Lions and Tigers and Public Schools, oh my!

Hey friends,

Before I get back to reviewing and discussing Daniel Gardners excellent book-- The Science of Fear-- I have to get something off my chest.

How many of us public school teachers have been at parties, events, social settings, etc. with friends and acquaintances (not in education) when the subject of schools come up. Where is Frank Jr. going this year? Really?, they say with a look of 'are you insane?' because you just told them that Frank Jr. is going to a public school. Public schools, of which most of us are products of, have about the same reputation as Paris Hilton or on a really bad day, Britney.

And this reaction is coming from friends who kind of have forgotten that they asked that question of a public school teacher. Are there smaller class sizes in private schools? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Are the teachers better, are the students better? That's hard to say. I know that when I graduated high school in '78 in the midwest that one private high school near by had a reputation for having MORE drug use-- maybe that wasn't true but the last time I checked, drugs cost $$$$ and private school kids tend to have more of that resource, again generally. Hanging out with "rich kids" sometimes buys trouble... just ask the Kennedy clan or the Max Factor heir who is locked up for 124 years for drugging and raping his dates.

In January of 1996, I started my 2nd career and began student teaching at a 7th-8th grade middle school in a part of Minneapolis that was "rough"-- two cars were stolen out of the staff parking lot, during winter! In a typical class of 25-30 you could see kids that were there, calm, prepared, and ready to learn. Conversely, you could see others that were watching unlimited television at home, unlimited video games, who probably lacked parental supervision, and in the classroom had about as much chance of success as a rhesus monkey. What's the point of that charming story? Schools (especially public)get the blame for failure where the real source of success or failure should be what happens at HOME. Is there a relationship between Joshua being the best reader in class and the fact that his parents limit his television and have never purchased a gaming system for him? Or is it a coincidence when Linda pulls straight fails in every class when she has 512 myspace "friends", averages over 400 text messages a month and sees her mother (the only adult in her home) as little as possible.

The question that is important to consider now is how much does Linda (and others like her) affect the learning climate in the classroom? To be honest, at least at my school (a high school in Los Angeles), those students tend to have greater absences so they classroom misbehavior is not that much a factor. You also have failing students that show up everyday, are quiet, but just never complete anything.

Classroom behavior (or classroom climate) is more of a factor of what the teacher does than how the students behave. A teacher without experience or without a system of classroom management will have unruly students, whether they are A or F students. Word.

So stop harping on the public schools - the only thing that still gripes me is that we still have a culture of "social promotion" in middle schools. I know there are problems with "holding kids back" but just passing them on to the next grade, despite F's doesn't teach them consequences for not trying.

Receiving F's never hurt them before so why sweat it in high school? Many are slow to get it that the rules are different in high school where they have to repeat each F. I wish they would learn this before coming to my and other classrooms as a freshman, then perhaps they might take school more seriously and finish work at home rather than just fire up the next Xbox 360 game. 'Nuff said.