I was. The experience was good. I learned to double-dutch jump rope, and play the dozens. I didn’t learn to dance the Cabbage Patch, no matter how many times my classmates tried to demonstrate it for me, but that was my failing and not theirs.
Then I took the SAT, got a good score, and on the strength of my high school and my zip code was offered a good scholarship to a private liberal arts college.
What I’m trying to say is: the piece Eugine_Nier is missing is how drastically parental wealth, income, and educational attainment affect the kids’ educational outcomes. If you look at the research, these factors drastically outweigh the quality of the school or the teacher. That’s not to say that teachers have no effect; but, so far as these things have been quantified, the family background is more important by an order of magnitude.
In other words—if you are doing relatively well, and if you read a lot of books, it almost doesn’t matter where you send your kids to school. In fact, sending them to a diverse “inner city” school could be very helpful from a social point of view.
I learned a lot in school, especially once my parents got me out of the public school system. I would argue that sending child to a school where they’re not going to learn anything is an example of a lost purpose.
I was. The experience was good. I learned to double-dutch jump rope, and play the dozens. I didn’t learn to dance the Cabbage Patch, no matter how many times my classmates tried to demonstrate it for me, but that was my failing and not theirs.
Then I took the SAT, got a good score, and on the strength of my high school and my zip code was offered a good scholarship to a private liberal arts college.
What I’m trying to say is: the piece Eugine_Nier is missing is how drastically parental wealth, income, and educational attainment affect the kids’ educational outcomes. If you look at the research, these factors drastically outweigh the quality of the school or the teacher. That’s not to say that teachers have no effect; but, so far as these things have been quantified, the family background is more important by an order of magnitude.
In other words—if you are doing relatively well, and if you read a lot of books, it almost doesn’t matter where you send your kids to school. In fact, sending them to a diverse “inner city” school could be very helpful from a social point of view.
It was for me.
In other words your school was ok provided you are willing to do all your learning outside of it.
Wait—that’s not how everybody does their learning?
I learned a lot in school, especially once my parents got me out of the public school system. I would argue that sending child to a school where they’re not going to learn anything is an example of a lost purpose.