The difference is that there will be potentially many vouchers at stake. Private schools are businesses. They are run like businesses. This is a two-edged sword of course, as the very thing that gives them strength is a potential weakness. What is the school's primary function, educate students or make money? If it is the former, will the private school stick to principles no matter the cost? If it is the latter, how far will the school go to garner a lion's share of a new market?
New people aren't being generated, so some of the problems that leave public schools are just moving over to private schools. This is where I think the defining moment for vouchers occurs- will the school stick to principle or go for capital? I also think that we will be talking about far more than just a few vouchers in some areas, making this decision more difficult to make objectively.
But seriously, what makes a private school more effective than a public school? Let's look at an extreme version of private schooling- home schooling.
Home schooling, when it works (and don't get me started here!) works because it is often the parent directly involved with the child in a nurturing environment. The parent can decide, without fear of repurcussions, what methodology to apply to educating their child. Their values can be instilled, their culture, their discipline. The parents can't be "fired", and the state can't pull funding. There is no gang influence. Common sense dictates that the more one-on-one time a student has with their teacher, the more they learn. If this type of environment could be had for every student of course education would improve.
Now let's look at public education. Where do you think studies show up to 80% of a teacher's time is spent daily? Discipline, that's where. Disruption in the classroom is a normal occurrence, and the teacher, like it or not, must deal with it. Every time a teacher approaches discipline it is with the full knowledge that their solution may be challenged by the student, principal, parents, and quite possibly the school board and community. This is what I mean by a diverse society and its impact on school. Look at he hulabaloo we had over two unruly players ejected from this game. Some people who jumped to protect them couldn't have picked their faces out on the street, yet look how vehemently they took their sides in the dispute. There were various opinions as to how HTC could and should have done it differently. Do you imagine for one second that a parent would do any less? This makes discipline a problem that just won't go away. It is nearly impossible to remove a student from your class no matter how disruptive he/she is. This means diminished education for all the students in the class.
Another initiative that has occurred in the last 10 years is the concept of inclusion, forced upon public education by the federal government. It states that all students, regardless of their emotional and cognitive ability, are to be placed in the least restrictive environment. Advocacy groups have used this as a weapon to force schools into mainstreaming students into classrooms they are ill-equipped to attend. The special needs students run the gamut of dysfunction, from emotional handicaps to mental retardation. They are thrown into the classroom, and the teacher is given an Educational Intervention Plan (EIP). These EIP's are law, and must be followed. If the EIP demands an hour a day of individual time, the student must be given that amount of time. This of course is done to the exclusion of the rest of the class. If the teacher has no aides it makes no difference; the EIP will be followed. If that isn't bad enough, sometimes multiple special-needs students will be dropped into a mainstream class. Take this with an average enrollment of 25-30 kids and you suddenly see a big problem. Education has been diminished to the lowest common denominator because the bulk of the time will be spent with a few.
Take the above case and apply it to discipline. Much of child misbehavior occurs as a result of frustration. mentally challenged students are seldom so unintelligent as to be oblivious to their condition. They suffer self-esteem problems, they are teased, and they lash out. They are bored out of their minds sitting in classes that are 4 and 5 years above their cognitive level. They act out. They are not allowed to fail- teachers are supposed to adjust the grade scale so that the students will pass. The gist seems to be socialize them, pure and simple. All the while the regular education children suffer.
All this I have seen and experienced with my own eyes- this was/is my school system.
[This message has been edited by Kieran (edited 04-16-2001).]
