The school subject is always a touchy one, at least for parents. Each of us
wants to believe we've done the best thing for our children, but where we
send our children to school also says something about how we live our
beliefs.
I'm either the wrong person to talk, or the perfect person to talk. You
decide. My daughters spent half of their pre-college education in private
school and half in public school. The private school choice had nothing to
do with quality of education--although I think they got a good education
there--and everything to do with feeling frustrated and ignored by the
Minneapolis Public School bureaucracy in 1983 (when the first daughter was
ready for kindergarten). MPS is different now and I don't hear the same kind
of horror stories we went through from friends with children in the system.
We moved them into public school for a simple, pragmatic reason: My husband
and I had been divorced for several years at that point and we could not
afford the private school tuition anymore. For me, it was a satisfying
personal choice as well. I had grown increasingly uneasy with the number of
Mercedes and BMWs in the parking lot of my daughters' private school--and
with my daughters' at least occasional sense that they were "deprived"
because we weren't going to Acapulco over spring break or Paris for summer
vacation. It told me they were getting a skewed sense of what the world is
like.
Both of my daughters also got a good education in the Minneapolis Public
Schools. They went on to college and have now both graduated Phi Beta Kappa
from fine schools. The older is in law school, the younger is about to spend
a year in Thailand as a Luce Scholar, then will go to medical school. (Okay,
forgive me for bragging; I slip it in when I can.) My point, however, is
that in the crucial junior high school and high school years, they got what
they needed academically from the public schools to be well-equipped to
succeed in college and beyond.
But they got something else as well: An experience of a world that is not
all white and middle class.
This was not a "sacrifice" of academics (I cringe when I see people write
about making a choice to send children to public school as some kind of
sacrifice), nor was it a noble gesture (the presence of my kids would
somehow improve the lot of those "poor others"?) It was a rich, satisfying
way to learn and to live for my children. It has meant challenges at times.
(Think there are no gangs in Minneapolis schools? Think there is no casual
racism directed at white kids? Think there are no bad teachers?) But meeting
those challenges has helped them develop the ability to function in a
complex, interesting world. Both my daughters can speak more eloquently than
I can about the value of an education in urban schools.
We expect a lot from our public schools. Too much. We expect them to
overcome behavior problems caused by bad or absent parents, to eliminate
racism, to give every student--the gifted, the challenged, the
average--exactly what he or she needs in a cost-effective way. We expect
them to educate all children--but to keep the disruptive ones out of OUR
kids' way.
I have been spending one brief hour a week at Lyndale School, tutoring a
sweet child who is of at least average intelligence, but who, at age 9,
cannot read. (Spanish is her family's language. The family has moved back
and forth from Guatemala, disrupting the children's education.) That one
hour, sitting in the middle of a school I've come to really care about,
brings home both the strengths and problems in Minneapolis public schools. I
encourage anyone who can--parents and non-parents--to consider finding a way
to volunteer at one of the local public schools. Yes, it will do a good
thing for the school and some students, but it could be an eye-opener for
you, as well.
I am no apologist for the Minneapolis Public Schools. It's a big, bulky
bureaucracy and it's got plenty of problems. There are people making bad
decisions and there ARE bad teachers in classrooms and it can be, still,
frustrating to deal with. Every parent--everyone supporting this
system--should be concerned and vigilant in trying to make the schools
better.
But this school system is also providing a good education for many, many
students--sometimes against the odds. Labeling the district, or even an
individual school, as a failure is not useful--and doesn't reflect reality.
Linda Picone
Kingfield
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