No doubt, I think my general statement to people that complain about the "state of education" generally public or private is to say "compared to what?"
If people want to make the claim that schools are worse than 100 years ago, 50 years ago, 30 years ago...I'd like to know what they are pointing to and why they think that. The other point is that segregation in schools is obviously nothing new and now it is more by class than by race (or gender) but it is still a big improvement even though I would like to try and reduce it as a means to an end of a more just society and a more equitable educational system.
I am lucky that in MHK there are 2 middle schools and 1 high school and I would say I would be happy sending my kids to any of the elementary schools, and the one they go to is pretty ethnically and economically diverse and the teachers are largely outstanding.
I think much of the school district (and private/public) disparity in metrics can be boiled down to self-selection stuff and parenting. You are much more of an expert in this stuff than I am (obviously), so feel free to point out if you disagree.
But I'm of the opinion that teachers are, broadly speaking, very competent, but they can only lead the horses to water. When you look at things like test scores, graduation, college enrollment -- basically any metric to judge schools, what you're largely seeing is a function of the level of involvement and concern the parents have in their kids' education. IDK what it boils down to, but I'm guessing something like instilling "discipline" (like, do your homework, go to bed at a reasonable time, study for your tests, bring home a good report card etc.) is probably the key thing. And there's all sorts of reasons a particular school district could have varying degrees of discipline (economic, cultural, familial etc.), but in my (again, very non-expert) opinion, that's largely what it comes down to. And I don't know of a policy position more concrete than "bring more people out of poverty" that really does anything to change
that. So in my dumb right leaning brain, things like "we need more school funding!" misses the mark because, again, I think the teachers/resources aren't the cause of the disparate indicators.
In other words, when Steve Dave says this
The great part about living in great places is that the public schools are great.
Is that
actually the case? Or do "great places" just have parents that typically raise good high school students that reflect well for their schools?
Am I completely off-base here?
