Posted on 02/08/2008 3:57:52 AM PST by Man50D
My reading from the last two months is that some states have tightened up and the illegals are movie to “sanctuary” state.
No, I ‘m not referring to only private catholic hs or grade school. The only diocesan hs in my area charges $7,000/yr tuition, and that was the cost when I looked into it 3 years ago. I have no idea what it is now. The prep catholic hs was charging $14,000/yr tution high school and the other non prep, non-diocesan high school (high school in another diocese but closer to this area) was charging $6,000/yr and again those were 3 years ago. I don’t know the tuition of every catholic grade school, only the one I send my children to and other local grade schools, and the high schools in my area (NJ). Our tution is $3,000/yr per kid with each additional kid getting a $150 break. We are considered the lowest tuition in the area. And it just went up again for next year by $250 as it does each year the last few years. The parish school in the next town has their tuition now at $3,700/per year, per kid with a similar discount for each additional child. We also have mandatory fund raisers each month, sometimes more than one per month that require family participation.
Yet for parish schools in Trenton(the city), my Diocese, tuition is much lower. And I do understand that places like Trenton, etc. the alternative is little or no education in dangerous places like the public schools. I grew up in inner city philly and even my parents would have rather see me quit high school if I had to attend the public high schools. Fortunately, I didn’t have to because my parents, poor people, cared about education. Some parents don’t and some parents just can’t afford the tuition.
Our parish catholic school lost over 30 families last year because of the high cost of tuition. Families with more than one or two children just can’t afford it. We put two children through catholic grade school and now we have two more still there. We can’t even consider and couldn’t consider catholic high school, which was at least a half hour bus ride away and each year those who do send their kids to the catholic high schools and catholic prep schools in this area are in fear of losing busing to those schools. The issue comes up each year and it barely squeaks by and gets reduced which addds to less buses which means more time to get to and from school each day.
I’m not saying no poor person in the inner city would pay tuition because they don’t care but I am saying that many don’t care enough or just can’t afford it. We can’t just close the public schools and expect everyone to attend private or parochial schools. It’s not going to happen, imo.
I taught hs in inner city philly and also in a suburb of philly. I taught hs and ms in this area. I can see why teachers are so disillusioned when they teach in the inner cities. They’re not a pleasant place to be for anyone.
Our public K-8 and high school districts are separate districts. The k-8 is ok but sinking fast. Our high school district has 4 high schools and one *transition* school (which means it’s for the behavior problems that can’t function in a regular high school. The only students in my teens high school live in this town as opposed to the other 3 and transition high schools that feed from various townships. The public high school in my town is exceptional, imo, but I only know about the college prep/Honors/AP classes since those are the core classes my teens take. I have no idea what the level 3,4, and 5 classes are like. Also, the catholic high schools and catholic prep high schools don’t track, which I think contributes to the dumbing down of our students.
Very, very interesting, thanks very much for the reply. It’s good to get reports from other locations - it keeps you [me] from thinking you [I] have all the answers !
anyone have a source for this quote?
Q. But where do babies come from?
A. Third-world orphanages. Ask Brad and Angelina.
Cheers!
Every article about Cal schools should start with one word: VOUCHERS.
"Solution:
"Private foundations giving private vouchers to attend private schools."
That is such a simple & brilliant idea and I would certainly donate & support an organization that did something like that. One of the biggest problems with school vouchers is that we have been trying to get the government to pay for them. When I really think about the inherent logical flaw in that idea, it's so obvious, since it's government that always seems to mess things up with good intentions whenever it strays beyond it's legitimate functions.
If Obama & Hillary can raise almost $500 million, why can't we raise an even larger amount for something like this? In my mind, trying to get the government to pay for school vouchers is like using a credit card just to get the free "rewards".
To be truly effective, it would be best to focus on only one offending school district at a time. Probably a small one to start. Maximum effort focused on a single point. Start with one small victory, then another, then another.
I don't think getting the government even more involved is the answer. I'm glad you are home-schooling. One thing I have noticed since I started going back to college a few years ago (to pursue a second degree), is that the home-schooled kids are in general not only much sharper than their peers from even private schools, but that they are also much more well-mannered!
Hang in there!
Unfortunately, when there are the inevitable government school conflicts, the courts examine the issue narrowly. Never to my knowledge have the courts examined the fundamental reason for why there are these eternal conflicts.
The basic conflict is that there can NEVER be a religiously, culturally, or politically neutral education. All schools must make thousands of binary, (one way only), decisions regarding school policies and curriculum. In making these decisions the school establishes a non-neutral worldview.
When the government gets involved in education it WILL establish the religious, cultural, and political worldview of some and trash that of others. Is it any wonder we have these continual tug of wars over government school policies and curriculum?
Exactly!
The founder of Wall Mart ( Walton) started a scholarship fund for vouchers. In my opinion though he spread his money too thinly. It would be better to focus on one small district at a time.
Hmm?... Maybe two districts: One poor and the other rich.
It would be interesting to see how privatizing the education of both groups would lead to improved achievement in both the rich and the poor students.
However....I would only support a **conservative** voucher foundation that would uphold classical liberalism and the Judeo Christian principles upon which this nation was founded. I would also like to see the conservative schools educate the parents as well in conservative principles. They could do this though parent conferences.
That should read: “Through” parent conferences.
Maybe it would be best to start with one or two "Academies" in an area with a large enough population to support such an idea. It wouldn't matter if a person was rich or poor, they could still get a voucher from the private foundation for their children to attend the Academy. Of course there would be a contract that the parents and the student would need to agree to, such as rules of conduct, etc. Students not following the rules could be expelled from the Academy and given the opportunity to return to public or other private schools!
There wouldn't be any need to reinvent the wheel either. There are probably plenty of already accredited private schools that are suffering financially that could be used to begin implementation of this idea. The challenge would be how to raise the money to get started. Having a stated purpose and a proposed curriculum would be an absolute necessity to get donors to buy into the idea. I think it would also be a good idea to not accept any government money right from the beginning, and maybe even put a limit on how much any individual or business could contribute in any given year, since "he who pays the piper is apt to call the tune"!
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