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I would gladly take half of that $11,000. My kid's school costs less than $5500 until he hit high school.
It's like neither of you even read. "Hey look, somebody quoted my post. Time to parrot some more talking points."
I would gladly take half of that $11,000. My kid's school costs less than $5500 until he hit high school.
It's sad when better schools cost so much less than the government spends, isn't it.
Does the government do anything as efficient as the private sector?
"Public" school is done for. I'm sorry. It needs to be eliminated and education needs to be privatized.
You would have a point if schools spent $11k per student but they don't...the avg public school education is about $7k per year...once again....private schools do not have to follow the law like public schools do, nor do they have any type of checks like standardized testing....
Wing-nuts always want to compare the best private schools to the worst public schools...if private schools are so good then lets take the worst kids in public school put them in a private school and see if they do any better...
Then, I would glady take the $3500 because my kid's school cost that much until he started high school.
My child takes the Stanford Ap ude Tests every year. They are much harder than the TAKS tests that the public schools take. Granted, he does not have to "pass them" but they are as good or better of an indicator than what the state administers. Thankfully, his teachers never teach to these tests. They simply give them in the spring and consider them more to be an overall evaluation on how the school is performing.
No Dan. Ask for the "all funds" budget. These numbers are higher.
On a similar note, non-academic activities as a huge business
The Most Profitable College Football Teams
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1...y%20of%20Texas
yes.
military, VA, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security.
The only way to get medical costs down is a hard-core, in-their-face public health insurance option competing directly against for-profit private insurers who are draining Americans' wealth by the $100Bs/year
To be fair, the winston school costs 15k a year, and services students that public schools also must service.
...and that right there is the main problem with vouchers.....Ploto knows the value of education and being an involved parent....most poor kids don't have that....so Ploto will take his $5-$7 K voucher, add the $3-$5K he was going to spend on his child's education anyway...and send his kid to the best school possible.....now if your a teacher you can work at a school where most kids pay 5-7K or where the kids and parents pay 10-15K per year....which school will attract the best teachers? Which school will attract the teachers with less experience and training?Then, I would glady take the $3500 because my kid's school cost that much until he started high school.
Have we solved anything in education? NO.
Nor do they have any requirements or standards for their teachers...
And yet, private schools generally turn out more highly-educated students for less money. Could it be that these things you mention are actually detrimental to the performance of public schools?
Less money up front...most parents with kids in private schools pay at least $5K per year but if it's a Catholic School, the parishioners are going to pick up the rest of the tab, which generally covers operating expenses of the church and school...there are no parishioners to pick up the public school tab, although I would not be against more private advertising, especially in Cafeterias and at sporting events, to help defray costs for local tax payers...
....standardized testing is just plain loopy...most grades have so many TEKS to teach its difficult for kids to master any one concept, that's why most kids don't know their multiplication table like we did as kids, but know how to add fractions with different denominators or how to find the cir ference or area of a circle....
I think my kid's current public school is good. I thought my step-daughter's public school experience was good as well.While that is completely your prerogative, it's just not a black/white-either/or issue. There are some fabulous public schools out there. My children attend one such school system. I wouldn't, for a minute, consider pulling them out and going the private route.
Don't predispose yourself to go the private route without exploring what's available when the time comes.
I went to private school myself and comparing notes with what they went through, feel like I missed out on some of the resources and curriculum that was offered in the public school.
The one thing that the private schools will always have a leg up on the public schools in is discipline.
This is an issue we're currently struggling with. We're going to sell our house and move closer to the in-laws. They're in a better school district, so public school would be a viable option for the first time in years; but we love where they are now (it's a homeschool run by a certified former teacher). Damn these moral dilemmas.
Make the public schools perform. Get rid of teachers who don't teach, get back to the basics of education and remove the social agendas. Return control back to the communities. That would make a big difference.
WC is perfectly out of touch, with bubba-level simplistic ideas to a very complex problem with no practical chance of being implemented. WC never say an Ivory Tower he didn't view the world from.
America will never admit, in the face of facts to the contrary, that it's the Best ing Country On The Planet, but other societies have organized themselves better, and are getting verifiably better results in, eg, health care and education.
eg: Finland
==========
America's latest school report card jump-started yet another wave of panic that our students will never be able to compete on the world stage.The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s release of its annual Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, an international comparison of educational performance, placed U.S. kids in the incredibly average group.
But aside from the fear that our children won’t one day earn enough to prop up our Social Security/Medicare en lements, the report wasn’t quite a death knell for the public school system.
