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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (218381)2/14/2007 11:00:48 AM
From: epicure  Read Replies (1) of 281500
 
Depends where you live, doesn't it?

Most people surveyed about their local public school are happy with it. Most people are happy even with low achievement.

"Four out of five parents of eighth grade students in public schools and nine out of ten parents of eighth grade students in private schools agreed that their child's school was doing a good job of preparing students for high school. "

I don't think we need a special new program to create another bureaucracy and spend more money on private schools (I know, I know- vouchers won't cost "more"... bull)

"The paradox of high parental satisfaction in the face of evidence of poor student performance suggests that most parents have no common standard against which they can judge their own children's achievement. We found that while parents whose children are not doing well in math (as measured by the NELS:88 achievement tests) are somewhat less satisfied with their children's schools than are parents whose children are doing well, a majority still believe that their children's schools are doing a good job of preparing students for high school and college:

75 percent of parents of the lowest achieving students on the math test believed that their children's schools were doing a good job of preparing students for high school.

61 percent of parents believed that the schools were doing a good job of preparing students for college.
This pattern is true for both public and private schools. In fact, a greater percentage of the parents of the lowest achieving private school students believe that the school is preparing students well for college (70 percent vs. 60 percent). "

I think the solution to the poorest performing schools is to educate the parents as well as the children. Where you cannot educate the parents, you must supplement the child to make up for the lousy parent, or you will end up with a replication of the parent. That kind of intervention costs money, but it's probably worth it- since you have a shot at breaking the cycle of poverty. Vouchers would not only syphon off money from the worst public schools, but it would also syphon off any desire to fix them, and they certainly can be fixed.

There are experiments running in schools all over this country. I've read about several exciting new tactics.

Our society is fractured enough as it is. Weakening public education would make our fractures even worse- but then some people don't mind that, or even welcome such fractures in the society. I do not.

ed.gov
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