What didn't make sense to me was when they said that the system where the money follows the kid, regardless of the school, is a success in Milwaukee. I live near Milwaukee, and the public schools are still failing miserably. I don't know the facts or figures, but the graduation rate is terrible and the reading level is ridiculously low. Few kids in MPS (milwaukee public schools) actually want to learn, and even so, they are held back by everybody else. There are huge discipline problems. And regardless of if you are smart enough or not, damn near every kid passes his/her grade.
We have something in place called "chapter 220" which is bussing some kids out to the suburbs for better education. Based on the ones at my school, about half really took advantage of the opportunity for a better education and the other half just fucked off got in trouble.
It's sickening. If only these people understood what they were passing up. Something major needs to be done with MPS. The low education level why the poverty level and crime level are so high in Milwaukee.
In contrast, my school district had one of the highest ACT averages in Wisconsin. And Wisconsin has some of the highest ACT averages in the nation. (They are ranked 9th, with 70% of students taking the test. 7 of the 8 states that did better only tested 11 to 22% of their students, likely their top students. See
here)
Personally, I don't see any reason to send a kid to private school, at least in my area. The only thing is that my (former) high school, although being extremely good academically, has one of the highest drug and alcohol problems in the nation, supposedly. Although that is great when you are going there, it's not what I would want for my kids (if I had kids), obviously.
But to think there aren't drugs and alcohol in public schools in naive. I don't care what school you go to, you will be exposed to drugs and alcohol, and they will be available. And these days with Meth and Heroine being so popular, that's a scary thing. I don't have any problem with someone wanting to smoke a little grass, or trying shrooms or blow a couple times, but Meth and Heroine aren't anything to fuck around with.
The other option is home schooling. I don't believe in it at all. Not because of the level of education for the kids, as education from two well-educated parents with one on one teaching is probably the best thing, academically. The problem is the social aspect. Of the few people I know who were home schooled, they are weird. Not like the run of the mill weird kids, but really fuckin' weird.
If you feel home schooling is a must, you have to get your kids involved in outside activities immediately. Get them into programs at the YMCA. Get them in Little League, or dance class, or whatever you can to get them to socialize with peers. If not, the chance of raising a kid that is socially inept is just too great.
We all want the best education for our kids so they can be smart, get good jobs, and be successful. But what is even more important is that they are successful socially. True friendships are some of the most valuable things in the world. And spending quality time with friend when you are young is some of the most precious time in a person's life. So if you are going to home school your kids, please don't take that away from them.
