I'll get on my soapbox. It is a pet peeve. People tend to talk of all public schools as being the same, all private, parochial, or charter schools as being the same for their type. That's not been my experience. I had a kid in a private school for three years, but when he tested "Gifted" we moved him to a public school for the special programs for "Gifted and Talented" kids. This was in Metairie Louisiana, outside of New Orleans The private schools did not have those enrichment programs, one nearby public elementary school did. When it was time for the younger boys to start school we moved to get in that school district. The Middle and High Schools also had Gifted/Talented programs. So my kids went to public schools. All three were in the Gifted/Talented program. Some of their classes were relatively small with the other Gifted/Talented kids but a few were with the general school population. We got to know all the parents of the other GT kids because all those parents were active in the school, believed in education, and supported their kids. That's one reason I think the parent is the most important predictor of a kids success in school.
I found that the top students of the public school system could compete academically with the best students of the private and parochial schools and sometimes beat them. Athletically the private and parochial schools would win, they could recruit the best athletes from the playgrounds and offer scholarships, public schools could not do that. My boys were all different so they were not all on the same teams, but some were on chess teams, speech teams, and quiz bowl teams. When the schools competed in regional academic contests that public high school had students and teams that placed well. One of my sons won the state Geo Bee twice and represented Louisiana in Washington for the national contest, with Alex Trebek asking the questions. That public high school had an exceptional teacher that coached the speech team. He regularly had kids that placed in national speech competitions. One year he had one kid win one category and another kid place second in a different category in a major new York City competition. Not bad for a relatively small public school in the New Orleans area. It was not a magnet school.
Some public schools in the New Orleans area were not much more than zoos. I was in a different parish, but the New Orleans system had a magnet school where the top students went. Admission was very competitive, the kids had to test really well to get in and there was a limited capacity. That was an excellent public school academically, the rest, pretty bad. There was a lot of corruption in that system too. Being elected to that school board was a license to make money for yourself, friends, and relatives. After Katrina the school system was reworked. Now there are more "charter" and state-run schools than schools in the regular public system. I've moved away but one son and his wife are teachers in that area, one in a parochial school in Orleans Parish so I keep up to a certain point. Some of those charter schools are doing pretty well, some are as bad as the public schools were. Some of that is the "charter", what are they trying to do. That does make a big difference. Skimming off the best students and not taking the problem kids is a major reason others are doing well. I have nothing against charter schools some are great, but try to do an apples to apples comparison instead of taking the best and comparing them to the public schools. I know, that takes work and doesn't make for good sound bites for some politicians.
In general, the public schools in the area (depends on the system) pay more than most of the private and parochial schools. The teaching conditions in the private schools are generally the best because they generally have students from parents that care about their kids education plus they get rid if the worst of the problem kids. The elite private schools pay pretty well, but some don't. Teaching conditions in the public schools are usually not great, though some public schools are better than others.
The public schools my boys went to had their share of failures. That was one of the big differences in the public and all the other schools. If the private or parochial schools had a kid that was a problem, they would kick them out. After they were kicked out of a couple, the public schools were their only option. So the public schools wound up with the kids whose parents didn't care about their education or the rejects from the private/parochial schools. Getting the problems kids kicked out of a public school was a long involved process. I'm not talking about just expelling them for a while, I'm talking about totally kicking them out. It's a serious step, it should not be easy, but I wish they could speed it up.
Another somewhat separate but related rant. America is known as the land of opportunity for everyone. This does not guarantee success, I don't believe you can have success unless you also have the opportunity to fail, but it means everyone has a level playing field. When we were settling the frontier, one of the signs that a community had a chance to make it was that they had a school.
One way elitist regimes have maintained control is to only educate certain people and keep the masses uneducated. In the middle ages, only royalty and clergy were educated. The rest were to be serfs and servants. Today in certain dictatorial governments controlling who gets educated is a way to hang onto power. It’s no surprise certain dictatorial systems go after the educated when they come into power and want the masses uneducated. The threat to their rule is going to come from the educated.
This is why I don’t want the public school system to be abandoned. Every kid deserves that opportunity. Most of them will not take advantage of that opportunity, but some will. Some kids have that spark inside them that they will succeed if given any chance. Even most of the ones that don’t will pick up something so most are better off. Some parents that really want their kids to get an education can’t afford to move to a good school district or to pay for them to go to a private school. I have nothing against vouchers if they are used to give these kids a chance and are not just a way to help defer the costs for those that have the money to send their kids to better schools anyway.
I have nothing against private, parochial, or charter schools. They have their places. I’d like to see certain kids in those military boot camp type of schools, it will help some of them. As hard as it is in some areas, I think abandoning the public schools and not trying to make an education possible for every American kid is un-American. It goes against our history and traditions. To me, it threatens our freedom.
Socialization is the best part about homeschooling!! Certainly you don't really believe that children who are confined the majority of their day to the herd mentality of their peer age group come into adulthood properly socialized? Last time I checked, a public school building is not a microcosm of the diversity of people and experiences there are to be found in the real world. I've told you before and I'll repeat it again, we don't put them in a box and sit on it. Between sports, church, 4-H, the playground, interaction with people of all ages, cousins, all the kiddos in the neighborhood, etc., they get plenty of socialization with as many diverse people groups and personality types as there possibly are to be found in our community. Oh yes, there are bullies everywhere you go. (Even on garden forums.)
