“Baloney. A lot of good kids graduate public school well-prepared for college and make something of themselves. You just don’t hear about them, and no one trumpets “ANOTHER REASON TO PUBLIC SCHOOL” whenever something goes right.”
I’ll match your “baloney” and raise you.
Given the incredible amount of resources that are poured into the government schools, I should hope that they would occasionally graduate a child who is well prepared for college and who will make something of themselves. If I understand your argument correctly, it is not enough that we pay a King’s ransom for the services that the government schools provide, we should also provide additional resources and make additional efforts to laud the government schools them when they actually accomplish their job? Are you suggesting a national holiday perhaps?
I take it as a given that those who are being paid to provide a service will actually provide a quality service on a more or less consistent basis. That’s not something to celebrate, it’s a basic expectation. If I go into a restaurant and pay for a hamburger, I would reasonably expect that I receive a cooked hamburger. With the government schools, their job is to provide educational services. That those students actually go onto to be well prepared for college is what they’re supposed to do.
Unfortunately, as this article indicates, the high school students who do go on to college, which are not all high school graduates I should hasten to add, are not particularly well prepared. The colleges are and have been forced to provide remedial education because the high school graduates that they receive don’t have the basic math or literary skills to succeed in college.
But let’s not focus our scrutiny merely on the high end of the scale; the kids who graduate government high schools and go on to college. Let’s also take a look at the other end of the scale: the kids who don’t graduate high school at all. There are all sorts of ways of cooking the dropout statistics, but I’ll use the relatively positive NCES statistic regarding 18-24 year olds who have either graduated high school or obtained a GED. About 15% of 18-24 year olds have neither a diploma nor a GED. Are you going to argue that we should celebrate that the rate isn’t 30%? To expand my restaurant analogy further, do you honestly believe that a restaurant who failed 15% of the time would still remain in business? And remember, the NCES statistic is positively skewed as it includes those students who didn’t actually graduate High School, but who received a GED at a later time.
I do think you’re correct on one point, though. I think you’ve identified the need for a new pinglist on FR, and I urge you to go ahead and start it. I’ve noticed that there are plenty of FReepers who are dependent on the government schools for their subsidized day care services. And there are others who seem to have a burning desire to act as apologists for the NEA. They need and deserve their own pinglist.
Ever examine where all the money goes? A large part of it goes to special education - paying to educate those who are, in many cases, almost uneducatable, hoping to make them at least able to function independently.
we should also provide additional resources and make additional efforts to laud the government schools them when they actually accomplish their job? Are you suggesting a national holiday perhaps?
Strawman argument.
Unfortunately, as this article indicates, the high school students who do go on to college, which are not all high school graduates I should hasten to add, are not particularly well prepared. The colleges are and have been forced to provide remedial education because the high school graduates that they receive don’t have the basic math or literary skills to succeed in college. But let’s not focus our scrutiny merely on the high end of the scale; the kids who graduate government high schools and go on to college
That's not the "High end." The "high end" would be the geniuses, the prodigies, and the well-educated but merely smart (who, I can assure you, need no remedial education).
Here's what I'm saying - and I'll use small words so you can understand. Public education does not always work - there are a lot of struggling schools, and a lot of very good schools. It does homeschoolers no good to paint all public schools with the same brush, and every time a failing public school comes to attention use that as an argument against public education in general. Instead, individual parents should examine their own circumstances - are the schools around them very good? Can they afford private schools? Do they have the time, abilities, and inclination to educate the children themselves? There are three good options facing every parent - homeschool, private school, and public school. That decision is an individual one - and you should never second-guess a parent who made his decision.