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The San Francisco Examiner has a TV ad which has been driving me nuts. Woman in elevator, man in elevator. He says "So what's new," clearly thinking she's going to say "Nothin' much," the way most of us do. Instead, she start rattling off a bunch of "news"--the mayor's trying to establish free Wi-Fi, the Giants haven't been doing so well, and more parents are opting for private school. It's this last--which I suspect is patently untrue--that irritates the hell out of me, because it prolongs that hoary old stereotype: urban public schools are scary! Urban public schools are Eeeevil! Children do not learn in urban public schools!"
To which I say: bullshit.
Look: some public schools, whether in San Francisco, New York, or East Undershoe, Michigan, are terrific. Others, even in those same municipalities, are lousy. The vast majority fall somewhere in the middle. There are very few schools I've encountered where there's a malign plot to ruin the lives and education of children. Public education has a huge challenge: be everything to every child, on not so much money. Which means that the people who teach in public schools have to be inventive, quick on their feet, and very dedicated. It aint'a sinecure. There are lousy teachers, sure, but in 12 years and two kids in public education I have met only two--one music teacher at Sarcasm Girl's elementary school in New York, and one teacher at SG's high school (and of the two, the latter wasn't so much a bad teacher as a rigid, old-fashioned one). San Francisco has a high population of English language learners, immigrants, and economically disadvantaged students, which makes the job of the public schools even harder.
The poor families aren't opting for private school. Probably many of the wealthy are. As for those of us in the middle class? Given that the cost of private school in San Francisco is something like $25,000 a year, your choice is to gut the rest of your life to send your kid to a public school, move out of the city, or find a good public school, enroll your child, and participate in the school so that it gets better and better.
In any case, the blanket assertion that parents (particularly from the middle class, the demographic I assume the Examiner is hoping to attract) is fleeing the public schools is not accurate. For the first time in 28 years there was a slight uptick in kindergarten applications this year; private school enrollment has held steady over that time at about 29%. "More and more" parents are not opting in for private school. And saying it on TV doesn't make it so, nor does it make the Examiner sound particularly indispensible.
To which I say: bullshit.
Look: some public schools, whether in San Francisco, New York, or East Undershoe, Michigan, are terrific. Others, even in those same municipalities, are lousy. The vast majority fall somewhere in the middle. There are very few schools I've encountered where there's a malign plot to ruin the lives and education of children. Public education has a huge challenge: be everything to every child, on not so much money. Which means that the people who teach in public schools have to be inventive, quick on their feet, and very dedicated. It aint'a sinecure. There are lousy teachers, sure, but in 12 years and two kids in public education I have met only two--one music teacher at Sarcasm Girl's elementary school in New York, and one teacher at SG's high school (and of the two, the latter wasn't so much a bad teacher as a rigid, old-fashioned one). San Francisco has a high population of English language learners, immigrants, and economically disadvantaged students, which makes the job of the public schools even harder.
The poor families aren't opting for private school. Probably many of the wealthy are. As for those of us in the middle class? Given that the cost of private school in San Francisco is something like $25,000 a year, your choice is to gut the rest of your life to send your kid to a public school, move out of the city, or find a good public school, enroll your child, and participate in the school so that it gets better and better.
In any case, the blanket assertion that parents (particularly from the middle class, the demographic I assume the Examiner is hoping to attract) is fleeing the public schools is not accurate. For the first time in 28 years there was a slight uptick in kindergarten applications this year; private school enrollment has held steady over that time at about 29%. "More and more" parents are not opting in for private school. And saying it on TV doesn't make it so, nor does it make the Examiner sound particularly indispensible.