League of Private School Voters | Private school news, school voucher systems, and commentary

Your Child Has No Choices

Public School is Generally Meaningless to Children

On the way to our homeschool graduation rehearsal this morning, my father remarked that school was pointless. We were talking about how I breezed through school until I started working and taking all AP courses and had to actually study—but the classes that I had to study for have zero place in my life. The only thing I’ve had to use pre-calculus for, for example, was pre-calculus class. It was a complete waste of my time (as well as my teacher’s), as were many of my high school classes.

Dad and I got to talking about how education should be meaningful and relevant to each individual, based on his or her goals, talents, and interests. My father, a skilled carpenter, started apprenticing at age 15 in a dual enrollment program—but once he was finished with his general math classes, he could have went straight into a real apprenticeship by the time he was thirteen or fourteen. That’s what interested him and that’s what would have been relevant in his life.

“Why did they put me in music?” he asked me. “I hated it. By the middle of the year, I just sat outside the door every day and wasted an hour.”

Indeed. Even children who have a “choice” in electives—such as this music class versus that one, or English lit versus British—really have no choice. When you put these choices alongside the choice to, say, learn about whatever the hell you want under the sun, you begin to see how limiting it is. I would have much rather learned about first aid and CPR, fighting fires, writing comic books (a course I am offering our homeschool co-op next week), canning my own food, and so many other things rather than the things I had to spend hours on every week in school.

And the hours on things that I did enjoy in school—such as my poetry course—were usually spent waiting for classmates who didn’t like it to catch up. In a nutshell, as I told my father this morning, I spent many school days with a novel tucked under my arm, pulling it out to read after my twenty minutes of work was up.

Why not give kids real choices? You can do this by homeschooling, or even supplementing your child’s education if you can by exploring what they are really interested in. I know it can be weird and intimidating to do that when you’re not used to it, so I’ll cover a basic start-up guide in another post.

Even if you don’t care that your kids are bored or uninterested in their irrelevant studies (I hear many parents claim “If it was good enough for me, it’s good enough for my kid! Disregard, of course, arguments about secondhand smoke, spanking, sleeping on your tummy, etc.), you know that your kids are going to face some really tough choices when they’re older, from drugs to driving to sex and more. If you can’t trust them—and prepare them—with these easy choices now, how the hell do you expect them to make good decisions later?

Why Do We Have Spelling Bees?

They seem redundant—and not just because of spell-check.

We were invited to a local homeschooling spelling bee recently and we declined, since our daughter is only in kindergarten and only interested in spelling animals. That said, I think the idea of a spelling bee is sort of stupid in the first place. Sure, movies like Akeelah and the Bee are inspiring and fun to watch, but there really aren’t great jobs or opportunities for good spellers.

I suppose you could be a court reporter, or maybe an editor—but otherwise, there are so many spell check programs today that it’s sort of a moot talent. Then there’s also the fact that there really aren’t that many great competitions for young people to begin with, so why include spelling, of all things?

Sure, there are sports, but between them, academic quiz bowl, and spelling, shouldn’t there be something to include many other kids aside from the annual talent show for miscellaneous skills? Here are a few talents that I would certainly love to see celebrated:

Creativity. Let’s see who comes up with the best invention, the coolest new school policy, or something that was simply never thought of before, like Facebook. Could you imagine how many kids could come up with something incredible if provided with this opportunity?

Entrepreneurship. How about we stop banning children from opening up their own lemonade stands and instead offer them the chances to become entrepreneurs at an early age? Provide them with whatever licensing they require, as well as any needed permits or permissions, and let them have at it. They could raise money for school trips or even their own college funds (since you’ll obviously need a kidney to afford it within ten years). See who develops the best business plan, sells the most merchandise, carries out the best marketing plan, or is simply the most creative new businessperson.

Techy Skills. Aside from the ones listed above, how about who can create the most innovative technical programs, html coding, web sites for schools or nonprofit organizations, or other technological advances? This could even be used as a part of a school volunteer project, like web services for a nursing center or hospice.

