[sphinx]

Your #7 nails it. The liberal elites abandoned urban public schools long ago. They themselves have fled to upscale suburbs where the public schools are screened by mortgage payment, or to private schools. And they continue to oppose almost everything that would actually make a difference in the battleground schools that they've left behind. There are dedicated teachers in those schools who work miracles and salvage some of the kids, but the system conspires against them. Here and there, a charter gets the formula right and succeeds, usually because it has dynamic leadership that is able to fight off interference from downtown and keep everyone focused on the mission. The challenge is replicating these scattered success stories. The record is not good.

And it continues to be the case that the best bet for kids in the tough neighborhoods is the local parochial school, if the parent(s) can scrape together the tuition or if they can get scholarshipped. The parochial schools have some inherent advantages. They can fire teachers who don't cut it in the classroom. They maintain clear standards of conduct from day one, and train the kids consistently from the earliest grades. They can expel chronic troublemakers. They don't try to mainstream severely learning-disabled kids. Public schools could and should do these things. They don't. That's a governance issue, and until public schools change, they will continue to fail in the really tough neighborhoods where kids aren't getting discipline and support at home.

[Vlad The Inhaler]

Thanks - Great post.

Very well said.

[eartick]

if the parent(s) can scrape together the tuition

Yeah everyone is blaming the school system for the failure and no one is blaming the gimme dat tribe welfare hustling parent(s)(like you put it but more than likely parent). They are the failures here.

They hatch them but do not raise them or even try to educate them at home and they damn sure would not try to "scrape" together tuition to send them to a private school. They would wait on you and me to GIVE it to them. You knew that right?

[bgill]

The problem started at home. There’s no father figure. Mama brings in a new “uncle” every other week who beats the kids when he’s not servicing mama or getting high. By the time the school gets them, they’re nothing but rabid animals with no hope of ever changing. Any parent worth their beans would have packed up and moved out of the hell hole. No, I don’t want to hear, “but, but we can’t move!” Horse hockey. There’s government freebies all across the nation.

[kosciusko51]

In light of the discussion about homeschooling and private schooling, a ping to this article. Please check posts #7 and #19.