America’s kids didn’t flunk. Where countries like England, France and Sweden are mired in mediocrity with no signs of improvement, the U.S. posted modest gains.
What’s most interesting about the PISA report, and important for the public school reformers here to focus on, is Finland.
Finland As A Model
Once again, Finnish students topped the PISA report card, but what makes this information worth scrutinizing is that 25 years ago Finland’s school system sat in the same predicament that public schools in the U.S. find themselves now. The Finns scored below average in math and science and had alarming achievement gaps between urban and affluent schools versus poor and rural schools.
So what did the Finns do?
They began scrutinizing the education policies and practices of more successful countries, took what worked, ignored that which went against the grain and built an educational system where today there is virtually no academic difference among socio-economic groups. Children in Finland can attend school anywhere in the country and be assured of the same quality of education.
The Exact Opposite
Not surprising to me, as a former teacher, is that Finland reformed its schools and rose to the top by doing almost the exact opposite of what reformers like Secretary of State Arne Duncan and Bill Gates would have Americans believe is the only cure for our ailing schools.
Despite the differences in our countries' make-ups, (America is far more diverse and has a child poverty rate that is four times higher than Finland) they have much to teach us.
What Did Finland Do?
First, no child in Finland ever takes a standardized test. The only test a Finnish student takes is the one that determines if he/she will go on to university. In addition, standardized tests are not used to measure teaching ability or to compare schools. Parents, teachers and students assess progress and effectiveness of schools. Any comparison assessment relies on sample-based learning tests, which are low-stakes because the data is simply used in research to determine what works and what doesn’t. The Finns believe that education is a process, not a game to be won or lost.
Second, Finland put time and money into elevating the teaching profession. Parents and politicians regard teachers in the same manner they do doctors. In fact, the Finns trust schools more than any other ins ution except the police.
Teachers come into the profession with advanced degrees and they work with autonomy. Teachers are key players in determining curriculum and assessment, which might explain why the teaching profession attracts the best and brightest. After all, who wants to go into a profession where it is assumed you graduated in the bottom half of your class and couldn’t get into any other discipline at university?
Third, administrators from principals to school superintendents are all former teachers. No one is allowed to oversee the education of Finnish children in any role who hasn’t the educational training and experience. There are no exceptions. The idea that a business person or politician, who never taught, understands the learning process or should be in charge of reform would puzzle a Finn.
Fourth, Finland does not promote the idea of educating its young as a compe ion. Schools work in tandem and cooperation is the rule rather than the freakish exception. Interestingly, Shanghai – whose students bested Finland in math and science this year – also shuns the compe ive model of school reform. In Shanghai, low performing schools are paired with and mentored by high performing ones with the emphasis on sharing techniques that work. Closing schools and firing teachers is simply not a choice.
http://www.care2.com/causes/educatio...ter-than-ours/
Can Teachers Run Schools?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-va...tml?view=print
Many of them do. All 7 of my kid's teachers this year have Master's Degrees. 5 have Master's in the subject they are teaching. 1 has a Master's in Curriculum. The other one has a Bachelor's in the field she is teaching and a Master's in a different, but somewhat related field.Nor do they have any requirements or standards for their teachers...
On a private school salary that's commendable...many teachers really like to teach, but they don't like all the requirements and laws they have to meet, especially the mountain of endless paper-work....planning lessons and dealing with students/parents is time consuming enough...
....this would certainly be the exception and not the rule if schools went totally private though...
Absolutely we have solved something. It allows those right on the edge like me to send my kids to private school. I can probably do it without, but it will be difficult. I also know many who arent on the edge, but they are close and an extra 2-3k could allow them to send their kids to private school. It is opening the way for more to have a choice about which school to send their kids to.
Believe it or not, there are many poor kids whose parents DO care, but cannot provide for a better education.
Those poor (or rich, or middle class) kids whose parents do not care about their education are not going to benefit either way. There is nothing I, or you can do about that. A voucher program will allow more people to send their kids to private school, and your argument that there are people who will choose not to take advantage of it doesn't hold water.
LOL...
It's not a complex problem, it is simple. Government rules and regulations teaching to the lowest common denominator, and too many shameless teachers who only have a job because it's union. I live in the real world.
For those truly interested in the topic, this is an excellent book.
http://www.amazon.com/School-Choice-...4029685&sr=8-1
Last edited by scott; 01-02-2011 at 11:48 PM.
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