scared by the people who choose to home-school for such great reasons such as protection their kids to be taught about homosexuality, or similar stuff. My reasons for wanting to home-school are mainly academic. As a home-schooler I can actually assure that my children receive a great language education. My husband speaks French and Portuguese. German is my native language and what we speak at home, but I also speak Greek and (obviously) English. Language programs in almost all US schools stink. It’d be close to impossible to find a school that would accommodate my desire for my kids to speak German as much as possible. Other reasons for home-schooling would be the flexibility it gives us to travel regularly to Europe for longer periods of time (how would that be for socialization?), as well as finding teaching methods that seems more productive/efficient to me. Again, I’m probably biased, but when I know that with 10 years of public German schooling I was more or less at the same level as most Americans who graduated from high-school, then I have to assume that German schools are more effective, or that I’m really smart. And while I don’t think I’m stupid, I don’t think I’m exceptionally intelligent.
Yeah–those are some great reasons. We had some friends in New Mexico whose kids went to a home-school charter school. The kids attended school 1/2 day and the parents committed to devoting the remainder of the hours working on school-related things at home. It was a very interesting idea–I’d not heard of it before. If the kids took music/dance lessons or played soccer, for instance, that counted towards their hours. Reading books at bedtime? That counted. This seems like a great compromise.
I have a friend who homeschools her kids for many of these same reasons. They have done some great trips abroad–they spent a few weeks in Costa Rica–and have done a huge cross-the-country (US) road trip. Great learning experiences.
I think there are some really great options out there…though I’m still looking and searching for the perfect fit for my family. I realize though that there are all kinds of home-schoolers, and I always have to clarify that I don’t want to be put with the sheltering crowd. I think the moment I noticed our kids are becoming weirdos because of home-schooling, they’d be in public school before they could say U.S.A. I’ve actually tried to figure out a part-time school/part-time home thing. There are definitely some subjects I’d rather not tackle myself. I’d be happy to leave any math instructions to the crazy people who enjoy doing math. But when I look at social science stuff, I’d really would want my kids to have a broader experience than the traditional US education. I want them to know European history well. Well, actually I just want them to know about the rest of the world as much as possible. I don’t want to perpetuate the traditional patriotic US views…I want kids who are true cosmopolitans, and real critical thinkers. Maybe I’m doing the public school system injustice, but to me that’s just not the education they provide. So, I feel like I have to take it on myself if that’s what I want. Or be content with my kids turning into the average American, having to deal with Prom, maybe having my daughter wanting to do cheerleading etc. I’m just not ready for that. I haven’t assimilated sufficiently with the US culture to be ok with that. :) Maybe in another 10 years or so.
Hilarious, Fran (the cheerleading/prom thing!). I agree that in many instances, your kids would get exactly what you fear. But boy, do we have some great conversations at our house about things they hear at school. I couldn’t pay for some of the conversation-starters! ;)
But just today, my 8th grader’s history teacher had a big conversation about an incident in our district that was on the news last night. The middle school principal allowed a church to distribute Gideon Bibles during lunch (major eyeroll–I have no idea what he was thinking). Someone filed a complaint with the ACLU (good for them!). So the teacher engaged the kids in a great conversation (according to him and to my daughter) about the separation of church and state.
Earlier this week, he had them looking at the NY Times site that’s been going around on Facebook where you can enter your zipcode and see the residential segregation.
All very good lessons/discussions to be having. So it’s not all bad . . . but sure, you have to fill in some gaps.
One more thing–I think another huge issue we have to take into account when we compare US schools to other schools in the world is the remarkable diversity found in US schools–huge variations in native language, religion, culture, socioeconomic status, ability–that I do think mean that the whole process is more complicated and takes longer. Would my kids learn more academically if they were in classes of kids that were all smart like they are (hello, I sound shamefully boastful . . .)? Yep. Probably. Maybe.
I still don’t want them in that kind of environment, though. Too many other lessons to be learned . . .
Yesyes! I definitely think the diversity (especially in terms of language/culture) changes the process dramatically, and probably makes up on of the major obstacles. And I think the diversity/exposure to other cultures/backgrounds/languages etc. would make public school a very worthwhile experience. I think I was just trying to show that there could be good reasons to not choose that route, even though you value those things…
Really, I just need my kids to be fit academically on a European level. That way they can always go to college for free in Europe, and we don’t have to save up money for a college fund. Hahaha…it’s just about us being cheap, really.
Oh yes–I’m glad you commented because I need to be reminded of my ideological blindspots. My dad once politely suggested that he hoped I was not sacrificing what was best for my kids because of an ideological platform. I told him I hoped I wasn’t doing that, either!! ;)
@Heather- What a profound moment for you to post this. I am in tears.
As a public school teacher, I know we fail. I have kids in my class who I don’t give nearly enough attention to. I have kids in my class who know the skills I spend hours teaching because their classmates don’t have the same skills. I know there are teachers at my school who are terrible and should be kicked out. I know there are gaps, that kids get overlooked, that some kids are bullied and I don’t see it, and I know that we don’t get to an academic level that many students are capable of reaching.