Automotive, electric, plumbing, and other skills. These are simply not recognized enough when so many kids have an aptitude for them! In fact, these should be required classes for children in the first place. My dad won the golden nail award in his carpentry program, and I think this should be available for schools as well.

The World Doesn’t Revolve Around School

Three percent or more of this country’s kids don’t even go.

Every time I turn around, there’s some obnoxious campaign or another to get people to buy things that uses their children—and their children’s schools—as a marketing device. It’s nothing new; I remember soda companies giving our school free book covers and such in order to market to us when I was in high school, as well as donating a portion of all of the soda we purchased back to the school for hosting the lucrative machines in the first place. Yay health! Yay school!

Since I know this is a marketing ploy, I guess I should just be happy that we are kept out of it because of our homeschooling, but I can’t help but feel like these businesses can do better. Today on the radio, I heard some promotion about winning a visit from a renowned hockey player (whom I’ve never heard of) to your school. With a couple million kids homeschooling—and likely much more than that, since many aren’t even counted—I think that such an offer wouldn’t be very tempting to a lot of families.

And that’s not a big deal, but what about stupid discounts for having report card A’s? Rewards fail, as Alfie Kohn has written about over and over again, for one thing—and grades are a product of a failed system as well. How about rewarding kids just for being kids (like Chuck E. Cheese!) and just giving them free rentals for, say, Celebrating Being a Kid Day, or Wild Kid Weekend, where games are half price? Surely these are more inclusive than such promotions—and when I was a kid who made straight A’s, I can tell you that I never used such things, either. When I received such “rewards,” I usually rolled my eyes and stuck my nose back into my book. None of these people knew me, and they were often rewarding me for something that simply came naturally due to my superior powers of memorization—having nothing to do with intellect, hard work, or even learning. And students who didn’t have these things come to them naturally were often punished just for not being “smart” the way a teacher desired, even though they were wildly intelligent otherwise

Of course, at the time, I didn’t think of it at this depth; I simply thought it lame. And I’m sure many other kids still do, too. So why not nix the school promos and instead focus on the children themselves? After all, how many times do we grown-ups get invited to complete a sweepstakes with the possible reward being shared with people at work?

Picking a State Private School

When families are searching for the best private institution in which to enroll their children, research, school visits and discussions with families currently enrolled at your prospective choices are key.

Begin by making a list of the schools and calling to request that they send you informational or enrollment packets. (Some schools will require you pick these up in person.).

Make a spreadsheet for comparing data such as graduation rates, cost of tuition, ratio of teachers to students, hours spent on actual curriculum, extracurricular options and related costs, distance from home, and special course offerings -- particularly advanced placement ones.

If the school packets lack any of this information, school data and statistics are generally available online on the website for your state's Department of Education.

Once you determine what top three schools look best on paper, it's time for an grounds inspection. Call the principal and arrange to not only tour the school but to sit in on some classes. Come with a pre-written list of questions on everything from the school's technology offerings to discipline styles. Ask about elective courses, clubs and field trips for student enrichment. Some private schools do not have sports teams; if this is a deal breaker for your child, it needs to be discussed. Many private schools work out partnerships with nearby public schools, which might allow private students to join their teams.

Be sure to take you child to this meeting. Surprisingly, some parents elect to tour alone. You'll want your child's honest first impressions to determine whether they will feel comfortable in the chosen environment.

Private schools come with an array of benefits, including better instruction, better trained teachers, and learning strategies modeled after best practices from across the nation.

Public School Devils & Private School Saviors?

The private school atmosphere is being tainted by the savior burden thrust upon it by failing public schools.

Society no longer esteems private education as a sacrifice parents make to afford their children the opportunity for high-caliber training. Instead, it’s viewed as a dumping ground and rescue mission for students escaping failing school districts.

This is not good for two reasons.

1) Legislators are spending more time creating policies to give students an “out,” so they can transfer from public schools to private education without paying. This, in essence, absolves public schools of the responsibility to immediately improve. Politicians should be taking over these schools and forcing them to become viable learning centers -- not trying to get private schools to play pinch-hitter.

2) The pressure is put on private schools to adapt to the social stresses of acclimating to students who likely have not been taught proper study habits, discipline or work ethic from by their subpar public school districts.

