I'm sympathetic to what you're saying, but I think this is the real principle behind your school's success (and other schools like it): the school culture explicitly promoted learning and education as a value.
This is the fundamental difference between such schools and public schooling, no matter what school board members, teachers, administrators, and teacher college PhD's say to the contrary. Learning and education is not valued in the public school culture.
In non-government schools, kids are there first and foremost because their parents care enough about education to spare the money for it. Moreover, every student's place in that school is conditional: fuck up, and you're out!
There are good teachers, good students, and good books in both government and non-government schools. The fundamental difference (that makes all the difference) is the above. Promote the value of education, and the work is half done.
This will not happen in American public schools, except for rare exceptions. Government schools in America cater to discipline problem students, half-idiot students, and every half-baked educational fad that comes out of the ivory tower. Apart from the good students, good teachers, and good ideas that happen to make it in through the doors, the public schools are a dumping ground.
For what it's worth, I went through graduate school, earning an M.A. in education and currently substitute teach in several districts. I'm familiar with what goes on.
Couple points to add: 1) Fuck up and you're out doesn't always hold even in private schools. It certainly holds more often than in public schools, but I can tell about instances at the private high school I attended where students deserved expulsion, but delayed or avoided it because their parents were prominent alums. This sort of thing certainly happens in colleges too. 2) It seems that the point of public schools is to finish what is required by law and get the students out, regardless of whether any act
Your point about the student with the connected daddy is well taken. It's the same all over -- just take the sons and daughters of school board members and administrators for example. I worked in a school where the darling child of a school board member snuck out of her hotel room while on a class trip to Spain to go drinking on the beach at midnight. (This was a 16 year old, mind you.)
The teacher ended up coming under fire for not "supervising" the child properly; the child got a slap on the wrist.
In non-government schools, kids are there first and foremost because their parents care enough about education to spare the money for it.
Not only that. What we forget here is that there is no silver bullet. There always be kids who will do well coming from bad schools
and those who will do bad coming from good schools. Kids are not blank papers on which parent and society could write anything they
want. There is no such set of conditions which would always give you best results. I know it does not sound l
Religion and Schooling (Score:1, Insightful)
Re: (Score:5, Informative)
Value learning above all else! (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sympathetic to what you're saying, but I think this is the real principle behind your school's success (and other schools like it): the school culture explicitly promoted learning and education as a value.
This is the fundamental difference between such schools and public schooling, no matter what school board members, teachers, administrators, and teacher college PhD's say to the contrary. Learning and education is not valued in the public school culture.
In non-government schools, kids are there first and foremost because their parents care enough about education to spare the money for it. Moreover, every student's place in that school is conditional: fuck up, and you're out!
There are good teachers, good students, and good books in both government and non-government schools. The fundamental difference (that makes all the difference) is the above. Promote the value of education, and the work is half done.
This will not happen in American public schools, except for rare exceptions. Government schools in America cater to discipline problem students, half-idiot students, and every half-baked educational fad that comes out of the ivory tower. Apart from the good students, good teachers, and good ideas that happen to make it in through the doors, the public schools are a dumping ground.
For what it's worth, I went through graduate school, earning an M.A. in education and currently substitute teach in several districts. I'm familiar with what goes on.
Re:Value learning above all else! (Score:1)
1) Fuck up and you're out doesn't always hold even in private schools. It certainly holds more often than in public schools, but I can tell about instances at the private high school I attended where students deserved expulsion, but delayed or avoided it because their parents were prominent alums. This sort of thing certainly happens in colleges too.
2) It seems that the point of public schools is to finish what is required by law and get the students out, regardless of whether any act
Re:Value learning above all else! (Score:1)
Your point about the student with the connected daddy is well taken. It's the same all over -- just take the sons and daughters of school board members and administrators for example. I worked in a school where the darling child of a school board member snuck out of her hotel room while on a class trip to Spain to go drinking on the beach at midnight. (This was a 16 year old, mind you.)
The teacher ended up coming under fire for not "supervising" the child properly; the child got a slap on the wrist.
I
Re:Value learning above all else! (Score:1)
Not only that. What we forget here is that there is no silver bullet. There always be kids who will do well coming from bad schools and those who will do bad coming from good schools. Kids are not blank papers on which parent and society could write anything they want. There is no such set of conditions which would always give you best results. I know it does not sound l
Cross post (Score:1)
Another person made a post to the parent of this thread that supports my observation:
wcrowe's comment [slashdot.org]
(I hope cross posts aren't in poor taste!)