Or, as my kids might say: "Brutal."

[omorka]

Someone finally researched the bloody obvious: that private schools do better because they can weed out kids who don't do as well, not because they educate the kids they have any better. There may be an exception for Jesuit schools and other Catholic schools run by the orders, not the diosces. The SAT exception mentioned in the article is bullshit; private schools admit their scholarship students based precisely on SAT-like tests, and he's wrong that they're not based on innate ability - they're actually closely akin to IQ tests, which most folks who have any stake in them would like to claim measure something innate.

Comments

[lolleeroberts.livejournal.com]

Yep. I went to private school and I was still bored to tears, except in Biology class. (Figures, huh?) But you had to pass an entrance exam to get in, and you had to pay fairly hefty tuition or qualify for a scholarship. Those two requirements meant you either had lots of brains or lots of money and enough brains to get by.

The aura of privilege was occasionally overwhelming. We didn't wear uniforms at the time, and girls would come to school in outfits that cost more than my Dad's car. I was in the "bright but poor to middle-class" set. The expectation was that we would all go to college, and most of us would be offered scholarships. What I remember was the library. It was excellent, and most of my actual education came from the books I read there.

It is deeply ironic to find myself a teacher when I was such an "underachiever" in high school.

[quantumduck.livejournal.com]

As a product of the private school system, but with parents who were literally dirt poor at times, I think I can safely say that the article jibes pretty well with what I experienced. I disagree with your grim view of the difference in SAT performance. I found that critical thinking skills were encouraged at my private school - and they were clearly assaulted at the public schools I went to before that.

Obviously many private schools were not created by dedicated educators with PHDs in education like mine was. Still, I think private schools would be hard pressed to do worse than many of our public schools. I disagree with vouchers on principle, but my folks sure could have used them, since both me and my brother would not have survived the public school system in our youth. My folks went into debt to pay for my education, and I thank them every damn day that I'm able to use my noggin to make a living.

[ghostdogmeta.livejournal.com]

The Jesuit high school I went to had an entrance exam,
and about 50% failed it, so there's already a reduction
of morons who'd slow the rest down. Add in grading
and behavior policies that would let the teachers get rid
of problem students, and yeah, it's a crucible.

As a side note, I was a 'scholarship' student through work-study.
Four nights a week, I worked the phone switchboard.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

The somebody who did the research was doing the research with the explicit goal of proving what his backers (the Democratic Party and the teaching unions) already believed: that private schools were only superior to public schools because of their exclusivity.

Even had he succeeded (and according to the article, he didn't), the data would still be suspect for that reason alone.

The study wasn't research, it was propaganda.

The article also doesn't address the point that tuition for private schools, on average, is about half the average amount spent per student nationwide in American public schools...