Despite a study which indicates there is little difference in performance between public schools and private schools, national Republicans are forging ahead with an educational voucher plan.
If you remember the study had been delayed by administration officials for more than a year while they searched for a way to discredit its findings. When that didn't happen (and while another study was released that echoed those findings), it was released with no publicity whatsoever from the Department of Education. Obviously, the department was not going to want this information out to the public when a big push toward vouchers was on the horizon.
The Washington Post quotes Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings as saying she has not yet read the study. If that is true, and it would seem to be highly doubtful, she should be looking for another line of work.
8 comments:
Randy,
I think the results of the study are not being reported accurately.
There were only two grades studied -- 4th and 8th -- and the study said
the 8th graders in private schools did better in reading. I don't see
how anyone can make a sweeping generalization based on those results.
The other issue I have with the way the results are being reported by
the media (and you) is that the study showed that the voucher system
was dealt a blow because of this research. The voucher system is to
create competition in schools, not just to pay for kids to go to private school.
Right now, parents either pay for their kids to go to private school, or
they send their kids to the government-run public schools for free.
Vouchers are meant to give the parents who don't want their children
learning about the world from public school union members a chance to
send their kids somewhere else. If the parents could choose between
public and private school, and pay the same amount, which would they
choose? The public school system by its nature would be slow to react
to increased competition, and many children would move to private
schools, regardless of the results of this study you've been
highlighting for a week now. Do you give your students these facts, or
do you simply repeat what the papers say?
If the private schools are saviors of education as they are so widely touted by voucher proponents, they should have finished far ahead of the public schools in this study. There are good private schools, average private schools, and bad private schools, just like public schools. People should have the option to put their kids in private schools if they wish, but taxpayer money should go to public schools, a large majority of which are doing an excellent job. Most of the public schools which have had major problems are in rundown areas of major cities, and the solutions to that problem are not going to be easy and definitely go far beyond the simplistic "give them a choice" argument.
Come on, Randy, even your fellow teachers who have taught at both will tell you private schools are better. They actually make kids behave in class and the parents involved are generally supportive.
That's not the case in public schools where adminstration treats kids like they own the place.
See what percentage of the Joplin High School grads went on to college over the past 10 years, then compare that to any and all of the private schools in town. You know how this story ends.
Randy,
It’s disturbing when a public school teacher says things like “the study was delayed by administration officials for more than a year while they searched for a way to discredit its findings.” Hopefully you don’t teach the students in your class to presume things like this when developing their opinions. The study may not be getting much news because it really doesn’t say much. Read the summary. Private schools scored way better in both math and reading than public schools. Sure there are some caveats, like when you adjust for the number of people in the school on welfare, the schools balance out. How many people are there in private school now who are on welfare? Once those students do have a chance to go to private schools (with vouchers), this type of study may be a lot more meaningful. After reading it, I can’t see its value, and I certainly don’t see why you are highlighting it. Choice in schools (vouchers) would allow parents who can’t afford to send their kids to private school now to do so with taxpayer money. When there’s a mass of students leaving the public schools to go and actually learn at a school that is willing to actually teach (competition causes that), the public schools will get the message, and change their ways.
If there is a voucher system implemented........then the private schools need to follow all of the idiotic and rediculous bureaucratic policies and rules that public schools face. (including NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND!)
To the person who said...."See what percentage of the Joplin High School grads went on to college over the past 10 years, then compare that to any and all of the private schools in town. You know how this story ends."
Public schools educate the rich, poor, lazy, motivated, special needs, gifted, EVERYONE. We don't discriminate because you can not pay tuition. The last I checked, Thomas Jefferson DOES NOT offer special classes for those students who are special needs. Pretty sad! Yeah, the educate the elite and the rich. Sure, mommy and daddy can send all of your snobby butts to college, which is why you have so many going to college. Just remember, you are a minority. The majority of Joplin is not rich!!!
Several items in the past few comments deserve a response. First, this blog is news and commentary. It has always been labeled as such. Most of my readers don't have any problem with it because I am not trying to fool them into thinking it is something else. Plus, they are intelligent enough to figure out which is which.
The comment about the number of students who graduate from private schools and go on to colleges is absolutely on the money. However, it is no stretch to claim that all of these students would have graduated and gone on to college even if they had attended private schools. Remember, these are children with parents who obviously do consider education to be important. Thomas Jefferson, for instance, has always placed an ad in the Globe showing where all of its graduates are going for their post-secondary education. That's great, and I am sure their education was excellent, but those children would succeed if they were in the public schools because they have backing at home.
Private schools have a major advantage when it comes to disciplinary issues. They are dealing with children whose parents are paying for them to attend there. If they are kicked out, that is money down the drain. Plus, it gives the parents an added incentive to work with school officials to correct the problem. Public school administrators have more occasions in which they have to deal with the real world, parents who not only are not going to back them in any discipline they hand out, but who often are being disciplined themselves, by our judicial system.
Private schools fill a need in society, but for the most part they have been insulated from society's problems. Public school teachers have to deal with them every day.
One more comment: Public schools not only are successful at teaching students whose parents take an interest in their children's education, but the teachers I have worked with do a remarkable job of reaching students who do not have a support system at home and helping them to succeed.
I will repeat what I have said before: As long as our elected officials continue to use education as a scapegoat and target all programs at only what goes on inside of the schools, the problems will not be solved.
Problems do exist in the schools, but the education problem is a societal problem. You do not solve it, until you make headway on eliminating poverty, violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and the other problems that exist in today's society.
As long as those problems exist, No Child Left Behind will remain a fantasy.
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