The number of private schools is, unfortunately small, and unfortunately these are not free of the same “progressive” views. The top private schools need to get their students into the most prestigious schools.” and so they aim to make them attractive to such schools. If they don’t, their clients will stop paying. The best schools are not necessarily the best schools EXCEPT they bring students in contact with the right people. At Harvard, some of the brightest kinds in the country are brought together, but they get taught by TAs. J.K. Gailbraith, for one, made no secret of the fact that he didn’t like to teach undergraduates or even graduates. For the same reason, I suppose, that Babe Ruth would not have liked coaching a college baseball team, why great players seldom make good coaches. Other schools have good scholars who do like teaching. Those are hard to find. You won’t find them listed in US News.
You're kinda wandering around in this post.
You originally said:
“No, the Catholic schools are also dominated by this. Anytime you hire a certified teacher, you get someone trained to be a public school teacher.”
What you're saying here (correct me if I'm wrong) is that the same problems that afflict public schools afflict Catholic schools because Catholic schools hire “certified teachers.” I pointed out that, at least in Maryland, private schools (Catholic and non-Catholic alike) don't have to hire folks certified to teach in public schools, and pointed to an example - my sons’ high school.
Now you're saying that the problem is not that the Catholic schools hire certified teachers but rather that there are not many private schools and thus are not free of progressive views. I think that's a bit of a non sequitur. There are, first of all, lots and lots of private schools. But it's true that enrollment at private schools is small compared to that of public schools.
But many private schools DON'T HIRE certified teachers, generally, in order to avoid many of the pitfalls found in public schools. THAT'S PART OF THE REASON WHY THEY'RE PRIVATE.
As to “progressive views,” I'd say that the faculty and staff of my sons’ school roughly looks like the rest of the United States. There are heart-on-the-sleeve liberals, and tough and determined conservatives. There are folks whose politics are rather muddied. One teacher is a rock-solid Republican, conservative Catholic, wouldn't vote Dem for dogcatcher. Ironically, his father, someone I've known for nearly 30 years, is a social-justice sort of Catholic, liberal as the day is long. But we're ALL Catholic, ALL Knights of Columbus, and ALL part of our school's family.
It's just not so cut-and-dried.
Among faculty members are socialist Quakers who still have BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) bumper stickers on their cars to folks who strongly supported Ron Paul, and have only grudgingly come around to the “liberal” Romney.
At least around here, this isn't terribly unusual in private schools.
Next, you jump to a discussion of “top private schools,” and talk about making them attractive. I'm not sure what that has to do with being liberal or progressive. Many parents send their kids to private schools on the assumption that these schools will be DIFFERENT from the public schools. One possible difference for which folks might be looking might be in the area of political correctness, which is strongly tied to progressivism and political liberalism.
In my region, there are certainly very good private schools that are seen as very progressive. There are also very good private schools that are not seen as politically progressive or liberal.
But I live in a region that's pretty darned liberal - the Archdiocese of Washington. In a way, it's surprising that there are ANY schools in this area that aren't very liberal in their focus. Not because of the progressive virus run amok in the teaching profession but because MOST FOLKS IN THIS REGION ARE LIBERAL, whether they're teachers or not.
I imagine that if I visited private schools in southwest Virginia, I'd find even fewer liberals teaching in these schools.
Then you jump to a discussion of Harvard, one with untrue and/or outdated stereotypes. Not sure what that has to do with my original point, which is that many private schools in my area just don't hire certified teachers, or even folks with education degrees.
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