As a public school teacher, I know we succeed. There are kids who make something of themselves because we are here for them. There are kids who were never expected to succeed until they walked in my door. There have been kids whose only hug came from me. There are kids who have learned, kids who have had “aha” moments, and kids who have been changed because of public school.
Private school will give you your high academic curriculum. Home school will give you whatever it is you are willing to put into it. Public school will give you a basic education, and a whole lot of life.
So, I guess it depends what we are preparing our children for.
We are public school people. My kids attend the schools in the district I teach in. They hear some interesting things. They see some very interesting things. And they live, boy, do they live.
Our public schools educate the masses. And those masses create the foundation of your society. Without us, you don’t have the legs for your academics to stand on.
Emily, so well said.
I am the product of a public school education, I was bused to “the wrong side of town” to an elementary school with a school population that was about 50% black and 50% white with a black female principal. It wasn’t idyllic or perfect, but singing “We Shall Overcome” as our school song and having class alongside people who were from different neighborhoods and different socio-economic groups *did* make a hugely positive impact on my life.
The only group of people we have more scorn, judgment and unrealistic expectations for than teachers are mothers. :) Teachers do a hard job and they do it imperfectly, with imperfect tools, but the fact that so many of them show up every day and do their best is pretty amazing.
Emily, of course I totally agree with everything you said. ;)
My daughter is lucky enough to have Emily as her language arts teacher. ;)
When people here (in Utah county) complain about public schools, I tell them a bit about East Baton Rouge Parish schools – where the only white people who sent their kids to public school were those from out-of-state who had this crazy notion that public schools should work. Some people have no idea how much they have to be grateful for!
@tbn, I know what you mean. We would’ve been public school advocates anyway, but after living in Louisiana for 8 years, we became public school junkies. For us, it was so disheartening to see how the public/private split really divided the community. Where your kids went to school was a real status symbol and said so much (accuracy notwithstanding) about the kind of person you were.
I really like this post, Heather. I may not feel quite as strongly as you do, but I definitely lean the same way you do about the value of public schools and the importance of supporting them. I’m happy to have attended public schools and to send my kids to public schools.
And I really like Andy’s comment about private schools:
That’s really an interesting way of putting it. Given that framing, I guess I wouldn’t want to send my kids to private schools because I wouldn’t want to prepare them for the wrong kind of life. By “wrong,” here, I just mean “different than what they’re likely to end up living.” Kids usually end up about where their parents do, right? So it would be misleading to my kids to prepare them for a class-specific (i.e., higher class) life when the great likelihood is that they’ll live a pretty generic middle class life like my wife and I do now.
So, here’s another thought for discussion then…if we send our kids to public schools because we want them to be (I assume) well-rounded, and not set them up for a class-specific life (as was suggested by Andy), what is it that we truly want for them? Keep them stuck in the middle-class? I mean, I don’t think that future success is dependent on what public school you attended (or if you attended public school), but I do think it’s pretty normal to want the best for your kids. I mean, in the olden days, parents would do anything to give their children the best possible education, because they knew it would help their children have a better life than their parents did/do. I’d imagine that many parents today who come from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds, would do just about anything to give their kids the best possible education/head start that they can so that their kids will be better off than they are. I certainly hope to give my kids a lot of things that I thought I didn’t get to enjoy but consider valuable/important.
So, is it wrong then for parents to want to send their kids to the best possible schools and then universities if they can? Isn’t the overall process of parents trying to provide a better future for their kids what has steadily improved living conditions through the decades for us? Just throwing that out there…
I agree – I don’t see education as limiting what class my kids end up in. I do see the socio-economic make up of their friends and fellow classmates as affecting their view of themselves and the world. When I look at why I send my kids to school – for this well rounded education of academic, social, and societal benefits – it’s always been important to me that they see and know and feel comfortable around people of all socio-economic backgrounds. I think that’s really important in their broader education.
It’s something I am struggling with right now. We ended up, through a random chain of events, having an amazing opportunity to buy a humble home in a very affluent area. My kids are on the low end socio-economic totem pole and they lack for nothing. The public schools here are amazing, and I am very grateful for it. There are many different cultures here, religions, and types of families – all wonderful opportunities for my kids to form friendships outside of our little family norm, but I constantly try to figure out how to teach my kids that while this kind of affluence is normal for us, this is not normal for the majority of the world, or even the majority of California.
While it’s wonderful for us to have a public school for our kids where the parents volunteer tons of time and money (they flat-out ask for a $500 “donation” when registering, plus classroom fees and supplies) the disparity of education is so clear to me. Our sister school in Richmond really struggles, and it is anything but equal education.
I’m brought back to the frustrating questions of how to bridge the gap, both in the Ca public school system, and in my kids’ lives. I want to support public school, and I want all kids to have equal opportunities and excellent educations. It’s certainly complex…
I have to say that I have been woefully uninformed of this position on public schools until now. And I am happily set straight as I have been agonizing over the fact that I haven’t found any good information in my area about a good charter school for my 5-year-old to attend this fall. Now I’m happy to go along with the plan I had begrudgingly settled on: to just put him in the public school we are assigned to in our (affluent) area. No more worrying about finding a charter school! I’m just going to support my public school down the street.