I know there are valuable public schools that do a good job producing intelligent, successful students, so don’t take this as a slam against public schools.

Students from successful public schools aren’t the ones trying to get vouchers to a private school haven. This is indeed a slam against abysmal public schools grooming children who can’t pass standardized tests and whose class graduation rates hover below 60 percent. Take this also as a slam against politicians like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who is constantly using public money to pay for students from those schools to get a private education. Christie this week announced a so-called “urban private school bill” that will give scholarships to students in failing public schools so they can IMMEDIATELY transfer to private institutions.

That does not solve the main problem, Christie! It just avoids it.

Are private, for-profit colleges really the way to go?

Small privately-owned colleges are fleecing students, offering few results.

With Americans looking to save money, many high school seniors will be eyeing public colleges rather than private ones – unless, of course, the private college is one of those new fangled for-profit institutions and the student has a dubious academic record.

Private, for-profit schools have been doing well despite the recession because they offer miracle enrollment to students whose dossiers may not make them prime candidates for more challenging and mainstream private or public schools. Damaging data just released on how poorly graduates of these schools fare, however, will likely put a damper on enrollment.

You’ve seen them: the colleges with the quaint, inspiration names, located sometimes in a strip mall or business complex. (Think University of Phoenix). Often, they only exist online. They specialize in certain trades and target students who are non-traditional and not likely to be accepted elsewhere due to academic deficiencies or too much time out of the academic loop.

They charge high costs and promise smaller, more convenient classes, more helpful professors, and often accelerated completion of degree programs.

Those promises don’t seem to be resulting in graduate success, however. Label me not surprised.

This week, the Huffington Post circulated statistics just released from the National Bureau of Economic Research; they reveal that students who graduate from for-profit, private and public colleges fare less well in the marketplace and are more overwhelmed by student loans.

It’s a given, that they’ll owe more money than they can easily pay back after graduating from these over-priced, mediocre colleges, so that part of the data is not surprising. What is surprising however (well, not really), is that the study, conducted by Harvard analysts, confirmed our long-held suspicions that graduates of private, for-profit universities are hired less and, when hired, are paid much less.

I’m stressed out just researching this. I can’t imagine how people enrolled in these colleges must feel. I’ve always wondered if employers held degrees from these private sector, for-profit colleges in high esteem. Turns out, most don’t.

Charter Schools blur the line between private and public schools.

Private school freedoms enjoyed at too much of a public cost.

Charter schools continue to expand across the U.S., offering a free alternative to people who want private schools, but can’t afford them. Should tax dollars, however, be financing these often experimental learning facilities?

In the year 2000, just 340,000 American students were being serviced by charter schools. Now, that number has mushroomed to surpass 1.4 million students, according to the National Center of Educational Statistics. The trend shows no sign of slowing.

In New Jersey, educators worry that the growing number of charter schools could threaten public school budgets. When students leave public schools to join a charter institution, tax monies follow them.

I think it’s fabulous for parents and students to have a variety of academic options. I do, however, question the diversion of taxpayer dollars to schools over which the public have no say. Private companies run charter schools, hiring whomever they wish and following whatever curriculum they choose. Great, enjoy that freedom to innovate and find new avenues for improving student achievement -- but find your own finances and stop pilfering tax dollars.

Private schools for years have had to rely on tuition, grants and donors to remain open. If they lacked funds for to pay teachers and operate, they closed. Not so with charters. They get public money all the while getting excused from following public mandates. I don’t think private schools should be just an option for the wealthy, so I like that anyone can go to a charter school free of charge – but what will be the future of public schools? What happens when they lose so much money to charter school rivals that they can’t survive?

Right now, I’m glad Wisconsin legislators closed out the year 2011 without creating a state body to authorize charter school expansion. We’ve got enough. Now, let’s find a way for them to survive through donations so they can be self-sufficient without taking money from already financially distressed public school districts. Homeschooling moms and traditional private schools find a way to make it on their own -- and so should the increasingly beloved charter schools.

