The people unhappy with public schools often don't have children in them

[Anonymous]

Read for the details, but the gist is that well over three fourths of parents are satisfied with their child's public school and the satisfaction rates have been going up. Disgruntled people are a clear minority and the majority of those are non-parents. Even in TX, satisfaction rates are up at 68%.

In Virginia, Youngkin's victory which was predicated on dissatisfaction with schools was actually precipitated by a 59% increase in turnout in those over 75 vs. a 9% increase in the 18-74 age group, which includes parents.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/19/opinion/parents-schools.html

[Anonymous]

I saw that article but I don't agree with it. I am still mad about schools in FCPS offering no in person option for one year. I did vote for McA but I am still mad about it. I am definitely not voting for any school board incumbents in 2023.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read for the details, but the gist is that well over three fourths of parents are satisfied with their child's public school and the satisfaction rates have been going up. Disgruntled people are a clear minority and the majority of those are non-parents. Even in TX, satisfaction rates are up at 68%.

In Virginia, Youngkin's victory which was predicated on dissatisfaction with schools was actually precipitated by a 59% increase in turnout in those over 75 vs. a 9% increase in the 18-74 age group, which includes parents.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/19/opinion/parents-schools.html

The majority of Americans are stupid and ignorant, the average reading level is below 6th grade. Over 1/3 of students have no business graduating.

For most of dcum schools are fine because we have wealth to afford good districts, private or can competently play the charter game.

Schools are failing low income and black and brown kids. Everyone should have a problem with that and should be demanding schools to do better.

[Anonymous]

All of society funds public schools, so all of society has a stake in public education. You're not going to win sympathy by trying to divide voters over the matter.

And the NYT has a long history of cherry-picking and manipulating data and anecdotal accounts to fit a narrative. The NYT really does write for its specific audience. I lived in Britain during and after the Brexit vote and the NYT coverage was staggeringly awful and flat out wrong with much of its "data" to the point it had to be deliberately done. It was widely commented in the British presses and that's when I knew I couldn't pay much attention to whatever the NYT writes.

Even the recent Hunter Biden laptop admission doesn't inspire much confidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read for the details, but the gist is that well over three fourths of parents are satisfied with their child's public school and the satisfaction rates have been going up. Disgruntled people are a clear minority and the majority of those are non-parents. Even in TX, satisfaction rates are up at 68%.

In Virginia, Youngkin's victory which was predicated on dissatisfaction with schools was actually precipitated by a 59% increase in turnout in those over 75 vs. a 9% increase in the 18-74 age group, which includes parents.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/19/opinion/parents-schools.html

The majority of Americans are stupid and ignorant, the average reading level is below 6th grade. Over 1/3 of students have no business graduating.

For most of dcum schools are fine because we have wealth to afford good districts, private or can competently play the charter game.

Schools are failing low income and black and brown kids. Everyone should have a problem with that and should be demanding schools to do better.

No, society is scapegoating schools for its ills. Schools see children for 35 hours out of 168 per week and are woefully understaffed compared to what they're asked to do. Teachers are underpaid and they can't fix poverty, single parenthood, overwhelmed parents with more children than they can handle, lack of parental supervision, lack of discipline, gangs, crime, trauma... Heck, they can't even get cell phones and video games out of kids' hands while they're in school. But keep demanding. Won't happen.

[Anonymous]

And on a related note, the people who bash certain public schools on this forum, don’t have kids in those schools.

[Anonymous]

I have a problem with somebody criticizing schools for a reason that is invalid (like CTR), and I have an issue with voting for a republican just to spite local democrats if your politics is generally liberal.

But people can and should care about things that don’t impact them. Like, civil forfeiture doesn’t impact me. But I care about it and I vote accordingly. It’s okay if people who don’t have kids in schools realize that public schools have big problems and they need to be fixed.

[Anonymous]

We liked in person better than virtual but didn’t blame the FCPS decision. There was in person option last January but we stayed with virtual. It’s a pandemic one way or the other parents would have complained about it.

[Anonymous]

Lots of data manipulation to fit a narrative. I wonder if they read DCUM, or are they seeing unhappiness with public schools in the tri-state area as well?

