Submitted by omegapoint on September 15, 2008 - 7:01pm.
I live in what is supposed to be one of the best public school systems in the country; I got my education here and felt it was a good one; but there are not only vast differences from school to school within a district, but the No Child Left Behind Act has really screwed up the school system. That was a hurdle I didn't have when I was a kid. My stepkids go to the same school system where I did. The younger one goes to an elementary school that can't afford textbooks (in a neighborhood with an average income of $85k a year). My older stepkid is "gifted" and goes to a magnent school, where the academic standards are a little better, he gets actual textbooks, but he is, in no way, challenged by the curricullum. Not because he's just too smart, but because they don't want to teach anything hard (or can't because of NCLB).
I too feel that diversity is important. We live in a diverse neighborhood, and my kids' friends are from all over the world. In a bit of racist thinking on our part, we actually selected a daycare provider because she wasn't an american white, and could introduce the kids to a different culture. But I won't sacrifice my childrens' education for the sake of diversity: they get that at home, playing with their friends. When my biological children are of age, in the next couple of years, I'll do everything I can to send them to private school. A place where they have textbooks, incentive to excel, and peers who are similarly motivated. A place without the commonplace drugs (there are heroin busts in the high school here), gangs, bullying, or the attitude that having a baby in highschool is a lifestyle choice and not a tragedy.
For me, staying where I am and sending the kids to private school satisfies both diversity and good education. If I were you, I'd take that free private school and never look back. Kids have a home world and a school world. They can get the diversity they need at home, playing with their friends, and the education they need at school. If you're not a bigot (and I think it's clear that you aren't), your kid will learn that in a more powerful way from you in day to day life than from a decision about schooling they don't really understand. Fight injustice and social inequality on your time, and do the best you can to give your kid every advantage in the world as it is, not as we want it to be.
Re: School Principles
I live in what is supposed to be one of the best public school systems in the country; I got my education here and felt it was a good one; but there are not only vast differences from school to school within a district, but the No Child Left Behind Act has really screwed up the school system. That was a hurdle I didn't have when I was a kid. My stepkids go to the same school system where I did. The younger one goes to an elementary school that can't afford textbooks (in a neighborhood with an average income of $85k a year). My older stepkid is "gifted" and goes to a magnent school, where the academic standards are a little better, he gets actual textbooks, but he is, in no way, challenged by the curricullum. Not because he's just too smart, but because they don't want to teach anything hard (or can't because of NCLB).
I too feel that diversity is important. We live in a diverse neighborhood, and my kids' friends are from all over the world. In a bit of racist thinking on our part, we actually selected a daycare provider because she wasn't an american white, and could introduce the kids to a different culture. But I won't sacrifice my childrens' education for the sake of diversity: they get that at home, playing with their friends. When my biological children are of age, in the next couple of years, I'll do everything I can to send them to private school. A place where they have textbooks, incentive to excel, and peers who are similarly motivated. A place without the commonplace drugs (there are heroin busts in the high school here), gangs, bullying, or the attitude that having a baby in highschool is a lifestyle choice and not a tragedy.
For me, staying where I am and sending the kids to private school satisfies both diversity and good education. If I were you, I'd take that free private school and never look back. Kids have a home world and a school world. They can get the diversity they need at home, playing with their friends, and the education they need at school. If you're not a bigot (and I think it's clear that you aren't), your kid will learn that in a more powerful way from you in day to day life than from a decision about schooling they don't really understand. Fight injustice and social inequality on your time, and do the best you can to give your kid every advantage in the world as it is, not as we want it to be.