A very thought provoking read, thank you. I’d be curious in the breakdown of the stats on violence. I suspect (though open to be totally wrong) that that aspect is more prevalent in low income, metropolitan areas. If so, the parents in those areas are highly unlikely to be able to have the time or means to engage in a meaningful debate or discussion about the challenges of the current schooling structure.
Which is why I’m intrigued to hear your thoughts on the actions that might be possible.
I was able to find some data about the violence rates for different school settings, percentage of minority students, and percentage of students eligible for free/reduced-price lunches (the latter of which may be an imperfect proxy for SES): https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_229.30.asp?current=yes . It looks like the rate of violent incidents is about three times higher in schools with 76%-100% of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches compared to that in schools with 0%-25% of such students (see Column 5). Also, city schools have almost twice the rate of violent incidents of suburban schools.
Jason, excellent question/points, and the report I mentioned did not break down these numbers by SES. All data on violence I have seen, though, support your assumption that violence and SES are connected in most cases, so I do not doubt you are correct.
However, to your point about parents from lower SESs being limited in debating these issues or making changes, although I don't discount that, I have encountered numerous studies and stories that show alt-ed is growing fastest in such low-income areas. For example, see https://fee.org/articles/new-research-reveals-the-breadth-and-impact-of-the-microschooling-movement/ ; https://news.wttw.com/2023/01/14/more-chicago-families-turning-private-charter-schools-cps-enrollment-declines ; and https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/03/homeschooling-on-the-rise-during-covid-19-pandemic.html . As the second article notes, of the students who have left Chicago Public Schools over the last three years, "ninety-one percent of those students who left are from low-income, predominantly minority households. They are choosing private education and charter schooling instead." So, I think the best action step for parents in any area, but especially in low-income areas, is to explore the alt-ed options in those areas and even consider opening others. As the articles detail, the entrepreneurs at many of these schools are local residents who wanted a change. Also, judging by the overwhelming response to charter-school lotteries in places like NYC, I suspect many parents in low-income areas around the country have found the time and the means (perhaps with the help of grants and other financial-aid mechanisms) to make beneficial changes in their children's education. Thankfully, we have numerous entrepreneurs in these areas who are willing to help and to make the process of exiting the government-school maw a bit easier.
Such an important topic. As a parent, keeping my kids out of public schools (and really any 'traditional' schools for that matter) is a key factor in their upbringing.
Hopefully, the penultimate paragraph's call to action gets through to some parents who would otherwise just take the public school route.
Your connection between public schools and traditional schools is crucial, too, because I know many parents opt for private schools as alternatives to government schools, but most private schools use the same ineffective and often harmful bell-based, hierarchical, teacher-centered arrangement that government schools do. So what did you really gain besides the ability to have entrance criteria (which is not nothing)?
I want to provide more actionable ideas in these articles, so I do hope that parents will read this and at least investigate some of these amazing options that are growing each day. As I mentioned, in future articles, I want to spotlight some of these learning options in more depth because I know many people are completely unfamiliar with them and/or simply feel more comfortable with the traditional model because that is what most of us experienced in our youths.
Thanks as always for reading, commenting, and liking.
A very thought provoking read, thank you. I’d be curious in the breakdown of the stats on violence. I suspect (though open to be totally wrong) that that aspect is more prevalent in low income, metropolitan areas. If so, the parents in those areas are highly unlikely to be able to have the time or means to engage in a meaningful debate or discussion about the challenges of the current schooling structure.
Which is why I’m intrigued to hear your thoughts on the actions that might be possible.
I was able to find some data about the violence rates for different school settings, percentage of minority students, and percentage of students eligible for free/reduced-price lunches (the latter of which may be an imperfect proxy for SES): https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_229.30.asp?current=yes . It looks like the rate of violent incidents is about three times higher in schools with 76%-100% of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches compared to that in schools with 0%-25% of such students (see Column 5). Also, city schools have almost twice the rate of violent incidents of suburban schools.
Jason, excellent question/points, and the report I mentioned did not break down these numbers by SES. All data on violence I have seen, though, support your assumption that violence and SES are connected in most cases, so I do not doubt you are correct.
However, to your point about parents from lower SESs being limited in debating these issues or making changes, although I don't discount that, I have encountered numerous studies and stories that show alt-ed is growing fastest in such low-income areas. For example, see https://fee.org/articles/new-research-reveals-the-breadth-and-impact-of-the-microschooling-movement/ ; https://news.wttw.com/2023/01/14/more-chicago-families-turning-private-charter-schools-cps-enrollment-declines ; and https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/03/homeschooling-on-the-rise-during-covid-19-pandemic.html . As the second article notes, of the students who have left Chicago Public Schools over the last three years, "ninety-one percent of those students who left are from low-income, predominantly minority households. They are choosing private education and charter schooling instead." So, I think the best action step for parents in any area, but especially in low-income areas, is to explore the alt-ed options in those areas and even consider opening others. As the articles detail, the entrepreneurs at many of these schools are local residents who wanted a change. Also, judging by the overwhelming response to charter-school lotteries in places like NYC, I suspect many parents in low-income areas around the country have found the time and the means (perhaps with the help of grants and other financial-aid mechanisms) to make beneficial changes in their children's education. Thankfully, we have numerous entrepreneurs in these areas who are willing to help and to make the process of exiting the government-school maw a bit easier.
Such an important topic. As a parent, keeping my kids out of public schools (and really any 'traditional' schools for that matter) is a key factor in their upbringing.
Hopefully, the penultimate paragraph's call to action gets through to some parents who would otherwise just take the public school route.
Your connection between public schools and traditional schools is crucial, too, because I know many parents opt for private schools as alternatives to government schools, but most private schools use the same ineffective and often harmful bell-based, hierarchical, teacher-centered arrangement that government schools do. So what did you really gain besides the ability to have entrance criteria (which is not nothing)?
I want to provide more actionable ideas in these articles, so I do hope that parents will read this and at least investigate some of these amazing options that are growing each day. As I mentioned, in future articles, I want to spotlight some of these learning options in more depth because I know many people are completely unfamiliar with them and/or simply feel more comfortable with the traditional model because that is what most of us experienced in our youths.
Thanks as always for reading, commenting, and liking.