Why One Woman Says Sending Your Kid To Private School Is Evil 1255
theodp writes "Slate's Allison Benedikt is ruffling some feathers with her recent manifesto, If You Send Your Kid to Private School, You Are a Bad Person. 'Not bad like murderer bad,' Benedikt writes, 'but bad like ruining-one-of-our-nation's-most-essential-institutions-in-order-to-get-what's-best-for-your-kid bad. So, pretty bad.' If your local school stinks and you send your child there, Benedikt explains, 'I bet you are going to do everything within your power to make it better.'"
Re:If I... (Score:1, Informative)
As opposed to *all* public government bodies using money unwisely, virtually universally to the point of committing outright fraud.
I guess you've never been near actual government. Let me assure you that "outright fraud" is generally considered good, and the punishments are for getting caught.
Yes I know you won't believe me :)
Gates, Obama, Damon on Opting Out of P.S. (Score:5, Informative)
Bill Gates [boston.com]: " If they [my children] had to go to a general inner-city school, I would do anything I could to avoid that being the case, because as a parent, I particularly see the potential in my kids that that wouldn't unleash," Gates said.
President Obama [washingtonpost.com]: President Obama reopened Monday what is often a sore subject in Washington, saying that his daughters could not obtain from D.C. public schools the academic experience they receive at the private Sidwell Friends School.
Matt Damon [time.com]: Damon told the Guardian there were no longer public schools progressive enough for his family so private was the only choice in their new home of Los Angeles.
Re:If I... (Score:3, Informative)
You can vote for a new school board. Volunteer to help their election campaign. Or run for election yourself. You actually have MORE voice there than with a private school, where losing 1 customer is quite frankly not a big deal.
Well, considering that the last school board election was decided by more than one vote, my voting would have made no difference. Sure, I could run myself, but I'd be running against some academia type who has the backing of the teacher's union, which make up the bulk of the school board voters anyway, because he/she won't make the teachers accountable. (I support vouchers and would never get elected) And even if I could start a campaign to elect school board members who would make schools and teachers accountable, how many years would my child have to go to a sub-standard school while my campaign gains traction, gets the right people elected, and positive changes can be proposed, approved and implemented?
Or, I can send my daughter to the school that I choose today, knowing that she'll have an incredible advantage over all those poor minority kids with parents that can't afford to send their kids to private school.
It's true; Finland outperforms the USA (Score:5, Informative)
There are no private schools in Finland. Turns out, when you make the kids of the rich and powerful go to the same schools as everybody else, those schools turn out to be decent. Here's an article on how Finland outperforms the USA in education [theatlantic.com].
Re:Oh, really? (Score:5, Informative)
I'm a public school teacher, and I see some of the issues you address above on a regular basis. However, that is not the norm. Teachers do NOT try to create passive cattle. Most teachers work hard to teach students to be independent thinkers, while they go home to households that don't care about their education, don't push their kids to be more than obedient, and don't help find the children the support they need to prosper.
Are there terrible teachers? Yes. Should we fire them? Yes. They are not though the norm. Think of any professional environment and the slackers that do as little as possible. We all have those losers.
We also have to quit thinking of schools as external from our society. We need to see them as a part of a larger whole. We can escape blame that way, but it isn't accurate or beneficial. Do you know who your local school reps are? Have you spoken to them? Have you raised a voice that asks for more accountability or initiative from the students, teachers, and administrators?
Of all political bodies, school boards are the most local and relatively responsive to community input.
We have serious problems with our public schools, but I believe educating our children is essential for a functioning society; it is more so for a democracy. Let's not throw out the system because it has flaws. Let's work together to fix them.
Start locally.
Re:Oh, really? (Score:5, Informative)
Fascism = totalitarianism + racial superiority complex.
Fascism is a system of government in which a dictator controls military, industry and commerce (and whatever other aspects of his nation that happens to become important to him), and takes tyrannical measures to maintain his control. Racism is often used as a tool, but is not necessarily a required quality for something to be "fascist". Fascist regime is necessarily Totalitarian, but a Totalitarian regime is not necessarily Fascist. Therefore, your formula should read:
Fascism = totalitarianism + dictatorship
Now, a Communist system is not necessarily Totalitarian, but Totalitarianism becomes the method of choice for maintaining Communism when a meaningful portion of the population does not wish to be under Communist rule. I suppose there may be some other way to enforce Communism on a large scale, but I don't know what that might be.
Re:not applicable in Hong Kong (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Oh, really? (Score:4, Informative)
Socialism won't fix bad parents, no matter how much of other people's money you give them.
Money isn't the biggest problem, behavior is. More money for bad schools could help, but it won't fix parents. Poverty is more than lack of money, it is an ethos which is pernicious. It tells kids they can never get ahead. Giving out more money won't fix that problem, it won't instill a work ethic. The generations of families on assistance is testament to that.
That said, the U.S does a poor job of lifting those that have a good work ethic out of poverty. The Democrats are in thrall of the teachers unions, so it is impossible to fix bad schools from that direction. The Republicans figure if you aren't rich, it is your own damn fault, so we cannot expect any help from that direction.
Re:Oh, really? (Score:4, Informative)
Most of education outcome is more correlated with the parent's money than anything else.
Ummm.... no. Dead wrong. Show me your citation. Everything I've read says that education outcome correlates much more with parent involvement than with household wealth or any other factor.