@Fran- The way I look at your last comment is this: I agree with you. Yes, I want the best for my kids in every aspect of their lives. I KNOW that I can cover the gaps that public schools leave in their academics, I can ensure that they are at the top of their class by continually working with them academically, and if I see something that they are not learning, I teach it to them the way I want them to learn it so they will be academically successful. However, I am ill-equipped to teach my children that “well-rounded” social experience that they receive in public school. We have learned so much from attending the school we do- how blessed we are to have all of the necessities of life, how to deal with bullies, controversy, and so many other skills that would not show up in my home or in private school.
I think that no matter how hard we try to do the right thing, we will make good decisions and bad decisions. Raising kids is a learning experience, and I think the fact that we care enough to worry about our children says a lot about the way they will turn out. My students from homes with caring parents are going to be successful.
I have been a public school teacher for 20 years. Currently I teach in the city of Las Vegas. My class includes 2 white kids – the rest are from a variety of backgrounds. My class is brown. This year 9 out of 21 students have moved out of my room and been replaced with those moving in. 9 of my students are language learners – one student is from Iraq and speaks Arabic. I love my kids. I love teaching. I actually consider my classroom and the money I invest there – my tithe – since I don’t believe in the Mormon church anymore. I definitely tithe my money and time there. My classroom is a special place.
A parent crushed me this week. She is a single child married to another single child – raising a single child. This student also has two attentive and overly protective/concerned grandparents. Basically 4 adults to monitor my every move and chew my ass. The kid is a brat. He is smart and has figured out he can do what he wants and has 4 angry parents to arrive at the school to cause problems.
I like to feel successful. I am a really good teacher but the bottom line is. . . I wanted to quit this week because this parent really expected me to cater to her child. All four of these needy parents have worn me out. I have a classroom full of students – 21. If you want or need one-on-one tutoring for your kids, you will need to home school because the public school will never be able to provide that for you. What my classroom does provide is a variety of cultures, fun people, service, love for people who aren’t just like you and many other wonderful and fabulous things.
School is a micocasm of the macrocasm – it’s a place to experience a situation that will prepare you to work outside of your family unit. Also, a basic education, I believe completely is a right. . . not a privilege. We shouldn’t be a nation that only educates those who can afford it. I love teaching and I feel better today – but if you do require something else or feel the need to complain constantly about things beyond the public school teacher’s control . . . keep them home and educate them anyway you like. I’m perfectly happy trying to learn a little arabic and throwing birthday parties with the rest of my kids who enjoy my classroom.
My sister actually moved to a particular neighborhood in Riverton, Utah to make sure her kids had a nice neighborhood and an excellent school to attend.
Her oldest daughter Isabelle is a very compassionate and caring person – not unlike my sister who is a nurse. My sister was very concerned the other day because Isabelle has very “strange” friends. Her best friend has cerebral palsy. She also plays at school with a little girl who has a variety of physical disabilities. She invited all sorts of people to her birthday party – but it became obvious to my sister these children all had some sort of interesting problem. When my sister went to volunteer in her classroom, Isabelle did not notice but my sister did . . . that the “regular” students teased her and excluded her on a regular basis in the classroom. They nicknamed her Lady GaGa – because they consider her strange.
This made me cry. I reminded my sister of how compassionate she has always been and often played with the kids no one else liked. Don’t you think the parents of all the “strange” kids are glad that someone wanted them to go to a birthday party? Does my sister really want Isabelle to be accepted by those mean and horrible “regular” kids? There may come a day when Isabelle who is in the second grade will notice people who think she is strange for loving everyone – but her crazy aunt thinks she is like Jesus. All children need friends and this is what Jesus would do. And for the record, I like Lady Gaga too.
I guess you would think that going to a school with all white Mormon children would be easy – nope. Just because they attend church for 3 hours on Sunday – doesn’t make anyone a Christian.
My children went to various public schools in Australia, and I went to public schools in Australia, Canada, Scotland and England. 2 of my 4 daughters have BS (Bachelor of Science) degrees. The other 2 have successful lives.
We believe that public schools should be supported and in fact I would prefer a system where the government on supported financially public schools. Where you allow private schools you set up a two tier system where the government system is seen as inferior to the private system. Our Government has just set up a web site called my school where you can compare the resources and results achieved by all schools in the country both public and private.
For the same reason I do not have private health insurance but rely on the public system, believing a two teir system is devisive to society in the long run.
There seems to be a philosophical thing in the Church here, where conservative members will make great sacrifices to have their children go to a private school. We have a family in our ward who have 6 children. They all went to a private school named after a pope. The fees for this school are $6 to 8000 for junior high school and $8 to 10,000 for senior high. There are discounts for large families but imagine spending more than $40,000 a year for education. What of the oportunity cost? The perception is that the results are better but part of the attraction is that the children will be protected from “the world”.
Another family with 5 children who were friends of ours struggled for the 10 years or so their children attended this school. None of their children went on to UNI and at least one went on to periods in prison.