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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito who wrote (103682)	2/10/2009 12:52:20 PM
From: Katelew	Respond to of 542010

One of the main reasons for the growth in religious and private schools, as well as home schooling, is the fact that the public schools are in such bad shape, with overcrowding and poor facilities. This leads parents to look for alternatives. I would have to disagree with you on this. Overcrowding and poor facilities are not the overriding factors. Posh private schools have better facilities and smaller classes, but the expense of these schools is self-limiting. Also these schools have always been around and pulling a percentage of kids out of the public schools. Religious schools are actually quite bare-bone in terms of facilities. The class sizes might be a little smaller but not that much. The growth in religious schooling and home schooling has, imo, more to do with the social environment of the public schools than the crowding and the physical facilities. Significant numbers of people simply don't want their children impacted by the behaviors of their public school classmates. Kids that come to school unprepared, belligerant, and/or emotionally damaged such that they act out in class are a drag on the whole group. They sap the time and energy of the teachers. Somehow they somewhat set the tone for the entire class. Also parents have no illusions that they can fully protect their kids from self-destructive sex or drug use, but they are hoping that removing their kids from the public schools will mitigate the risk by putting their kids into a pool of kids who might have more maturity and self-control. Most kids in private academies and religious schools are coming out of two-parent homes which is generally a better home environment. Homeschooling parents often go this route simply because they can move their kids along faster. Even through junior high, most such parents can complete the necessary teaching of their kids by noontime.....leaving the rest of the day free for self-directed activities, hobbies, classes, sports, etc. All the homeschooling parents I've known have, however, also gone this route because they want their kids out of the social environment of the public school. If you want to get a feel for the environment in a public school, try substitute teaching in a cross-section of schools. Ten or twelve times should enlighten you.