Re:In Depth Fisking for the time crunched: (Score:4, Informative)
His rebuttals are spot on. The slate author basically says "it may suck for your kids, and grandkids, and they wont learn as much, and you may have to ignore your religious beliefs, your child's special needs, etc.... but thats OK because its for the common good."
News flash: Individuals do not exist for the sake of society, society exists for the individual. It is NOT a parents duty to sacrifice the wellbeing of their child to on the altar of the state. I think Larry hit that point pretty square on, and the slate author has no clue.
Re:This woman is an idiot.... (Score:5, Informative)
Any belief that forcing public schools on everyone is seriously misguided. Nothing ever gets better when it's forced on people. The best schools in the world are in Finland, where a voucher system forces public schools to compete with private schools.
Uh, wrong. There are no private schools in Finland. [theguardian.com] Everyone gets the same education, and the results seem to be exactly what the author of TFA is suggesting.
Re:Oh, really? (Score:3, Informative)
The Republicans figure if you aren't rich, it is your own damn fault,
Well, the world isnt perfect, and neither is any political ideology. But at least this keeps the state where it belongs, and allows for some concept of individual liberty to exist.
Sorry if that sounds harsh, but that there are evils in the world, does not to my mind justify creating additional ones.
Re:not applicable in Hong Kong (Score:5, Informative)
Being live in Hong Kong for a considerable amount of time, I can certify what the GP said is very true... Public, directly funded schools are the HARDEST to get into (besides international schools), and produce standardized exam scores that are usually in the top 10%, more than 80% of the graduates goes to HKU, CUHK, Peking, Tsinghua or going overseas.
The second tier of schools are those that are funded by religious organizations, be it a catholic, protestant, baptist and buddhist.
The crappiest school are usually operated and funded by some local "chamber of commerce" who only get involved in education to make them appear "philanthropic".
Another thing, within Hong Kong there is no geographical restriction on which school you can apply, although spaces are usually given priority to those who live within their own district.
Re:Corollaries (Score:4, Informative)
But current events [wikipedia.org] indicate [wikipedia.org] that that way of thinking [wikipedia.org] does work out well. [wikipedia.org]
Re:If I... (Score:2, Informative)
You're posting misleading information about Social Security. Although general life expectancy was lower than 65 years old in 1930, those averages took infant mortality into account. 54% of men and 61% of women who survived to age 21 would survive to age 65 by 1940. Of that group, the average life expectancy was 13 years for men and 15 years for women.
You seem to think that if we didn't have Social Security, that people would plan for their retirement. But we've tried that experiment - before Social Security, people did not plan for their retirement. They worked until they died, or they were cared for by their children, usually daughters (who did not work).
Re: Oh, really? (Score:2, Informative)
Don't oversimplify a complex problem. In teaching, you fight a daily battle on three fronts:
1) You first need to inspire and educate students. Many who come into the classroom not wanting to learn. Doing this is what most teachers love to do and will spend untold hours to achieve.
2) Some parents try to intervene and stop you doing your job. I was once threatened by a parent for challenging a student. She was far more capable mathematically than she thought. The school couldn't afford a lawsuit and forced me to not teach her. This kind of thing happens more often than you might think.
3) Administrators who are afraid of lawsuits and funding cuts in an icreasingly hostile culture have begun to force teachers to overly document everything. I had to write paragraphs about every behaviour problem, every attempt at adapting my lesson, and every use of school support. I quickly had to spend more time doing this instead of planning my teaching.
I tried my best to fight this and get the schools I worked for to return the focus to teaching instead of appeasing abusive parents. I won awards for my teaching, but in the end the 70 hour weeks were too much. After teaching for ten years, I quit and now work as a software developer. I work less hours, have a management that supports me and I can actually spend time with my family again.
Don't compare teaching to carpentry or coding. In teaching, your tools often can get in the way, parents can interfere, students are dynamic, and administrators are generally unsupportive.
I also earn more as a software developer now. I almost would steer people away from teaching who can earn more somewhere else. Don't say money isn't a factor when it definitely is.
Re: Oh, really? (Score:4, Informative)
You clearly and your mother clearly holds the children and parents in contempt.
I honestly don't know how you got that from reading the grandparent post. What he's saying about the low-income schools reflects large bodies of research (parental involvement in education is one of the largest determining factors in academic success). That's not regarding the students or parents with contempt, it's wanting what's best for the students and realising that it requires parental support.
The private schools understand that in their bones. They know that they either deliver a top quality education that meets the standards of the parents or they're out a customer.
Complete bullshit. The big difference between private and public schools is that private schools are allowed to turn away anyone that they want and they usually have more applicants than they have room for. I went to a public school in the UK (which is roughly equivalent to a private school in the US) and they periodically expelled people (or, rather, asked them to voluntarily leave so that they didn't have the expulsion on their record). My mother worked in a state school (the equivalent of a public school in the US) and the biggest sanction that they had was a week's suspension, which the pupil treated as a week-long holiday and then the school was required to take them back (at which point they'd be a week behind). Permanent expulsion was possible in theory, but it never happened.
Private schools make it clear to pupils that it's a privilege to be there. If the parents complain or if the students are disruptive, then the parents will be invited to have a chat with the headmaster, who will politely suggest to them that their child might be happier in a different school. They'll have no problem filling the space. They usually have waiting lists and so if they need to then they'll start calling people further down and ask if they're still interested in the place. If not, then they'll just wait for the end of the academic year and let in more people.