[Anonymous]

Anecdotally, the people I know who are most critical of DC public schools are people with kids too young to be in them. It's a weird thing I've noticed lately -- lots of parents of 2 and 3 year olds who are not yet in school in my circle who have a LOT of opinions about stuff like mayoral control of schools, Covid closures, school masking, etc. I just smile and nod. It goes along with a general habit I've noticed of people who are relatively new parents who think they've figured out everything there is to know about parenting all the way through college graduation. It's a combo of insecurity and arrogance that is annoying but meaningless.

When your kids are actually in public schools, you realize that a lot of the stuff that gets blown up in the media is either way overstated or not that big of a deal. Public schools do indeed teach to the average student. Which is actually fine, since most kids are average! If you have a genius, you'll have to find other ways to challenge them. And if you kid has specific challenges, you'll have to work hard to get them the services and help they need. Guess what? That's true at privates as well. Maybe more true there -- public schools are at least legally required to take students with learning disorders and other challenges.

In the end, the limitation of public school are not that different from the general limitations of life. You have to deal with that eventually anyway.

[Anonymous]

I’m definitely more unhappy with the public schools after leaving for private and seeing first hand just how vast the educational gap was. I knew it was bad, but I did not realize just how bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I saw that article but I don't agree with it. I am still mad about schools in FCPS offering no in person option for one year. I did vote for McA but I am still mad about it. I am definitely not voting for any school board incumbents in 2023.

Me again. I like this op-Ed better and it also echoes what I’ve been saying for years about how we as a society are expecting schools to solve all the problems of poverty.

Why Are We Letting Republicans Win the School Wars?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/21/opinion/democrats-public-education-culture-wars.amp.html

I agree with these authors that this was the correct stat to look at:

“ A recent focus group conducted by a Democratic polling firm showed that education was the top issue cited by Joe Biden supporters who had voted or considered voting for Mr. Youngkin. Participants referred to an array of complaints about education, including a sense that the focus on race and social justice in Virginia’s schools had gone too far, eclipsing core academic subjects. Similar charges echoed through the San Francisco school board election last month as Asian American voters, furious over changes to the admissions process at a highly selective high school, galvanized a movement to oust three school board members.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of society funds public schools, so all of society has a stake in public education. You're not going to win sympathy by trying to divide voters over the matter.

And the NYT has a long history of cherry-picking and manipulating data and anecdotal accounts to fit a narrative. The NYT really does write for its specific audience. I lived in Britain during and after the Brexit vote and the NYT coverage was staggeringly awful and flat out wrong with much of its "data" to the point it had to be deliberately done. It was widely commented in the British presses and that's when I knew I couldn't pay much attention to whatever the NYT writes.

Even the recent Hunter Biden laptop admission doesn't inspire much confidence.

The laptop thing is a major problem for trust in media.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read for the details, but the gist is that well over three fourths of parents are satisfied with their child's public school and the satisfaction rates have been going up. Disgruntled people are a clear minority and the majority of those are non-parents. Even in TX, satisfaction rates are up at 68%.

In Virginia, Youngkin's victory which was predicated on dissatisfaction with schools was actually precipitated by a 59% increase in turnout in those over 75 vs. a 9% increase in the 18-74 age group, which includes parents.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/19/opinion/parents-schools.html

The majority of Americans are stupid and ignorant, the average reading level is below 6th grade. Over 1/3 of students have no business graduating.

For most of dcum schools are fine because we have wealth to afford good districts, private or can competently play the charter game.

Schools are failing low income and black and brown kids. Everyone should have a problem with that and should be demanding schools to do better.

No, society is scapegoating schools for its ills. Schools see children for 35 hours out of 168 per week and are woefully understaffed compared to what they're asked to do. Teachers are underpaid and they can't fix poverty, single parenthood, overwhelmed parents with more children than they can handle, lack of parental supervision, lack of discipline, gangs, crime, trauma... Heck, they can't even get cell phones and video games out of kids' hands while they're in school. But keep demanding. Won't happen.

Exactly this.

No matter how much the clueless boomers complain.

[Anonymous]

This is highly dependent on the ages of your kids, too. My oldest has been in public school for 9 years and we’ve decided to send the younger sibling to private for middle school because we’re dissatisfied with what we’ve seen for the oldest. (Very little writing instruction, math instruction that favors fast pacing over real understanding, zero homework) The elementary years were completely fine, though, and I’m not sure about high school yet.