Our family has been in a bit of a quandary lately. Our two 5 year olds attend a pre-K program at a wonderful independent school in Seattle. This is their third year at the school–for the most part, it has been their singular school experience. They love the school, we love the school for so many reasons it would take too long to enumerate. It is a school that focuses on helping children emerge as students and thinkers and embraces the idea of teaching children how to think rather than what to think. Now we face that critical decision of what to do for kindergarten and beyond. There are many drivers in this process, but for us it’s mainly two things. First, we have a desire to support and become involved in the public schools. I have always embraced the idea of walking my children to the corner to catch the big yellow school bus and being there when they return. Or even being close enough, as I was growing up, to walk them to the front door of school. And then there is the idea of being over 150k in the hole just after 2 children completing elementary school. Isn’t that why we started that 529 program for them? Oh, that’s right, that’s for college.
So like a diligent, type-A parent I began the arduous task of touring public school, registering with the school district and attending events laden with information about kindergarten. I’ve been touring schools and trying very hard to keep an open mind. I’m trying not to compare it with the school they currently attend but rather whether I think my children will continue their love of learning in the environment that I see before me. So far I have yet to strike gold. Our two neighborhood schools (the ones we “automatically” get into) did not impress us and we could not envision our children being a good “fit” there. There is a school I will tour next week that I have high hopes for but that school is an alternative school and acceptance is based solely on a lottery system. Trying to get two children past the gauntlet seems like a long shot. As we continue to navigate through this process it becomes harder and harder to stay positive. In a matter of moments going into debt seems a better prospect than the anxiety that this is producing.
So imagine my angst in flipping on the TV last night just in time to catch a 20/20 show called, “Stupid in America.” A profile on public education in America and the nasty things that are going on within it. They compared the work from some of the best public schools in America to an average school in Belgium and the results are pretty startling. I always knew there were many challenges in the public schools but assumed that being an involved parent I could plug the gaps of what they would be missing, now I’m not so sure. What the profile showed was out of control students, teachers who had no control and were just plain boring, and facilities with Olympic size swimming pools and failing grades on standardized tests. The challenges seem so large that money alone will not solve them.
And this all leaves me shaken, not stirred. We all face choices in our life, trade offs we make about what we value, what we can afford and more. I remember when I quit my very comfortable job with its very comfortable pay check to start my own business and wondering how many other choices that would force me to make. This is the first big one. I don’t regret my decision but I almost wish I wouldn’t have watched TV last night.
Posted on January 14th, 2006 by Sam
Filed under: Uncategorized
The 20/20 show sensationalized the public school experience, and was biased. Of course it showed out of control students, how newsworthy would be a view of kids sitting at their desks working? The kids were acting up on purpose and showing off as they filmed themselves. “One of the best public schools in America” - not true.
Try talking to parents from your local public school. Visit a playground near the school where parents will be hanging out while the kids play. Ask about parent involvement activites, teacher quality, class size, etc. Go to a local school board meeting - they are open to the public - get on their mailing list so you will receive mailings of the agendas of their meetings. This will give you and idea of the issues in your area.
Most of the time, private school kids have to take the same standardized tests as public school students - can you get the scores from both and compare them?
Private school is more than just the tuition - they often ask for extra money to supplement the tuition you are paying. There can be pressure to donate lots of money to fundraising activities.
Education is scary! Good Luck!
As a former public school teacher (on leave while I raise my daughter) I grapple with what to do when school days roll around. I, too, have the fantasy of sending my baby to a public school where she’ll know kids from all different socioeconomic and cultural communities, where she’ll take field trips, play four-square and tag at recess and where she’ll find inspiration. I want her to come home bursting with new ideas she’s absorbed that day, I want her to jump out of bed in the mornings, ready for more.
I’m aware of the pitfalls in the public system, the biggest of which revolve around resource allocation ($ for smaller class sizes,etc.) Private schools certainly ammend this issue, but at what costs (financially, socially, and ethically) I wonder?
I spent the last seven years working on the conversion of a large public high school into smaller schools via a grant from the Gates Foundation. The purpose of the grant was to increase rigor through developing a more personalized approach to learning where each students’ capabilities could be actualized. In essence, the theory follows the basic principles of an elementary school setting where students work with a core group of faculty and peers over time, getting to know one another and oneself very well.
In practice, while the reform work was a huge leap forward from where we’d been, I found that what continued to make the biggest difference in my students’ motivation and enthusiasm about learning was the p-factor - Parental Involvement.
The involvement I’m speaking of is not the parents who volunteered for the booster club or chaperoned dances. It’s not even the parents who hounded me for progress reports. The parents who made the biggest difference were those who talked with their kids about what happened in school that day, who read books with them, and who, themselves, loved to learn.
These parents weren’t PhDs, exectutives, or even teachers in most cases. They were readers, voters, and lovers of their children. I had one memorable encounter with a set of parents who had adopted their niece during her middle school years. She’d come to them badly damaged from years with an abusive parent. Under their love and guidance she evolved into this incredibly motivated kid, a 4.0 student, involved in stage crew, filmmaking (in my classes) and music.
At parent conferences she was eager to show her parents the projects she’d worked on in my class. And unlike most other parents, her folks said, “Oh so that’s what you were talking about when you were practicing your speech reading speed. How did you say you needed to adjust your music soundtrack to match with the timing of your pictures.” In short her parents were active listeners on a daily basis. Their participation and inquiry into her daily life made such a difference.
Whatever path you choose will be the right one as long as you continue to do what you’ve been doing (if this blog and accompanying braincandy work is any indication!) with your kids.
Thank you both for your comments. Navigating the balance between sane parenting and education is a constant challenge. I believe that as a parent you have “light bulb” moments along the way. Mine was when my 2.5 year old daughter told me she hated letters after I drilled her to death with flash cards. If we can build Braincandy products that focus on children learning to think creatively and independently we’ll consider it a success. Being smart in our culture as you both recognize is more that just being “brainy”–collaboration, emotional stability and existing in a multi-cultural world are so critical to our children’s development as leaders. Public or private, if parents care and stay involved we will cultivate those leaders together.