The Hidden Burden on Middle-Class Families in Public Schools

[Anonymous]

Do UMC and MC families sometimes feel pressure to stay in public? Yes. Where does that pressure come from? Not from poor families. Not from politicians or administrators.

It comes from other UMC and MC families. Why? Because they want to keep socioeconomic peers in the public system. If all the UMC and half the MC families ditch for private, the remaining families DO carry a major burden in the public system. Poor families generally don't have the resources to be very involved. So it will fall on the few MC or UMC families at the school. Whereas if there are lots of MC and UMC families, school engagement and involvement is more spread out and doesn't feel so thankless and miserable.

So the pressure to stay in public is not, in itself, a burden. Stay or go. But for the families that stay, they will carry a heavier burden thanks to those that go. Should you feel guilty about that? I think guilty is a fairly useless emotion. But I don't blame the families left behind for their frustration. The truth is that the public system works best when the participation rates are high. It's a collective action issue. But if you've ever been in a district where all the MC and UMC families go to public school, you've seen it -- these tend to be successful, sought after districts. But it doesn't work when it's just a handful of families. You need critical mass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP. Some of the snarky, shaming voices are starting to quiet as the problem is accelerating. All of my friends who were public school teachers have now left within the last 5 years, because of the obvious problems you cite. Unless you are in a high income, segregated neighborhood, public schools are over.

This!

[Anonymous]

I'm tired of the line that poor families don't have the resources to be involved. Throughout history poor families have always come together to support their kids and communities. SO I'm not sure why they get a pass now.

Also, I'm sick of the push to have charter schools help fill a gap. If they are going to give charter schools more freedom to secure outside funding or implement new programs, or less regulations, why not just make that available to ALL public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP. Some of the snarky, shaming voices are starting to quiet as the problem is accelerating. All of my friends who were public school teachers have now left within the last 5 years, because of the obvious problems you cite. Unless you are in a high income, segregated neighborhood, public schools are over.

This!

Then you had better hope you spot is secure in a k-12 school because if the high performing public kids start going en-mass to private, your kid may not get a spot!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP. Some of the snarky, shaming voices are starting to quiet as the problem is accelerating. All of my friends who were public school teachers have now left within the last 5 years, because of the obvious problems you cite. Unless you are in a high income, segregated neighborhood, public schools are over.

This!

The FARMs rate has been trending up at almost every public school in the DC metro area. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a school under 20%. Fairfax county has gone from 10% in 1991 to 30% FARMs today. MOCO went from 13% to 41% in the same time period. Prince William county went from 10% to 43%. Prince George’s county went from 20% to 65%. Loudoun County went from 7%-23%. There is going to be a massive exodus of UMC, families to privates over the next decade because the number of places where school have higher manageable levels of economically deprived students is growing exponentially. Schools teach to the lowest common denominator and kids in your class don’t know how to read by the time they start kindergarten, kids with involved parents that do won’t learn anything for a couple years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP. Some of the snarky, shaming voices are starting to quiet as the problem is accelerating. All of my friends who were public school teachers have now left within the last 5 years, because of the obvious problems you cite. Unless you are in a high income, segregated neighborhood, public schools are over.

This!

The FARMs rate has been trending up at almost every public school in the DC metro area. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a school under 20%. Fairfax county has gone from 10% in 1991 to 30% FARMs today. MOCO went from 13% to 41% in the same time period. Prince William county went from 10% to 43%. Prince George’s county went from 20% to 65%. Loudoun County went from 7%-23%. There is going to be a massive exodus of UMC, families to privates over the next decade because the number of places where school have higher manageable levels of economically deprived students is growing exponentially. Schools teach to the lowest common denominator and kids in your class don’t know how to read by the time they start kindergarten, kids with involved parents that do won’t learn anything for a couple years.

Higher than manageable*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP. Some of the snarky, shaming voices are starting to quiet as the problem is accelerating. All of my friends who were public school teachers have now left within the last 5 years, because of the obvious problems you cite. Unless you are in a high income, segregated neighborhood, public schools are over.

This!

The FARMs rate has been trending up at almost every public school in the DC metro area. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a school under 20%. Fairfax county has gone from 10% in 1991 to 30% FARMs today. MOCO went from 13% to 41% in the same time period. Prince William county went from 10% to 43%. Prince George’s county went from 20% to 65%. Loudoun County went from 7%-23%. There is going to be a massive exodus of UMC, families to privates over the next decade because the number of places where school have higher manageable levels of economically deprived students is growing exponentially. Schools teach to the lowest common denominator and kids in your class don’t know how to read by the time they start kindergarten, kids with involved parents that do won’t learn anything for a couple years.

