5 ms·

The school mentioned in the article seems to have a huge lack of top-down control and parental involvement.

earthscienceman 6y ago
Well, as someone deeply involved in education, these statements combined together highlight exactly the problem with America's educational system. Like many American institutions, it is extremely diverse in its methods and primarily focused on providing services to the wealthy. The parent comment here is correct in highlighting a problem that exists at the highest levels in our school system and the topic article is highlighting a problem that exists at the lowest levels. They are very different problems. However, they have the same root cause. What would actually solve this is a systemic shift in America's education system to a more centralized approach that promotes well researched methodologies and systems to be used across the country. We have phenomenal teachers and phenomenal schools that operate at extremely high efficiency. The problem is that this quality is extremely poorly distributed. This would be very unpopular with the wealthier members of society though, as it would make access to academic silo schools much less of a given for their children. And access to education, and the societal benefits that this access brings, is one of the primary motivators for wealthier Americans. You don't have to look farther than Hacker News. How often do you see titles here like "MIT students launch the Facebook of toilet paper", where MIT student is seen as a meaningful signal. Your child doesn't get the opportunity to be the beneficiary of that headline without first being purchased a top rate education at America's best high schools.
- anewaccount2021 6y ago
  You're being too high-minded. This is about absent parents and a school board that has already given up on students before they even enroll. This is not a "systemic" national issue...its an issue for inner city schools where the students are poor and brown.
- SubuSS 6y ago
  So in the world you describe, if a parent wants better education for their child (than what the government provides uniformly across the country) - is the only recourse private schools? So I come from India where the above model is in place - very few government funded schools are considered top ranking. Parents live closer to good private schools and fund the same when possible. But usually this means hours of transit for the child. At least from my perspective, the US model seemed better. Here you can choose to live in a nice neighborhood if you can and get a lot more benefits than just good schools. These things seem to go together (safety / general wealth of the neighborhood / public services / good schools / accessibility to job locations and so on). I am curious to see why someone would not want this. If the overall push is that the whole country should grow only at a uniform rate and we should penalize folks who work hard to get these benefits in lieu of folks who can't (or won't), that doesn't sound very American, at least not the American dream I was sold when I moved :).
  - ascar 6y ago
    I live in Germany and private schools are the absolute exception. I'm not a parent yet, but from my experience as a student you just send your kid to the closest school and school reputation isn't really a thing. There are some "rich kid" schools, especially bording schools, but they are really rare and graduates don't really have a lot of benefit when it comes to university applications (German universities operate by taking in many students and make the weak performers drop out or switch to a subject better fitting their skills) To promote higher achieving students we split kids into three different tiers based on their performance in their 4th school year (around age 10/11). Each tier is actually a completely separate school (location, building, curriculula, even different qualifications for teachers). Students that do exceptionally well/bad can still move between tiers every year. There is a world where the state provides education and thinking about private schools isn't an important consideration for parents. I would expect it's similar in many other EU countries. So it's not one or the other like you fear.
    - readflaggedcomm 6y ago
      Germany prohibits homeschooling, which to me distorts the situation.
jimbokun 6y ago
Yes and no. There are extensive documented procedures for handling under performing or absent students, defined in great detail at the top level. But seems like there is a disconnect between those bureaucratic processes and actual connections between the teachers making sure the students know where they stand.
heterodoxxed 6y ago
| works three jobs. I wonder why.

Well, as someone deeply involved in education, these statements combined together highlight exactly the problem with America's educational system. Like many American institutions, it is extremely diverse in its methods and primarily focused on providing services to the wealthy. The parent comment here is correct in highlighting a problem that exists at the highest levels in our school system and the topic article is highlighting a problem that exists at the lowest levels. They are very different problems. However, they have the same root cause. What would actually solve this is a systemic shift in America's education system to a more centralized approach that promotes well researched methodologies and systems to be used across the country. We have phenomenal teachers and phenomenal schools that operate at extremely high efficiency. The problem is that this quality is extremely poorly distributed. This would be very unpopular with the wealthier members of society though, as it would make access to academic silo schools much less of a given for their children. And access to education, and the societal benefits that this access brings, is one of the primary motivators for wealthier Americans. You don't have to look farther than Hacker News. How often do you see titles here like "MIT students launch the Facebook of toilet paper", where MIT student is seen as a meaningful signal. Your child doesn't get the opportunity to be the beneficiary of that headline without first being purchased a top rate education at America's best high schools.

anewaccount2021 6y ago
You're being too high-minded. This is about absent parents and a school board that has already given up on students before they even enroll. This is not a "systemic" national issue...its an issue for inner city schools where the students are poor and brown.
SubuSS 6y ago
So in the world you describe, if a parent wants better education for their child (than what the government provides uniformly across the country) - is the only recourse private schools? So I come from India where the above model is in place - very few government funded schools are considered top ranking. Parents live closer to good private schools and fund the same when possible. But usually this means hours of transit for the child. At least from my perspective, the US model seemed better. Here you can choose to live in a nice neighborhood if you can and get a lot more benefits than just good schools. These things seem to go together (safety / general wealth of the neighborhood / public services / good schools / accessibility to job locations and so on). I am curious to see why someone would not want this. If the overall push is that the whole country should grow only at a uniform rate and we should penalize folks who work hard to get these benefits in lieu of folks who can't (or won't), that doesn't sound very American, at least not the American dream I was sold when I moved :).
- ascar 6y ago
  I live in Germany and private schools are the absolute exception. I'm not a parent yet, but from my experience as a student you just send your kid to the closest school and school reputation isn't really a thing. There are some "rich kid" schools, especially bording schools, but they are really rare and graduates don't really have a lot of benefit when it comes to university applications (German universities operate by taking in many students and make the weak performers drop out or switch to a subject better fitting their skills) To promote higher achieving students we split kids into three different tiers based on their performance in their 4th school year (around age 10/11). Each tier is actually a completely separate school (location, building, curriculula, even different qualifications for teachers). Students that do exceptionally well/bad can still move between tiers every year. There is a world where the state provides education and thinking about private schools isn't an important consideration for parents. I would expect it's similar in many other EU countries. So it's not one or the other like you fear.
  - readflaggedcomm 6y ago
    Germany prohibits homeschooling, which to me distorts the situation.

jimbokun 6y ago

Yes and no. There are extensive documented procedures for handling under performing or absent students, defined in great detail at the top level. But seems like there is a disconnect between those bureaucratic processes and actual connections between the teachers making sure the students know where they stand.

heterodoxxed 6y ago

| works three jobs. I wonder why.