Subject:
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Re: kids schooling (was :Re: Standardized tests (was: Yummy!))
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 8 May 2000 04:55:39 GMT
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Viewed:
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265 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
>
> [regarding Montessori]
>
> > Maybe it's just a gut feeling we had, but we only went from 3.5 years to just
> > before Kindergarten started in both cases. I think the value of Montessori
> > lessens as the child ages, we saw it more as a booster to give our kids a
> > running start in public school.
>
> I did Montessori as a kid. I discovered that public school existed a
> few weeks after my first grade year started and begged my folks[1]a
> 1 - Largely because they were emotionally and physically abusive and I hated
> them. This is not a normal part of the Montessori method.
Parse error alert: "they" has an ambiguous antecedent. Parents or Montessori?
(arguably must be Montessori, since the method can't speak to parent level of
abuse, so you can't say it's not part of the method)
> I'm surprised you don't use a private school for a better still
> situation.[5]
> 5 - I remember some of your reasonings from a thread about a year ago, but I'm
> dubious that any public school in America is so good as to not merit serious
> consideration of private schools.
If I could afford it, I would. But my kids go to arguably THE BEST public
school system in the state, and we have the MEAPs (standardized test scores
<grin>) to prove it.
Forest Hills is more like a private school than any public school system I've
ever seen. Facilities are outstanding, very noncrowded and very well equipped.
Teachers are the cream of the crop, it's hard to get a teaching job in Forest
Hills, the competition is fierce, and the union is relatively weak.I have yet
to meet a teacher that didn't WELCOME my involvement in the process. (a)
Parental and community involvement (volunteers, people donating time and
materials to projects) is extremely high, on any given day, each elementary has
20-25 volunteers in the school at any time, that's more than one per class.
Forest Hills consistently sends teams to state OM competition, consistently
sends athletic teams to state competition, and consistently scores in the top
1% of all schools in the state on standardized tests.
These factors and the fact that we have an above average population of students
to draw from make for an outstanding school system. It doesn't come cheap, it
is relatively expensive to live in this district, property values are high so
there aren't many people with incomes below median in it. I'll never leave if I
can help it (and although I just moved up smartly but stayed within the
district, a common thing to do if you live in this district, people just don't
want to leave it... I am still below average price for houses, there are some
doozies that push the average way over mine)
We just got a plat book of Kent County and Amway, the Van Andel family, and the
DeVoss family between them probably own 1/4 the property (by area, more if
measured by value, a LOT more, they have a lot of mansions) in the district, so
thank goodness for them and their support, they pay a LOT of property taxes.
Are the factors that make Forest Hills a great system transferrable to ANY
system? For the most part, no, which is why I oppose public schools in general.
The same quality schools could be provided by a private system for far less
money than Forest Hills spends IF it weren't for the government forced
monopoly/unlevel playing field we have. Charter schools help, but the NEA
fights them tooth and nail, and even Charter schools don't have the same
funding advantages that public schools do (they can't float bond issues for one
thing, they have to go to the commercial marketplace for capital)
> > Nik's a typical Second, motivated by different things than sheer achievement,
> > so it's not apples to apples, but he was boosted less but benefitted more.
>
> How did he benefit more?
His K teacher was made aware of it, and was ready, willing and able (with a
class size under 15) to capitalize on it. And she did. See above.
a - I'll be using the UN posters I won recently either tomorrow or Tuesday to
do a short lesson on refugees and human rights for Nik's class. All I had to do
was email Nik's teacher and outline what I wanted to say.
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