I kinda doubt most kids of any socioeconomic background can read when they start K. Where did you get that idea from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP. Some of the snarky, shaming voices are starting to quiet as the problem is accelerating. All of my friends who were public school teachers have now left within the last 5 years, because of the obvious problems you cite. Unless you are in a high income, segregated neighborhood, public schools are over.

This!

The FARMs rate has been trending up at almost every public school in the DC metro area. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a school under 20%. Fairfax county has gone from 10% in 1991 to 30% FARMs today. MOCO went from 13% to 41% in the same time period. Prince William county went from 10% to 43%. Prince George’s county went from 20% to 65%. Loudoun County went from 7%-23%. There is going to be a massive exodus of UMC, families to privates over the next decade because the number of places where school have higher manageable levels of economically deprived students is growing exponentially. Schools teach to the lowest common denominator and kids in your class don’t know how to read by the time they start kindergarten, kids with involved parents that do won’t learn anything for a couple years.

I kinda doubt most kids of any socioeconomic background can read when they start K. Where did you get that idea from?

I was able to read books in preschool and my spouse was reading when they were 3 years old. It’s absurd to me that a kid that is 5 or 6 is not able to read when they start kindergarten. Only kids that are stupid or have uninvolved parents don’t know how to read by this age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP. Some of the snarky, shaming voices are starting to quiet as the problem is accelerating. All of my friends who were public school teachers have now left within the last 5 years, because of the obvious problems you cite. Unless you are in a high income, segregated neighborhood, public schools are over.

This!

The FARMs rate has been trending up at almost every public school in the DC metro area. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a school under 20%. Fairfax county has gone from 10% in 1991 to 30% FARMs today. MOCO went from 13% to 41% in the same time period. Prince William county went from 10% to 43%. Prince George’s county went from 20% to 65%. Loudoun County went from 7%-23%. There is going to be a massive exodus of UMC, families to privates over the next decade because the number of places where school have higher manageable levels of economically deprived students is growing exponentially. Schools teach to the lowest common denominator and kids in your class don’t know how to read by the time they start kindergarten, kids with involved parents that do won’t learn anything for a couple years.

I kinda doubt most kids of any socioeconomic background can read when they start K. Where did you get that idea from?

I was able to read books in preschool and my spouse was reading when they were 3 years old. It’s absurd to me that a kid that is 5 or 6 is not able to read when they start kindergarten. Only kids that are stupid or have uninvolved parents don’t know how to read by this age.

I mean this is just objectively untrue? I was also reading before kindergarten, but it's not the only sign of intelligence. My own kid wasn't and she was a 98th percentile reader by the beginning of third grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP. Some of the snarky, shaming voices are starting to quiet as the problem is accelerating. All of my friends who were public school teachers have now left within the last 5 years, because of the obvious problems you cite. Unless you are in a high income, segregated neighborhood, public schools are over.

This!

The FARMs rate has been trending up at almost every public school in the DC metro area. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a school under 20%. Fairfax county has gone from 10% in 1991 to 30% FARMs today. MOCO went from 13% to 41% in the same time period. Prince William county went from 10% to 43%. Prince George’s county went from 20% to 65%. Loudoun County went from 7%-23%. There is going to be a massive exodus of UMC, families to privates over the next decade because the number of places where school have higher manageable levels of economically deprived students is growing exponentially. Schools teach to the lowest common denominator and kids in your class don’t know how to read by the time they start kindergarten, kids with involved parents that do won’t learn anything for a couple years.

I kinda doubt most kids of any socioeconomic background can read when they start K. Where did you get that idea from?

I was able to read books in preschool and my spouse was reading when they were 3 years old. It’s absurd to me that a kid that is 5 or 6 is not able to read when they start kindergarten. Only kids that are stupid or have uninvolved parents don’t know how to read by this age.

It's not developmentally appropriate to sit your kid down and teach them to read that young. If they pick stuff up at storytime, fine, but kids are supposed to be playing outside and pretending at this age.

Only stupid parents don't know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP. Some of the snarky, shaming voices are starting to quiet as the problem is accelerating. All of my friends who were public school teachers have now left within the last 5 years, because of the obvious problems you cite. Unless you are in a high income, segregated neighborhood, public schools are over.

This!

The FARMs rate has been trending up at almost every public school in the DC metro area. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a school under 20%. Fairfax county has gone from 10% in 1991 to 30% FARMs today. MOCO went from 13% to 41% in the same time period. Prince William county went from 10% to 43%. Prince George’s county went from 20% to 65%. Loudoun County went from 7%-23%. There is going to be a massive exodus of UMC, families to privates over the next decade because the number of places where school have higher manageable levels of economically deprived students is growing exponentially. Schools teach to the lowest common denominator and kids in your class don’t know how to read by the time they start kindergarten, kids with involved parents that do won’t learn anything for a couple years.

