<p>First of all, we could build 50,000 Exeters if we chose, just as we decided to invade Iraq. It’s just a matter of priorities. </p>
<p>Secondly, why do we have to do look at what other countries do, when we know what works - in this country? We know, for example, that over the past 75 years, edcuational resources devoted to white folks have outstripped those spent on people of color by about 2.5x to 1, and it has worked very effectively. Why, if you reversed the proportions for the next 75 years, do you think it wouldn’t be equally effective?</p>
<p>Rich folks are always telling us that it isn’t about money. But they know better - I don’t see any of them sending their kids to school in East L.A. (Homeschoolers, too, by the way. The value of foregone labor by homeschooling families works out to about $30k per kid per year - works too!)</p>
<p>I help these kids all I can but unfortunately the general populace just doesnt seem to care about these kids and these school districts that are being underfunded and understaffed. At a young age, these kids want to learn like any other child, but by the time they reach high school, they just become used to the neglect and simply dont care anymore.</p>
<p>Mini, we also know that numerous parochial and independent schools do MUCH better than public schools and spend a fraction of what public schools do. Some schools seem to survive nicely and deliver a superb education for $6,000 a year when its public neighbor could not even open the doors with such a pittance. </p>
<p>PS I know about the special-ed cases and other copouts that are usually brought up whenever the issue of fiscally responsible schools surfaces.</p>
<p>Comparing Andover and public schools? There’s a reason that some private schools cost $25K a year. The public school spends about $6K on average, for a regular ed pupil, and substantially more on a special ed kid. But no regular ed kid is getting a $25K education.</p>
<p>Public schools are mired in bureaucracy. Private schools have the luxury of being able to take whomever they want (so none of those pesky SPED kids who drain the districts), and kick out any underperforming kid. They need not adhere to state tests or mandates. Just makes the whole job about educating kids, which is lot easier.</p>
<p>I only saw the first 45 minutes of the show, but I think Oprah forgot (?) to point out that Bill Gates and the other non-profit organizations he has joined forces with have an agenda, the key word of which is <em>workforce</em>. We must prepare our students for the <em>workforce</em>, or America will fall behind. The ultimate plan is to have kids choose “career paths” by grade 7 and tracked into one of three choices by age 16. Hence, some of Gates’ small school academies devoted to one career choice only (techology, health, etc.). Many of these have already been deemed abysmal failures and have been disbanded. Nothing will really change - top 30% of kids will go to college, next 30% to community college to learn a trade/work skills and bottom 30% straight to semi-skilled jobs. The only thing that will change is that kids will be locked into one path at an earlier age. I don’t agree with this as I believe every kid should have the opportunity to aspire to any dream they desire. Also, many kids are late bloomers. What they have in mind by radical change is not what most parents are thinking, i.e. all kids will be given equal opportunity for a rigorous liberal arts education. It’s doublespeak at its finest.</p>
<p>“But no regular ed kid is getting a $25K education.”</p>
<p>What does a “regular kid”, with all the benefits of an enriched home life, foreign travel, and wealthy parents, get at Andover? (forget “special ed”). Works too. </p>
<p>So it will probably cost a little bit more than Andover. So? 50,000 Exeters still costs less - much less - than a war in Iraq. </p>
<p>“Why, if you reversed the proportions for the next 75 years, do you think it wouldn’t be equally effective?”
