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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I actually question the same thing. In this area the cohort that attend public and private is much the same, upper middle class parents who at least the majority are invested in their kids education. [/quote]

I live in an area like what you describe, and I wonder if most parents really know what the school day is like. I do, because I've volunteered a lot at my child's school, worked part time in a different elementary school in the same district. I have read the district curriculum guides.

Here's what I have seen: There are a small number of kids - maybe 2-3 in my kid's class of 17, not sure of other grades - that are a problem daily. Most of school is structured around getting these kids to comply by cajoling, pleading, setting up elaborate rewards systems, and giving junk incentives like toys, youtube videos, using the ipad apps, and Disney movie viewings. The whole class watches movies, Lego cooking videos, lines up to turn in tickets from the teacher's "store" every single week (all time taken out of instructional time). I'm moving my kid to an environment where kids are hopefully just expected to learn. Most children like to learn and they should be in an environment that promotes that. Catholic schools can do that, because they can still dole our reach consequences, including expulsion. Public school doesn't care about my kid's experience, since he is already above grade level and they need to deal with the 2-3 problem kids and hopefully reach the other 3-4 kids that are reading below grade level or can't do double digit addition.

There are also curriculum issues at our public, which again... even if you are well off and educated, you might not know about unless you are following along closely, have dug around to read the district websites and also been following educational news. The class is running behind in math (due to a "exploratory math curriculum") and in literacy (Calkins, no spelling or grammar). The teacher seems too frazzled or lazy to even assign math homework at this point. I thought by 2nd or 3rd grade, the kids would go beyond writing whatever and however they want (the thinking being that the teachers don't want to crush their big thoughts and inventive spelling), but no. Many parents seem to supplement outside of school with Beast Academy, Kumon, and after school enrichment academies, which are all fine, but at that point, what kind of time is left for family time, sports, music, exploring interests, and being a kid? We have the money to supplement, but I want the time back.[/quote]

Most public schools don’t assign homework until HS and even then, they often let kids do it in class. How do you think all of these kids have so much time to do all of the after school activities? Little to no homework. [/quote]

It is fascinating to me seeing kids just hanging around at the mall. My high school junior never has time for that. This is why college outcomes are so much stronger for kids in private schools. Colleges realize that kids in private/Catholic schools are actually applying themselves outside of the classroom.[/quote]

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