In the beginning...
I was one of those kids who grew up believing everything I read. It was disillusioning to learn that people lie in print, either intentionally or negligently. One of the goals of good schools should be to teach young people to be good “crap detectors.”
Because we can’t all be experts at everything, we do depend on other people to have done some research for us when we read items from sources generally considered to be reputable in areas that we don’t have time to get smart about for ourselves. Major newspaper used to be considered such a source.
When a friend of mine told me that his pejorative comment on a recent Tucson Citizen editorial on private schooling has been denied inclusion in their "Comments" section, I figured he had gone overboard. After reading the article (which you can see here: www.tucsoncitizen/altss/printhistory/113136 ), I realized he had not gone overboard.
Setting the record straight
From the article:
Public schools are held accountable…they constantly have to demonstrate student performance on many subjects in multiple grades.
The truth:
Well, yes and no. “Constantly” is a bit of a stretch there since the AIMS testing is only done once a year. And the bar is pitifully low, so low that I don’t know of any private school here in Tucson that would object to having to meet those low standards, if they thought they were relevant. Speaking for the eleven private Christian schools with which I am affiliated, there is not one which does not give high-quality, nationally-normed standardized achievement tests once per year. I am sure each would be glad to reveal their results to anyone who asks. In fact, some of them even publish the results on their web sites.
The author also assumes that the mere reporting of AIMS testing enacts some consequence against under-performing schools. As recently as last October, there are still 158 “underperforming” schools in Arizona, and twenty that are on the “failing” list (three consecutive years of “underperforming”). The only stated consequence for being on the failing list is that the State of Arizona will "take over" the school or district (whoa – that should change everything!) When asked in October if the state would be taking over the only complete district that is failing – Creighton Elementary School District in Phoenix - State Superintendent of Education Tom Horne said, “We will probably not.” Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Accountability!
Of course, this whole discussion assumes that the most important measure of any school would be test score results, but thinking parents,who research private schools and exercise their freedom to choose, actually look for much more than that, as they should. I don’t know of a test that measures hallway fornication, which is what one friend of mine witnessed in a local high school just before withdrawing his daughter to place her in private school.
From the article:
Parochial and other private schools need not divulge a thing – neither test scores or anything about staff or student behavior or misbehavior. Everything’s a secret.
The truth:
What wonderfully naïve writer for the Tucson Citizen has not heard of the "Family Rights and Privacy Act," which has been around since 1974? This repressive bit of heavy-handed Big Brotherism really has made everything about students in public schools a secret. The really amazing thing about this is that it is only binding on schools that receive federal funding – hmmm, in other words, NOT private schools. They are only governed by prudence and good judgment. What a concept!
Let’s examine a root presupposition about accountability here, while we’re at it. The writer presumes that the proper and best place for accountability is in the hands of the government. Those of us in the private educational sector have long known that a paying parent is much more demanding, and scrutinizes even more carefully the full picture of whether a school is performing adequately. The very vouchers which the article demonizes would empower even more parents to have this kind of freedom of choice. There must be a nice gulag somewhere we can ship this writer to, where he or she would be much happier with “accountability.” Or maybe no one reads 1984 in public schools anymore.
From the article:
So why should tax dollars go to clandestine, for-profit schools? They should not.
The truth:
Are you ready for this? The only for-profit schools in Arizona (other than post-secondary schools like University of Phoenix) are some (but not most) charter schools – and guess what? Charter schools are public schools and receive district money, state money, federal money – you name it. The vast majority of private schools, including all of the Christian schools in Tucson, are non-profit, 501 (c) (3) corporations. We’re really gettin’ rich out here. And we want "clandestine" use of more and more of your righteous tax dollars, sucker-citizens!
From the article:
But private schools can admit solely Catholic kids, or only Jewish kids, or only kids with certain academic achievement levels.
The truth:
Well, of course they can. That’s called “freedom.” But most don’t, at least not as exclusively as the author implies. In particular, since he or she picked on Catholic schools, the non-Catholic enrollment of Catholic schools is famously high and well-documented.
What is important, in this respect, is that, as non-profit corporations, they are bound by law not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, or ethnic origin. Can’t do it. Now, that’s important.
In (and about) Closing…
Well, I could go on, but you get the point. It is certainly fine for the author to hate private schools if he or she wants, and freedom of the press allows him or her to say so publicly. But printing crap is really a bad practice and some day it will catch up with someone – oh, wait! Isn’t this the newspaper that’s going to shut down soon?
Great day, come soon!
