so, this began as a "comment" and got waaay too out of control and long, waaay too quick. most definitely file this one under "fire it up."
first, let me start by saying that decisions in regards to educational policy are some of the most important AND difficult ones executives are forced to make. that said, rarely do they come out "right." as we know, it is nearly impossible to make a decision that benefits all. it is ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE to make decisions which make everyone happy.
second, i don't know much about the chicago public school system, but i do know the issues facing public schools and urban school districts. the bigger the district, the bigger the problems (cue Notorious B.I.G's "mo' money, mo' problems). i just read the article on mr. duncan, and from what i read in about 1,000 words, he seems like a good choice.
they mentioned he won't get rid of NCLB. Duh, no one will. in total, it doesn't need to go anywhere. there are definitely portions of NCLB which are inherently flawed and are of NO benefit for students or staff...i could go on. on the converse, we NEED accountability in the public education sector and there need to be standards (they should be realistic, but that is a different blog).
third, my soap box. it goes right along with realistic standards, but get ready...
the government via NCLB says we need to work to make ALL students proficient (on grade level) by 2013. cool. show me the money. the feds created standards for teaching and learning that require major reform. reform costs money. we can't drastically change the system without training, support, improved technology, more staff, well-prepared staff, motivated staff, parent education and support, early intervening services, etc.
there was (and has been) all this talk of what teachers do wrong, how parents don't give a damn and kids are ill-prepared. there has been LITTLE to NO talk about how the government will help struggling districts. there is however, TONS of talk about how struggling districts will be sanctioned. give me a damn break. now, i ain't saying there aren't under qualified, unmotivated, trifling, need-to-retire, can't-relate-to-the-population-they-teach, collecting-a-pay-check-until-the-law-school-of-their-choice-accepts-me teachers out there. i don't know about you all, but i know some FIYAH teachers (in public schools)...which leads me to the next point...
i too, went to public schools until WU and like Kis, didn't know there was a stigma associated with going to public school. (kis, imagine the stigma when i had to answer "no" when people asked about the magnet or special program @ my school...we didn't have one, ha!) damn, everyone i knew from home went to public school. kids that went to private schools had parents who were frontin' and thought they were better than the rest of our parents. it was all good, b/c we got just as good (if not better) educations than their kids, got in waaaay less trouble and were better socialized.
i heart public ed..FOR LIFE. i am an avid supporter of pubic education, always will be. allow me to let you kids in on a little secret...Title I status, high percentages of minorities, low test scores, etc DON'T MEAN SHIT when it comes to YOUR child's achievement. here's why...the most valuable, meaningful and prosperous education comes from the home. second to that, there are PLENTY of "low-achieving" schools with phenomenal teachers. i see it EVERYDAY. third, if you are not happy with the public education system, your child's schools, or the schools in your neighborhood, don't waste your money on fleeing the scene of the crime...get of your ass and do something to change the situation. write a letter to the school board, principal, local rep; go to PTA meetings, go to school board meetings, show up in your kid's class, have lunch with a child who doesn't have that luxury, tutor at the school, i could go on...
so fuck yea, i'm sending my kids to public schools. p.s., i can always petition to send my kids to a "better" free school out of my residential zone. i pay good tax dollars for schools, so the isht ain't really free no-way.
one.
The Closet House
4 years ago
13 comments:
p.s, i REALLY need to hear from my BBGs who attended private schools pre-undergrad. thanks!
um....im a little in love with this post...
and i heart it all the way up and down, especially the part about getting involved. i think it can be hard for some parents, but that is no excuse for us (privileged-but-conscious etc, etc., etc.) because we know better. We NEED to get involved, truth be told, even if it is our private/suburbia school district, because there is guaranteed to be the same latent racism there as overt classism in the public school. So I feel that.
boogie, you really fired it up on this one.
As a public school girl until WU, my decision would depend on my situation. We have had the social class/family life discussion more times than I can count. So, I'm going to assume that your neighborhood public school was much different than my own. After attending my neighborhood school for 4 years, my family decided that it was not meeting my potential. Getting into good schools - magnet/selective enrollment/college prep programs - definitely took a lot of effort and sacrifice. Long story short - I was finally accepted into a new school, repeated a grade because of my birthday (started the other school at 4) but was also told that my test scores were not high enough to be placed in the next grade. My point - I was taught at school and at home with a family interested in my education and I was still a year behind the students in the new school. Also, I went from a school with 3 classes per grade (approx. 90 students) to a school with only 1 class per grade. There simply were not enough slots for ALL of those students to receive the type of education that I did.
I also just went through the high school selection process with my twin cousins. Knowing what I know now, I had it easy with almost automatic admission into a top public high school, I didn't even have to think about it. With them (they went to their neighborhood school in the same neighborhood I grew up in), it was a lot of work. I went through books, catalogs, showed them how to look at schools' SAT and ACT scores, talked to them about college prep versus vocational/career programs. I basically told them what schools were and were not acceptable. I just had to hope that they got in.
I say all of this to say that I'm not willing to take any chances with my own children and my cousins may be the closest I have to children of my own. If I raise children in any major city with a questionable school system, I will work my ass off to get them into the best public schools, whether it is just down the street or across town. However, if that is not an option, I will beg, borrow, or steal to get them into the best private schools.
Boogie, I feel you on most of the points in this post and I will volunteer and advocate for all kids but I will NOT take chances with my own. I know there are good and bad teachers everywhere but the reality is that there are some schools that don't prepare children to succeed. My child won't be in one of those. Also, while I will be involved in my child's education, if I wanted to write lesson plans, I would homeschool them. I have seen the best and worst teachers and I have seen excellent "honors" students heartbroken when their test scores give them a reality check. I don't want this for my child.