I kinda doubt most kids of any socioeconomic background can read when they start K. Where did you get that idea from?

I was able to read books in preschool and my spouse was reading when they were 3 years old. It’s absurd to me that a kid that is 5 or 6 is not able to read when they start kindergarten. Only kids that are stupid or have uninvolved parents don’t know how to read by this age.

It's not developmentally appropriate to sit your kid down and teach them to read that young. If they pick stuff up at storytime, fine, but kids are supposed to be playing outside and pretending at this age.

Only stupid parents don't know this.

I enjoyed reading and would pick up science books myself at 4 years old to read them. Kids develop at widely different rates and many are more than capable of reading at 3 or 4 years old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s mind boggling to me why education in US is so subpar compared to poorer countries like India or Russia.

American teachers are as a majority very mediocre and are poorly educated themselves.

DC is a selective state public magnet school and they teach to level to get a 3 in AP classes. They had to do a special class in 9th grade on punctuation and in 10th grade on how to use the ruler and protractor. They’re teaching chemistry with open book for every quiz and test. DC barely has homework in high school because the teachers don’t want to grade it. The bar is so low.

You're kidding right? There are no special needs kids or IEPs in Russian or Indian schools, they don't go to school or are institutionalized. Kids are kicked out for misbehavior and dumped from school to school. There is one language and way fewer non native speakers and the society is more homogenous. Russia is passing legislation that kids and parents of Caucasian republic immigrants need to speak Russian to go to school. They funnel boys to the army at 18. In India there are school fees and you pick the school based on what you can afford and it's one of the few ways out of desperate poverty. Those too poor don't go to school at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP. Some of the snarky, shaming voices are starting to quiet as the problem is accelerating. All of my friends who were public school teachers have now left within the last 5 years, because of the obvious problems you cite. Unless you are in a high income, segregated neighborhood, public schools are over.

This!

The FARMs rate has been trending up at almost every public school in the DC metro area. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a school under 20%. Fairfax county has gone from 10% in 1991 to 30% FARMs today. MOCO went from 13% to 41% in the same time period. Prince William county went from 10% to 43%. Prince George’s county went from 20% to 65%. Loudoun County went from 7%-23%. There is going to be a massive exodus of UMC, families to privates over the next decade because the number of places where school have higher manageable levels of economically deprived students is growing exponentially. Schools teach to the lowest common denominator and kids in your class don’t know how to read by the time they start kindergarten, kids with involved parents that do won’t learn anything for a couple years.

I kinda doubt most kids of any socioeconomic background can read when they start K. Where did you get that idea from?

I was able to read books in preschool and my spouse was reading when they were 3 years old. It’s absurd to me that a kid that is 5 or 6 is not able to read when they start kindergarten. Only kids that are stupid or have uninvolved parents don’t know how to read by this age.

It's not developmentally appropriate to sit your kid down and teach them to read that young. If they pick stuff up at storytime, fine, but kids are supposed to be playing outside and pretending at this age.

Only stupid parents don't know this.

I enjoyed reading and would pick up science books myself at 4 years old to read them. Kids develop at widely different rates and many are more than capable of reading at 3 or 4 years old.

+1. “Developmentally appropriate” is such a lame justification for not teaching something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm super bummed when people peel off for privates, when I thought their values aligned more with ours in being part of public school and the wider community. Whether they're super wealthy or not. We could afford private (it would be a stretch, but...) trying hard to put my money where my mouth is and keep my kids in public - and invest in public.

+1

We value our public schools and choose to send our kids to our local schools and invest our time in the school community.

We are all better off with good public schools. It’s a shame when people GAF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP. Some of the snarky, shaming voices are starting to quiet as the problem is accelerating. All of my friends who were public school teachers have now left within the last 5 years, because of the obvious problems you cite. Unless you are in a high income, segregated neighborhood, public schools are over.

This!

The FARMs rate has been trending up at almost every public school in the DC metro area. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a school under 20%. Fairfax county has gone from 10% in 1991 to 30% FARMs today. MOCO went from 13% to 41% in the same time period. Prince William county went from 10% to 43%. Prince George’s county went from 20% to 65%. Loudoun County went from 7%-23%. There is going to be a massive exodus of UMC, families to privates over the next decade because the number of places where school have higher manageable levels of economically deprived students is growing exponentially. Schools teach to the lowest common denominator and kids in your class don’t know how to read by the time they start kindergarten, kids with involved parents that do won’t learn anything for a couple years.

I kinda doubt most kids of any socioeconomic background can read when they start K. Where did you get that idea from?

I was able to read books in preschool and my spouse was reading when they were 3 years old. It’s absurd to me that a kid that is 5 or 6 is not able to read when they start kindergarten. Only kids that are stupid or have uninvolved parents don’t know how to read by this age.

You are one ignorant mofo.