Science Education in America: Why I'm Homeschooling My Kid in Science

[BPA234]

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Read this for example:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/op...mp;oref=slogin

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This article seems a little weak on data. The article appears to state quality of education varies from school to school. Seems to be a reasonable assertion.

I think the primary difference between private and public, is that private allows you to choose your poison. You're not proximally "stuck" with the quality of the local public school.

Regardless of where your politics lie, almost all in the US would agree that there are many problems in the public primary school system. OP is just demonstrating, anecdotally, one of the many issues (science falling into the abyss currently occupied by geography skills) that currently plague the US public schools.

[BTirish]

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BTW, where is the objective evidence that the private system is so much better? I don't see a huge differential in published studies of the US education system, and that's despite the fact that the children of those with means tend to go these schools.

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First... there's nothing in OP comparing private and public schools. The blog post's immediate conclusion is that homeschooling, at least in one subject, is the answer. All Borodog said was "none of my children are going to public schools." I realize Borodog let his AC views show in his first reply in the thread... but there isn't a word said about private schools in the OP. You're the one who jumped to making this thread specifically about public vs. private schools in present-day America.

Second, as for this debate... I tend to agree, in general, with what ALawPoker has said on this point: you can't and shouldn't take private school performance in present-day America as an indication of what things would be like if there were no public education. Several times it's been asserted that "surely private schools must offer some advantage in education in order to compete and get parents to fork over money." Something that has been mentioned but not made clear in the thread is this: 85 percent of private schools in the U.S. are religiously affiliated, and half of these are Catholic.

The central advantage offered by private schools tends to be religious and cultural rather than strictly "educational" (where for whatever reason "education" just means math, reading, and science skills, and not also moral formation and religious instruction). This is why the vast majority of private schools are religiously affiliated.

In my own case, it wasn't principally that the local Catholic school offered a better "education" (again in the strict sense in which the term has been used in this thread) than our local public school--although at least in my case, this was also true. It was that the Catholic school offered religious instruction and didn't have any serious incidences of violence.

So, my point is that what drives most of the private education market isn't performance in secular academic subjects. Average pay in public schools is a bit higher than in private schools, and it's much higher on average than in Catholic schools, which have the lowest average tuition. The vast majority of people who make a lifetime commitment to teaching in private schools do so for reasons besides monetary gain.

Anyway, I've ended up going on and on about what this thread really wasn't about in the first place. The blog post linked by OP didn't say: "That's it! Private school for you!" He decided to take his son's education into his own hands.

If it's at all possible, my wife and I are planning on homeschooling, and we're willing to choose jobs and where we live to make it possible. In any event, we plan to be take a lot of responsibility for our children's education. Any teacher knows that, especially in the lower grades, what often makes the difference is parental involvement and support. But unfortunately it seems that, for many parents, schools--both private and public--have as their principal benefit functioning as a daycare with some educational benefits.

[luckyme]

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Anyway, I've ended up going on and on about what this thread really wasn't about in the first place. The blog post linked by OP didn't say: "That's it! Private school for you!" He decided to take his son's education into his own hands.

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I won't read the blog again, but didn't he simply take on the science class, where his son was learning well already, just marking poorly?
I'm not that impressed with his 'solution'...if I remember it correctly.

luckyme

[thylacine]

Okay Borodog, what's your hidden agenda this time?

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It can be easily fixed. End the government school monopoly.


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Oh, nevermind.

[Allinlife]

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Okay Borodog, what's your hidden agenda this time?

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It can be easily fixed. End the government school monopoly.


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Oh, nevermind.

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lol

[Borodog]

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Okay Borodog, what's your hidden agenda this time?

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It can be easily fixed. End the government school monopoly.


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Oh, nevermind.

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Rduke55 asked the question. I answered it. I wish you morons would get a life and lay off the trolling.

[PLOlover]

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It can be easily fixed. End the government school monopoly.

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I didn't know the government had a school monopoly.

what about private schools and home schooling and home schools?

that disproves monopoly right there.

[Nielsio]

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It can be easily fixed. End the government school monopoly.

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I didn't know the government had a school monopoly.

what about private schools and home schooling and home schools?

that disproves monopoly right there.

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It's unpossible to not pay for the state schools. That seems like a monopoly to me.

[PLOlover]

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It's unpossible to not pay for the state schools. That seems like a monopoly to me.

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you could live in a retirement community, property taxes don't go to schools. I guess state taxes still go to universities though.

but really that's a tax question, I mean there's so many ways the gov wastes your money I don't know why you single out schools.

[whyherro]

lol this brings up so many bad memories of high school. i was in a typical situation and frequently had to schedule an extra hour after class with the teacher so that I could try and resurrect a notebook from crumpled papers in my bookbag to score just enough points to preserve my A for the quarter...