I know all private schools aren't the greatest either. In fact, I don't know of anyone from Chicago at WU who went to a private school. So, I'm all for public if I can work the system in my child's favor from day 1. Otherwise, whatever it takes.
Loving this blog. I think the key point that most people miss with the education of their kids is that it starts at home. I am also a public school graduate until I went to Vanderbilt. My public school got me into some of the best schools in the county and I held my own at the University of my choosing.
We have to invest in the education of our kids with time and money, which most people are not willing to do. Don't complain about the situation unless you are doing something to help it. I give props to today's educators because the good ones have to do so much and get paid so little. My mom was an educator for over 35 years and made a difference and cared which all educators should do. I wish all people who are making policies that affect our children and people who have direct care of our children much success.
Just co-signing:
One of my neos went to St. Ignatius. And anyone from HF (Homewood-Flossmoor) or Evanston Township can just go ahead and count themselves in the private school category as far as I'm concerned. In the Chi, suburban = private as far as resources, teachers credentials and net worth is concerned. So in my worldview there were folks, but I definitely think Chicago public school WU attendees way outnumbered public school folks from anywhere else. Which just makes me want to give props to the Chi. And to Nunez Mom (thanks mom). And IC's mama.... too while I'm at it.
Um, can we get a BBG with private school credentials?
daaang, ya'll have a lot to say...will read later tonight during procrastination hour. looking forward to it!
Private school gal here!
but first let me say, my private school was more parochial than Prep.
so its not like we had uniforms and AP classes... we had chapels and "banquets" instead of prom...
so my parents choice of K-12 (yep thats right, K-12) education was based on sending me to a school that mirrored very closely the Christian ideals in our home. So prayer, God, (& for the bad kids) corporal punishment were very much present.
There were good things (close knit family atmosphere, small class sizes, really great field trips) that were good, and there were things (somewhat stagnant social environment, the worlds wackest science lab, stupid legalistic dress code, some backward thinking) that were not so great...
NOW that said, I taught at a public school for 4 months during my year off... i loved the kids more than life but that environment was not teaching anyone anything... largely due to the egos and politics and scandals going on with the faculty...
sooooo where will i send my kids.... I'm kinda with crisis, it depends on where i am. I will say though that from my own experience it seems harder for a single voice to be heard in the beaurocracy of a school district. My parents got face time with my administrator, almost on demand. Thats what i value. I want to know the people making these decisions about my childrens education. more importantly, I need them to know ME, and to know that if need be--without a lot of political hoopla--they can be removed if their performance is in any way dangerous, embarrassing, of dissatisfactory.
does that make sense? I want public education to be better.. and Boogie, ALL of your points were dead on. but at the end of the day its about my kids, and if I can put them in a public school that i jive with, GREAT. If not, then private schools it is.
Maven, you know you got beat in school. Don't lie.
(sorry, i keep being unproductive in my comments.)
as fyi: im pro-public school at the end of the day. which i know means i am homeschooling my kids and firing up my local school district at the same time. but i just can't give up on it. not yet at least. and since im pro inner city living, and since i survived both, and since im about to be a professor and if i cant teach my own damn kids i have no right to teach yours---im going to go with public.
grudgingly.
because damn if these things don't need work. but hey. rome wasn't built in a day.
My comment is crazy long, so I posted a response on Tea & Such. Holla at it here or there.
@ boogie. is this like facebook where you login to say that you don't need to be on facebook? Love it.
@ kismet. I think you made my point. I won't go so far as to say suburban schools aren't public schools but I associate public schools with the schools I taught in or a crazy, limited opportunity, admission process into schools like WY. The bulk of them definitely don't prepare students for WU. I guess it goes back to the location issue commented on in the initial post. While I grew up in one of the roughest neighborhoods in the Chi, I doubt I'll live in a neighborhood like that when I have kids. Hell, I live in a pretty good neighborhood now. Thanks to Arne adding more schools like WY and the charter school movement, I'm blocks away from 2 U of C charter schools and "new" college prep HS.
@ boogie & HB where did y'all live that public schools were all that without the crazy testing/lottery admissions process? I know something better exists, it's just hard for me to imagine.
I just read T's post and realized I missed the whole homeschool thing. Kis, forreal? Homeschool? What about high school? I feel you on the teaching other kids/teaching your kids thing but you will be a Dr. of History. You can teach my kids any social science or research methods you want but if you try to teach my kids A.P. Calculus (or even geometry proofs), we might have some issues. I don't want to homeschool my kids because I would have to reteach myself everything and basically because I don't know everything. I feel like they would be limited to what I know. I want them to learn from people who know what they are doing and have a some expertise in something instead of knowing a little about everything.
IC, hmm. Good point. Homeschool is out because if Kismet is anything, she is definitely one-sided.
And none of you do science do you? Hmm. Yeah.....
ok, so the week has been hellacious...i digress...
1. @ IC, yes that is JUST like signing on to facebook to say you are not going to be around, etc.
to answer your second question, i went to my neighborhood high-school. it's your typical, inner-city, offers regular, honors and AP course high school. no magnet or IB programs, not particularly well-known for sports in any arena... for elementary my mom "camped out" for each of us to get in. it's weird how districts are zoned. my elementary school is literally 3 min driving from the house but not in our zone. my mom liked the school better, but it was also closer. score on both ends! once you're in, you're in. however, she did have to complete the process for each child. i guess we just lucked out. obviously, as we have alluded to more than once, the neighborhood in which you reside helps. but, my experience is not at all unlike any of my peers. we all went to neighborhood schools growing up. i dunno...
2. @ kis...you ain't home-schoolig NOBODY's children, esp your own. i wouldn't wish that on my worse enemy. further, i in no way think i am smart, patient, well-versed enough to educate my kids k-12 in the way i want them to be.
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