In the first segment of this three-part series, I made a rather brazen statement that ruffled a few feathers: "Private school education is not only for the rich and privileged, but also for those who are willing to go into debt, those willing to fund-raise, those willing borrow from parents, those willing to volunteer time, and especially ONLY those willing to make massive sacrifices to their lifestyles, all for the sake of their kids!"....
In the public school system, it's a commonly accepted notion that everyone in grade school (junior kindergarten to grade eight) passes. Sure, some students may get C's in their report card, on a rare occasion a D, but never an "F." No matter how incompetent or how unprepared a child is to move to the next grade, they still get passed. Like an assembly line, no discrimination, no quality control -- from one teacher to the next.
My point is that the grades reported to parents in the term report cards may not truly reflect actual achievements and abilities. As a parent trying to prepare my kids for the real world, that's truly a concern for me, as it would be for any CEO of a company trying to make decisions based on skewed or made up performance reports.
I've spoken to many teachers about this practice and it appears that "non-failing" policy is promoted from the administration, top-down. In fact, the wife of one of my oldest friends was forced to change schools because she was refusing to pass a failing student and the principal was making her life utterly miserable because of it.
"Is it worth risking your position, your pension, your friendships here over a kid who won't amount to anything anyways?" he asked her. "Wow" is all I can say.
In this three-part series of Like Father, Like Daughters, I'll explain why I chose to "pay for something" that I could have had for free, and why I feel that it will pay back great dividends in years to come, despite the many material sacrifices made. Part 1 of this segment can be read here.
Bell-curving of student grades is another "best practice" commonly used to ensure that the overall grade of the class is kept at a certain level. It makes perfect sense to me. If a few bad students bring the overall grade down (heaven forbid you have two or three failing students), it would make you look really bad as the teacher. Incompetent even! So what would you do? Pass them, get them out of your class, out of your hair and let them be the next teacher's problem. All the teachers I've spoken to have admitted to bell-curving grades, although none would go on record -- and rightfully so. Sure, I've been known to drive over the speed limit on occasion, but I'd never admit to it on record to a police officer!
So what's the problem? It's a win-win-win isn't?. The teachers win -- they get the problem student out of their class. The school wins -- they maintain their status with the school board and their ranking amongst the other schools. And the student wins -- they are not burdened with an inferiority complex, and their self-confidence and self-esteem are preserved.
So what's the issue? Do I really need to go into how this process could negatively affect the problem student in the future?. I'll just leave it to the army of child psychologists who deal with those kinds of problems after the fact, to write about it. Not me.
The issue for me is simply this: If any of my daughters have issues at school with certain subjects, I want to know exactly what the cause and extent of the problem is. Is it their study habits? Is it the materials? Do I need to spend more time checking homework? Is it a behavioural problem? Does she need extra homework lessons?
Whatever the cause may be, I don't want her to receive a B grade if it's really a D grade. I need the teachers to know that they can call me at any time of the day to discuss current and potential problems. I need a partnership where a frank and open discussion can happen at any time about the kids.
Yet somehow, I just don't see that kind of partnership coming from a school environment where teachers, (in general), want as little interaction with the parents as possible.
Since I'm no educational expert with years of extensive school and school board experience, it would be wrong for me to paint all publicly-funded schools with the same brush. I'm sure there are exceptions. However, I haven't found any public Catholic schools within my geographical area that happen to be exceptions to the rule.
Now is it naive for me to think that bell-curving doesn't happen at private schools? Perhaps. But at least I have control over the parent/teacher relationship, and I can call my daughters' teachers any time of the week at home or on their cell phones. Should an academic or behavioural problem arise, not only am I sure to know about it that day, but a plan discussed with me and implemented with my feedback and approval will occur even before the kid gets home from school that day. As a result, I know that an A grade was properly earned and that a C grade is no surprise.
In most cases, I don't even look at their report card in any real detail because I already know their grades in terms of efforts and results long before my wife hands that piece of paper to me. I just read the report cards with the kids after dinner for purely ceremonial purposes.
I'm not convinced many other parents can say the same.
The Score -- Private School: 4, Public School: 0
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In the final installment of this series, I'll discuss the final reasons why I'm convinced that I've made the right schooling decision for my daughters. I'll also review some of my other financial considerations and options that were available to me as well as my final pros and con list.
Stay tuned...
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You send your kids to private school because either: a) it is religious school, or b) you are uninformed.
You need to be looking at solid public education programs. In Houston, we have well regarded magnet High Schools like the HS for the Performing and Visual Arts. Most public schools also have separate AP/IB programs. If you did this in Texas, your kid would be able to graduate from the top of the pack and get auto-admission into all public colleges in Texas, and probably get some good scholarship offers, too. Not only that, but your kid would be better prepared for a diverse world and workforce. Instead, your kid comes out in the middle of the pack from a private school, which none of the advantages of the rich (being rich) or the poor (scholarships).