(Photo: Parents and teachers protesting charter schools. Credit: Edwize.org)

Using Art to Build Bridges in the Classroom

There are many reasons to object when art programs are cut in schools. The arts have a long history of being beneficial to children and people in general, from helping them develop skills and become critical and creative thinkers to providing them with an outlet for self-expression and emotional release. There’s a reason art therapy is so popular in hospitals; perhaps utilizing it regularly within the classroom would prove to be just as beneficial, if not more so, to children.

When I taught at-risk children in Spain during a semester of student teaching, I was appalled at the level of prejudice within the school. It was no different from an American school in this regard; I had simply not expected it, particularly from the teachers. I thought teachers were supposed to be tolerant. Some of the ones I met, however, thought that Romany children were the scum of the earth.

The children within the classrooms had similar views. Though the two teachers I was mentored by supported them wholeheartedly, Romany children were treated quite poorly overall and not expected to succeed. Immigrant children had similar situations, as did generally poor kids. These children often did not get along well with one another, either.

One thing I did find that allowed them to connect with one another was art—or graffiti, really. One Romany boy (who identified himself as Gypsy; most of the kids did) absolutely loved graffiti. He also happened to hate a new Chinese boy in his class—who, in turn, hated him back. Talking to these two in my muddy Spanish was difficult enough without attempting to teach them tolerance with my silly accent!

So I turned to art. Both boys were fascinated with some of the symbols I drew. I introduced them to the peace sign, among other things, and as they practiced sketching graphite animals and symbols on their paper—which were easily integrated into our vocabulary and fraction lessons—they bonded over their shared interest.

It’s possible that some of the symbols they drew were not appropriate and I simply wasn’t aware of it due to my Western ignorance. Who knows? They might have even insulted me! I really don’t care, though. The way they shared their art and exclaimed over how well they each did with each new drawing, and how eager they were to share it with me as a team—both smiling so proudly!—would have been worth being made the butt of a joke.

As an exchange student, one boy was strictly in my resource class, and the other was in a regular classroom; I don’t think they had much interaction elsewhere. If they did, and it wasn’t positive, you wouldn’t have known it.

Sure, you can devise an entire lesson plan or curriculum around art that supports tolerance; you can even search dozens of such activities here. And that is wonderful! But simply using art for art’s sake can also create a huge impact in the way we relate to one another, as well as how we treat each other.

Mommy Snubbery

I am coming to terms with the fact that I’ve been snubbed by a fellow homeschooling mom. I’m not sure why, but it hurts a bit because I thought we connected and that our kids would play together really well. My daughter really enjoyed playing with her children, and she is so knowledgeable and experienced that I was hoping to learn a lot from her.

We are both unschoolers, so that was really exciting; most other homeschoolers that you meet follow a set curriculum, and many think you’re weird if you don’t. This mom told me, “What’s the point of homeschooling if you’re just going to do exactly what the schools do at home?” and I was like, “Right on!” She also sort of homesteads, something I am really interested in, and I don’t really know anyone else who does that, either.

She hasn’t answered my emails, and when I left a comment on her blog (just about a post—not about ignoring me) she deleted it. I’m at a loss; I’m not sure what I did. Maybe she sensed that I wanted to sort of shadow her and she’s way too busy for that sort of thing! Maybe she knows we’re very different, too; she has a lot of children and I only have one, for example (though I cannot have more, I do support adoption), and she likes traditional family roles while my husband and I are pretty much into co-everything. Even so, I would hope that she could just tell me that she doesn’t want to hang out or have play dates; I’d rather know than simply be left confused and ignored.

It sounds so junior high, right? Still, I’ve heard stories about mommy snubbery (I am coining the phrase right now) before, but I’ve never put much stock in them. How silly, I would think. I just chalked it up to the stuff of movies (such as Kate Winslet’s character in Little Children). Now that I’m on the receiving end, however, I have to wonder what’s going on. Maybe it’s in my head; maybe she missed my e-mail and my comment was eaten (it happens—infrequently, but it happens). Maybe she’s just super duper busy; she does have a big family. Either way, I’m still young enough to be learning to deal with situations like this as an adult—to not take them personally, and especially to not look at them as signs of failure. Some people just don’t click; so you shrug and move on, right?

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