Private Schools Promised Me Opportunity. Instead, I Got Classism..

[jodymarie aimee]

Private Schools Promised Me Opportunity. Instead, I Got Classism..

https://talkpoverty.org/2017/12/18/private-schools-promised-opportunity-instead-got-classism/

In the classroom, we acted according to our status: The rich kids asked for attention, while I tried to be obedient. Research shows that’s typical: An Indiana University study concluded that social class leads to differences in how parents tell their kids to navigate school. More affluent parents tell their kids to ask questions and actively seek attention, while working class parents tell their kids that asking for extra help is disrespectful. And so, the divide between the haves and have-nots is multiplied.

This divide makes the current administration’s emphasis on “school choice” a hard sell. President Trump’s budget called for a $250 million increase in voucher programs, which would pay for more students to attend private schools. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has not provided many additional details, but she is an outspoken advocate for school choice programs, arguing that it focuses on the needs of the individual child. But more often than not, sending students to schools with more resources simply means they’re attending schools that are whiter and wealthier. And that comes with a culture shock.

A study by the Department of Education showed that test scores fell when students moved from public to private schools. Though there are a number of potential causes for the drop in performance, researchers suspect that the different behavioral expectations—just like the ones that plagued me—play the biggest role. And it doesn’t help that teachers have lower expectations for students of color and students from disadvantaged backgrounds—those expectations actually play a bigger role in student outcomes than a student’s own motivation or effort.

[hueymahl]

1. That is an interesting editorial

There is a lot of oversimplification and anecdotal evidence on both sides of this debate (including in this editorial). If you dig into the study the article references, the negative correlation really only applies to early-childhood and elementary classes. For those kids going into middle and high school, they showed positive improvement in test scores. Would like to see a study that followed the students beyond one year to see if test scores continue the initial one year trend.

Bottom line, we need to focus a lot more money on our schools. No matter what side of the debate you are on, ideological and one-size-fits-all responses are not going to do it. It is going to take an "all of the above" type response. This study is a good start to help figure out what works and what does not.