Private vs. Public Education

Everybody knows public schools suck! Everybody knows the United States is way behind other countries! Everybody knows that private schools do a better job educating children! The only problem with those three statements is that they are false.....but what do facts matter when we're trying to push our own political agendas? There are things we hold to be true, things everybody knows. These are generally accepted facts and it doesn't matter if they're supported by facts or not. When it comes to our core beliefs, facts really aren't that important. Public schools are failures. No they're not. Some are, no doubt. But in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, American kids in low poverty schools stomped the top-ranked Swedes. Even kids in schools with up to 50% of the students in poverty attained an average score that, had they constituted a nation, would have ranked 4th. Only American students attending schools with 75%+ poverty scored below the international average of the 35 participating countries. Want kids to do better in school....let's do something about parents and poverty! A study based on an analysis of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988-2000 conducted by the Center on Educational Policy, finds that, once family background characteristics are taken into account, low-income students attending public urban high schools generally performed as well academically as students attending private high schools. The study also found that students attending traditional public high schools were as likely to attend college as those attending private high schools. In addition, the report also finds that young adults who had attended any type of private high school were no more likely to enjoy job satisfaction or to be engaged in civic activities at age 26 than those who had attended traditional public high schools. In summary, the study found no difference between public and private schools. Our great country was built by the masses who attended public school. The United States of America has always been committed to free public education for all and it was this concept that made us the world's leader. Our public schools are under assault....I don't have a problem with that because they should be held accountable. But fight with facts...not beliefs that support a political agenda. Several writers have accused public schools of being socialism at it's worst. I don't know what their definition of socialism is, but if it means free public education for every student, regardless of race, creed, national orgin, intelligence, physical and/or mental handicaps, parental support, and income, then I guess the claim is true!

Ed Lovell