Just not so.
Ideally, a vast majority of students (well, ideally, "all" of them) will master the material of the course and receive a B or A. It would be a crime to lower their grades because they only earned the "average" amount. Material in a course should be based on meeting certain criteria (criterion based assessment), rather than where they ended up relative to other students (norm-referenced grading), such as is done on intelligence tests or SATs for instance.
I fail people every year, sadly. And no one has ever had a problem with it nor does it ever come as a surprise.And grades are online, so everyone's mother who is so inclined can check up whenever she wants. , and I'm happy to talk to the parents of my students( unless they are crazy, which has happened at both the public and private shools where I have worked))...a good mother is my best ally.
The Real World huh?
Schools sponsoring dances in 3rd and 4th grade. Libraries chock full of books that leave parents no way of knowing what is inside them (as rating systems for books have been fiercely resisted) "Read them" you say. "Sure, whatever." I say. My child is encouraged in their reading programs to read continously - there is no way a parent can hope to precensor all the books.
And not only are children passed from grade to grade, but many of the kids hanging around dealing drugs are left in school because getting rid of too many students is absolutely not cool, schools need the students too badly for funding.
"MOST" private schools are babysitting services from what you gather? Okay. I've got experience IN the public schools and I can tell you that the public schools are for sure.
No, Noel is absolutely right.
What are you going to do when they're adults? Physically blind them? Or will you just hope that the figurative blindness you've tried to instill will have sufficiently taken root by then?
Read any book by John Taylor Gatto (New York Teacher of the Year, 1990) and you might have a deeper appreciation for privatization.
Give it a shot. You'll like it...
Not sure if there is anything honest or true in Mr. Ocols post.
There is plenty honest and true in Mr. Ocols post.
Also public school teachers and administrators often call home if there is a behavioral issue. In fact, I have never worked at a public school that didnt call home after a dispute. Many (actually most) teachers also call parents in regards to grades, missing assignments, etc. Parents reactions usually differed bt private and public school students, as usually the private school parent is much more willing to talk and is more active in their student's education. But this isnt the fault of the public school.
Really. You imagine that there is no statistical difference? What are the chances of that? Without even arguing that one is higher than the other, the argument that there is no difference is highly unlikely.
"Parents reactions usually differed bt private and public school students, as usually the private school parent is much more willing to talk and is more active in their student's education. But this isnt the fault of the public school."
And so you admit that there is a difference in the parent's attitudes (and you better believe the student's as well) and you would have us believe that this doesn't carry over into the learning environment that these children find themselves in? Imagine how synergistic that classroom when it is full of kids that just don't care (and I feel sorry for the kids b/c they usually don't care b/c their parent(s) often don't care about their education or them).
"But this isnt the fault of the public school."
Teachers and Administrators may not be "to blame". But the concept of "public schools" is problematic.
We've had some authors thrown around by the pro public education crowd. How about "Dumbing us Down" by John Taylor Gatto for some enlightenment on the purpose and deficiencies of public schools.
That said, I can make a case for a private school education. As I said, you have to control for student demographics to see that public schools do a better job; if you look at the test scores without those controls, private schools generally do better, because the student population they serve is generally wealthier, with more educated parents: precisely the sort of student that's likely to do well wherever they go. Also, given their background, those kids are likely to be successful later in life whether they get a good education or not. Putting your kid in a school where he or she can network with that sort of kid may very well pay off.
But be aware what you're buying. If you're paying for private school, you're not getting a better school. You're getting better classmates.
Almost as much as the actual education itself, sometimes I think more when I consider what and who my children get exposed to.
You really shouldn't crow about how the education they receive there is better, though, because it probably isn't.
Private schools have lower standards for teachers, and their lower pay means that many of the teachers there (but by no means all) are the ones who haven't found public school jobs yet, and will leave when they manage to land one. They've been compared to public schools (in the US, but I doubt it's much different in Canada), and when controlling for student demographics, public schools do a better job.
continued...
And what exactly is the benefit of being around lower SES students day in an day out. You know, people have a way of trying to pull those around them down to their level. I just love the idea of the local lower SES drug dealing kids having daily access to the higher SES kids (who have money). Interesting dynamic there and it has application to a broader range of situations beyond drugs...
Most businesses have real goals that they must (satisfying customers IS the name of the game) meet in order to stay in business. Public schools may have to do a bunch of paperwork to satisfy the latest (and the bestest!) educational reforms, but it honestly rarely has valuable application in the classroom. Improved standards come and go - but those standards get dropped every few years b/c the laws change.