I was one of those kids who grew up believing everything I read. It was disillusioning to learn that people lie in print, either intentionally or negligently. One of the goals of good schools should be to teach young people to be good “crap detectors.”
Because we can’t all be experts at everything, we do depend on other people to have done some research for us when we read items from sources generally considered to be reputable in areas that we don’t have time to get smart about for ourselves. Major newspaper used to be considered such a source.
When a friend of mine told me that his pejorative comment on a recent Tucson Citizen editorial on private schooling has been denied inclusion in their "Comments" section, I figured he had gone overboard. After reading the article (which you can see here: www.tucsoncitizen/altss/printhistory/113136 ), I realized he had not gone overboard.
Setting the record straight
From the article:
Public schools are held accountable…they constantly have to demonstrate student performance on many subjects in multiple grades.
The truth:
Well, yes and no. “Constantly” is a bit of a stretch there since the AIMS testing is only done once a year. And the bar is pitifully low, so low that I don’t know of any private school here in Tucson that would object to having to meet those low standards, if they thought they were relevant. Speaking for the eleven private Christian schools with which I am affiliated, there is not one which does not give high-quality, nationally-normed standardized achievement tests once per year. I am sure each would be glad to reveal their results to anyone who asks. In fact, some of them even publish the results on their web sites.
The author also assumes that the mere reporting of AIMS testing enacts some consequence against under-performing schools. As recently as last October, there are still 158 “underperforming” schools in Arizona, and twenty that are on the “failing” list (three consecutive years of “underperforming”). The only stated consequence for being on the failing list is that the State of Arizona will "take over" the school or district (whoa – that should change everything!) When asked in October if the state would be taking over the only complete district that is failing – Creighton Elementary School District in Phoenix - State Superintendent of Education Tom Horne said, “We will probably not.” Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Accountability!
Of course, this whole discussion assumes that the most important measure of any school would be test score results, but thinking parents,who research private schools and exercise their freedom to choose, actually look for much more than that, as they should. I don’t know of a test that measures hallway fornication, which is what one friend of mine witnessed in a local high school just before withdrawing his daughter to place her in private school.
From the article:
Parochial and other private schools need not divulge a thing – neither test scores or anything about staff or student behavior or misbehavior. Everything’s a secret.
The truth:
What wonderfully naïve writer for the Tucson Citizen has not heard of the "Family Rights and Privacy Act," which has been around since 1974? This repressive bit of heavy-handed Big Brotherism really has made everything about students in public schools a secret. The really amazing thing about this is that it is only binding on schools that receive federal funding – hmmm, in other words, NOT private schools. They are only governed by prudence and good judgment. What a concept!
Let’s examine a root presupposition about accountability here, while we’re at it. The writer presumes that the proper and best place for accountability is in the hands of the government. Those of us in the private educational sector have long known that a paying parent is much more demanding, and scrutinizes even more carefully the full picture of whether a school is performing adequately. The very vouchers which the article demonizes would empower even more parents to have this kind of freedom of choice. There must be a nice gulag somewhere we can ship this writer to, where he or she would be much happier with “accountability.” Or maybe no one reads 1984 in public schools anymore.
From the article:
So why should tax dollars go to clandestine, for-profit schools? They should not.
The truth:
Are you ready for this? The only for-profit schools in Arizona (other than post-secondary schools like University of Phoenix) are some (but not most) charter schools – and guess what? Charter schools are public schools and receive district money, state money, federal money – you name it. The vast majority of private schools, including all of the Christian schools in Tucson, are non-profit, 501 (c) (3) corporations. We’re really gettin’ rich out here. And we want "clandestine" use of more and more of your righteous tax dollars, sucker-citizens!
From the article:
But private schools can admit solely Catholic kids, or only Jewish kids, or only kids with certain academic achievement levels.
The truth:
Well, of course they can. That’s called “freedom.” But most don’t, at least not as exclusively as the author implies. In particular, since he or she picked on Catholic schools, the non-Catholic enrollment of Catholic schools is famously high and well-documented.
What is important, in this respect, is that, as non-profit corporations, they are bound by law not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, or ethnic origin. Can’t do it. Now, that’s important.
In (and about) Closing…
Well, I could go on, but you get the point. It is certainly fine for the author to hate private schools if he or she wants, and freedom of the press allows him or her to say so publicly. But printing crap is really a bad practice and some day it will catch up with someone – oh, wait! Isn’t this the newspaper that’s going to shut down soon?
Great day, come soon!
1 comment:
Unfortunately the link to the article was not working so I was unable to read it. It sounds like the author editorialized without knowing the facts. I liked your point about accountability in the free market, my economics professor used to always say vote with your dollars.
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