In a word, No."</p>
<p>Well, we tried the opposite “experiment” for the past 75 years, and it worked. We wouldn’t find out until we try, would we? ;)</p>
<p>“Hence, some of Gates’ small school academies devoted to one career choice only (techology, health, etc.). Many of these have already been deemed abysmal failures and have been disbanded.”</p>
<p>With all due respect to Hereshoping, I would strongly disagree with this assessment. Unless the purpose was to play with semantics … “some of Gates’ schools + many of these” I am not certain how anyone could support such statement, especially given the minimal time period between the original investments and today. </p>
<p>As far as the issue of early “selection” of students, one should try to ascertain the benefits of such system and compare them to the benefits of our system that gives “every one a chance” but, by doing so, fails about every one involved. The underlying concept of early selection of students towards “lesser” education might shock our egalitarian values, but it should not stop from evaluating in properly. </p>
<p>Even Lake Wobegon needs mechanics, masons, and carpenters. Our cars would work a lot better, our homes would be a lot straighter and better built if we did not have to trust poorly educated and ill-prepared high school dropouts with those tasks, while praying to find them capable to perform a honorable and well-paying job.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Bill & Melinda are focusing too late in the educational game, IMO. By his own speach, he notes the dropoff in middle school student education. Students who matriculate to HS and are unable to complete basic math are bound to dropout. Instead of spending hundreds of millions on HS remediation, a better use of his funds would be K-8, and more importantly, 6-8. Just my $0.02.</p>
<p>I agree with you totally, Bluebayou. I’ve long held that middle school is the weak spot in American education. This is when American students begin to lag behind their peers in other countries.</p>
<p>I agree, but I believe it goes on towards high school. My junior high school was notorious for making SPE/Honors classes super-hard and ‘regular’ classes super-easy. The kids in the latter didn’t do very well come high school, or enrolled in their local zones for the easy-A they were used to. My high school is amazingly funded, but the money seems to go nowhere. After plenty of years around, we still do not have an actual building to go to class in (our OWN building). We have no chem labs; chem students write down what the teachers tell them to. We also have no easily-accessible computer labs. It’s…sad. :</p>
<p>I just don’t get all the criticism concering the efforts of Bill and Melinda Gates. They are putting a BILLION dollars of their own resources toward trying to improve PUBLIC education in this country. At least they’re doing SOMETHING. It’s easy to sit and criticize those who are doing the hard work, pointing out how it can be done better, when you are contributing nothing to the task. The problems in American education are like a many-headed hydra, complex and multifarious and intractable to change. It’s a problem that will have to be attacked on MANY fronts. It’s simply not realistic to expect the Gates to fix it all and fix it right the first time. </p>
<p>Don’t hate the players. Get in the game yourself!</p>
<p>I’m one of the few people that likes Microsoft and am in awe what Bill has done. Moreover, given our public deficits, we NEED many more brilliant people like him to build companies which employ thousands and pay billions in corporate income taxes. </p>
<p>My point was that by the time kids arrive in HS educationally unprepared, for many its almost too late. It’s just my opinion that the time to start math-science intervention is earlier, so when they martriculate to HS they can thrive educationally, as opposed to survive. An article in today’s paper noted that NCLB testing, which has penalties for low math and reading scores – but not science scores, has caused more and more school districts to reduce their science offerings at the elementary level so they can focus on, primarily, reading. Again, students are arriving on the HS unprepared. In summary, I was opining that Bill might receive a better bang for his buck if he looks at middle school.</p>
<p>btw: I am in the game – K-8 math, actually.</p>
<p>I was working Wednesday, taped that day’s Oprah show and just watched it.</p>
<p>I think it’s great that the kids at Kevin Johnson’s Sacramento High are doing so well. I think it’s great that the kids at KIPP schools are learning so much and are already thinking about college.</p>
<p>But I can’t believe that Oprah lets these guys slide on the “parents must be involved” issue. She was delighted with Johnson saying that if a parent doesn’t support the kid going to college, it’s the wrong school for that kid. From the KIPP people, we had the charming story of a parent letting the administrator take the only TV out of the family home, since it was too much of a distraction for the daughter and she wasn’t getting her three hours of homework done every night.</p>
<p>Hooray for the parents who have chosen these schools for their kids. More power to them. And God bless Kevin Johnson and the KIPP people for helping the kids they’re helping. But what about the other kids? The ones whose parents don’t really care if their kids go to college? The ones for whose parents relaxing in front of the TV is more important than the kid getting her homework done? Not to mention the ones whose parents are drug-addicted, abusive, neglectful, or absent? All the KIPPs and Sacramento Highs in the world won’t help these kids. Saying “parental involvement is essential” won’t help them either. I know “society” and the Gateses and Kevin Johnson aren’t at fault for these kids’ plight. But any education “solution” that doesn’t find a way to help kids in spite of their no-involvement parents isn’t a real solution.</p>