Public Schools Can’t Do It All
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/12658.html
Synopsis: The article points out four reasons why the public school system can’t do it all.
I agree with many points the author has. We’re asking our public schools to deal with every type of child and parent, be accountable for results from people who have to interest in those results, and do this all under a microscope in an extremely combative political environment.
I am not a “public school hater”, I’m for vouchers because they present a choice. I’ve been a part of “choice” systems that allowed kids to enroll at any public school but the ones with good reputations are always full. Did that really give me a choice? When I go to the store and have a choice between Brand X and Brand Y, I can be sure I will walk away with at least one of them.
We have a local K-8 charter school with a waiting list so long that it will take an enormous attrition rate for a kindergardner put on the list today to get in before he would graduate from the 8th grade. Is that a choice?
From the article:
Public schools are expected to deal with numerous social problems. Americans have a tendency to expect public schools to deal with every perceived problem that comes down the pike. As Schrag puts it, not only must the schools assimilate students from every conceivable background and experience, they are also expected to “make every child ‘proficient’ in English and math; educate the blind, the mentally handicapped and the emotionally disturbed to the same levels as all others; teach the evils of tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and premarital sex; prepare all for college; teach immigrants in their native languages; teach driver’s ed; feed lunch to poor children; entertain the community with Friday-night football and midwinter basketball; sponsor dances and fairs for the kids; and serve as the prime (and often the only) social-welfare agency for both children and parents.” (No wonder some schools have trouble meeting their educational mission.)
That has to be overwhelming. The reasons for this are political in nature: It’s never unpopular to promise to “do something”. I’ll bet teachers and administrators don’t want to deal with half the crap they’re stuck with but they’re stuck with it because of political mandate. Direct public funding comes with huge strings attached. Removing the strings is something the school choice movement is about.
“The Government” is a service agency. People are not conditioned to”work with” government agencies. You either get something from them or they do something to you. Think of every encounter you’ve had with the government. It’s been painful, maddening, took longer then it should and you were generally treated rudely the entire time.
My wife tried to visit the local elementary school just to check it out and was treated like a nut. Why would she want to check it out? Why do you want to look at the classrooms? She was given a cold, cold shoulder and left in under a half hour. As counterpoint, I enrolled my daughter into a pre-school and we were treated very well and they invited us for an open house and at no point was I ever treated poorly.
I don’t think we can engage parents unless they are required to become engaged. School choice could be one of those methods. Parents for the most part have no choice where to send their kids to school so they don’t even think about it. Having a choice would, at least, engage them up to the point they make one.