How did we get from voucher schools to Cheech and Chong?
That's quite a leap.
Well, education is something I know about since I actually went to school. For nearly 20 years! (I just couldn't seem to get the hang of it! ;D)
But, speaking seriously, I am a teacher of 37 years standing . . . by now I am barely standing, though. Thirty years full-time and now I'm in my eighth year of substituting.
Could we get along without public schools? No chance. Not now that we have been dependent on them for well over a century. But public schools have to change if we are to improve the level of student achievement. Right now that level is meidocre at best. Just what changes are necessary is very, very hard to say.
Here's another factor that many in the community will not want to hear. Society must change, as well. There is very little even the best teacher can do with 35 unruly, disruptive kids who have no self-discipline and who have a sincere desire to make the teacher's life miserable. (Actually, it only takes a couple of bad kids to do that. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about.) Unless society values education enough to require their children to behave well in class, no amount of change on the part of the school is going to help.
Asian parents obviously instill in their children a strong pro-education ethic. I remember the one year I taught at what might be considered a "difficult" inner-city school. It was El Monte H.S. Well, El Monte is not exactly inner-city; it's in the San Gabriel Valley just east of downtown L.A. When I was there (the 1990-91 school year) the students were about 83% Hispanic and 13% Asian (few Anglos).
I took an apartment in the area while my wife stayed at our home in Mira Mesa. I would spend the weekend with her and drive to El Monte very early Monday mornings. When I got the school, it was quite a bit before the first class began. In fact, the lights in the halls (this was an older two story building with indoor access) were barely on. Huddled against the walls were little groups of Asian students busily studying. At lunch the Hispanic kids were socializing and wandering around. Meanwhile, the Asian kids were in little study circles in the cafeteria.
Until society changes so that kids of all ethnicities show the most positive attitudes toward school, we will not see the kind of overall improvement we desire.
AzWm
That's quite a leap.