My cross-Sound neighbor picked up on the discussion of charter schools and their failure to live up to their promise.
It is well-known, if not explicitly stated, that many public schools now teach for standardized tests. School test scores are monitored and also used as a part of the No Child Left Behind legislation implemented by each state. Teachers and parents alike are aware of this pressure.
This is perhaps not the most representative pull-quote, but it just struck me as odd somehow: I can remember the week-long ordeals of standardized tests from my school days 30 years ago, so they’re by no means new. Perhaps state tests are, but national ones have been around a good long while. Was that not the case everywhere?
I don’t have a lot of patience with charter school backers. As poorly funded as public schools are now — our PTA pays some teachers’ salaries and covers various expenses that were fully-funded when I went to school — it makes no sense to setup these little experiments at running schools as profit centers. That money should go to the system that is in place, and if anyone feels it’s being wasted, they should go and see how the money is spent. Students of history may recall that many frontier towns and even established communities took pride in establishing school boards, building schools, and recruiting teachers. Those days of active involvement and investment seem to be a distant memory.
If they did spend some time in their local school, they might understand how schools benefit from an infusion of lower-income kids who are eligible for free and reduced breakfast and lunch, rather than by keeping them out (hint: it’s about allocated funding per child). They should take a look at the food that these kids are given and assess how much of it represents solid nutrition and how much of it is the product of agricultural subsidies. In my school they could see how the addition of a part-time tutor/classroom assistant makes for a much-improved student:teacher ratio without building new classrooms or hiring teachers. They would look in vain for a full-time music teacher in most public schools. They may well miss the art teacher who is also unlikely to be there full-time. And they should take note of how many parents they see in the building. If they have a student in the school, they should see how well-attended the PTA meetings are and how many parents are members.
Are public school perfect? Not by a long shot. Are they doing a good job? Not all of them, no. But I think it would make a difference if we could all say that we were working on it instead of undermining the system.
Julie, who got me thinking about this when she linked to me, is a home-schooler. I’m sure there are as many reasons for doing that as there are people doing it. I could never do it: my kids are too good as scholars for me to keep them motivated. My son was reading at 3 1/2 and my daughter right at 4: at 7 and almost 6, they’re reading about 3-5 years ahead of expectations. They’re other skills are also on track or ahead of the curve, and that’s a lot to handle: I’m sure I could find ways to keep them busy and happy, but I don’t know that I have all the right skills and gifts of a professional educator.
Perhaps if our choices were limited, if we lived in an isolated area or one that didn’t offer a great experience, it would be worth considering. But here in Seattle, where you can choose any school in the district, I don’t need to fall back to doing it myself.
I”d assume the schools on Bainbridge Island are pretty good, based on the fact that it’s an affluent community and from what I gather, people live there for quality of life reasons. What makes it a good choice for the Leung girls is that they have both parents around a lot, since Ted works from home: I have a lot to say on single-income households or some way of having a parent around as much as possible.
The bottomline is to make an informed choice. Don’t assume the schools are as good or as bad as you remember your own schools. Meet the principal (your kid may become known to them, as mine have [ouch]), meet the teachers, find out what works and what doesn’t. Only then can you decide if it’s a good place for your child to learn. We spend more time researching cars or appliances . . . . does that make sense?