Public school is no longer enough, and I don’t see it improving in the short term.
I think the only practical solution is widely-known resources and alternative curricula for low-income families so that they too can get a decent education. Hopefully people are working on these, because otherwise these smart low-income kids are wasting their potential. And when kids apply to college they need a usable metric to be compared, which their “official” high-school transcripts are not, so otherwise admission is just upper-income or lottery.
An upside to over-lenient grading, at least students can half-ass “school” while they take these alternative classes that are actually teaching them.
As tantalizing as it may be to be the one eyed king in the world of the blind I assure you that you'd rather live in a world where everyone has two eyes.
I support public education for many reasons, but one of the more selfish reasons is so that I have interesting people to talk to in life. Talking with miseducated, or uneducated dumbasses is one of the most soul crushing things I experience on a semi-frequent basis.
Being able to give your children a world where everyone is intelligent, articulate, and emotionally stable is a priceless gift, and quality public education is a key part of that.
I agree. I'd prefer to have public schools serve everyone well, whether they are academically strong or not. And being a public school kid myself, I'd rather private schools not be something that the rich send their kids to to get a leg up.
But living in a west coast city, it's quickly becoming apparent that public schools are no longer a good option. I'm not going to put my foot down and send my kids anyway to prove a point. I'll just fork over the money for private school.
Yeah the rewards of hard work and delayed gratification are becoming more and more marginal as time goes on, but right now it’s still worth it to excel and hopefully that stays true for a while.
I understand that, but we can't change the fact that our society doesn't seem to. So we look on the bright side: at least we have the privilege to ensure our kids can still excel.
If this nonsense comes to our school district, even if we send our kids to private, I'd vote against it to help public school kids excel.
Sadly many people think of society as more of a competition than a collaboration. Of course it's both, but I certainly find myself happier when focusing on the gains we get from rising all boats instead of the gains I get from kicking the people climbing the ladder up after me.
> I think the only practical solution is widely-known resources and alternative curricula for low-income families so that they too can get a decent education.
And the middle class end up fucked. Too rich to get extra help. Too poor to afford private. Like walking in the middle of the road... splat.
I should've said "free resources". Limited programs and stipends wouldn't even benefit all low-income anyways: some parents are really hard-to-reach, and some parents don't apply for things and the kid has to take the initiative themselves.
This creates its own issues, like public schools not sending misbehaving kids to specially-designed schools, and public schools losing money because students are sent to charter and private schools instead. And the private schools still require more money than the tax dollars provide. Furthermore, issues arise when the public schools suck and charter/private schools are the only decent options: these schools can be openly religious, skip over parts of the standard curriculum, and get to pick and choose who gets admitted.
Though, I don't even think giving all the tax money to public schools will help them at this point...
I think the only practical solution is widely-known resources and alternative curricula for low-income families so that they too can get a decent education. Hopefully people are working on these, because otherwise these smart low-income kids are wasting their potential. And when kids apply to college they need a usable metric to be compared, which their “official” high-school transcripts are not, so otherwise admission is just upper-income or lottery.
An upside to over-lenient grading, at least students can half-ass “school” while they take these alternative classes that are actually teaching them.