gdanaher wrote:You betcha. Those schools who are privately operated also get to cherry pick who their students are going to be. Have a learning handicap? Nope, not coming here. Require special teacher to deal with blindness or deafness? Nope, not coming here. Mother was a crack head and your eyes are crossed? Nope, not coming here.baldeagle wrote: There are a number of private schools doing a much better job of teaching students for less money than what we pay for the failure we call public education.
Don't compare what a prep school in Highland Park or The Woodlands does with a child's education to what happens in Ysleta or Wilmer. The expectation is that the local district using state funds will raise every pupil to a minimum standard of competence, and in many cases, it isn't going to be cheap, and it isn't just the salaries that run into bucks. Special ed equipment can be insanely expensive and sometimes you have to send the stuff home with the kid and hope they bring it back. Sometimes they don't.
Set one of those private schools across the street from a low performing school, give them the same funding, require them to enroll the same student base in the neighborhood and you will have another low performing school. Some teachers aren't worth shooting and usually get out early. Those that care and love their kids, do all they can but you can't always make up for years of academic and emotional neglect and mental incapacity brought on by the mothers' gestational indiscretions.
There are many other private schools that do not "hand pick" students that are excelling at educating their kids. Heck, there are even some magnet schools in Dallas and Desoto that are doing good jobs. The difference is, they are able to control the learning environment much easier and kick kids out that do not or will not perform. This is not the same for kids that have a learning disability either....
I have a BIL/SIL that have their two kids in a magnet school in Desoto and the "requirement" for the kids to stay in is a huge motivator for mom an dad to work with the kids even more than they would otherwise. Now, I am sure the The_busy_mom will slap me for bashing her Brother, but this is just the way they are. They are motivated to keep their kids out of Lancaster ISD and in to a good magnet school so they both work with the kids, make sure they do homework and study with them. They have even said if they were in Lancaster, "their lives would be easier"....
Education has as much to do with the Mom and Dad as it does with a particular school. My point is, kids will only perform to the level that is expected of them, minus just a little. When mom and dad don't care, do you expect kids too, add on top of that, teachers know they will be wasting their time if mom and dad don't care. Just my $.02 worth.
