My recent college grads both did K-12 at a small non-denominational, classically Christian liberal arts focused private school. Not particularly woke. Not as many "cool" supplemental courses and programs as the public schools, but they learned to read, write, do math, had 4 years of Latin, and to speak in public. They were shocked at how unprepared their STEM program college peers were. And their schools were non Ivies, but both were very selective.
HDW: Sounds like they had some of the elements of a Classical Education. The Science material is crucially important as is formally teaching students how to critically think.
Their science courses were the basics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and a robust math program, thru Calc 2. Since my kids graduated, they added some trendier courses. My D felt that her freshman college pre-med Bio and Chem classes were mostly review.
HDW: These days there is no such thing as basic physics, etc. In K-12 almost all of it is infused with progressive ideology — e.g. fossil fuels are bad, renewables are good. That is not Real Science but rather political science
Ryan: I know only a minimal amount about it, and that looks good. That said I am in the process of checking it out further — lifting up some rocks. I'll let you know what I find out. TY for the good questions.
You are right! When my daughter receives her property tax bill covering public education, she feels it is unfair as she has never had children. It would be wonderful, if President Trump ends property tax...as he has mentioned.
Van: What we are talking about is the extra cost to send a child to a particular school. Most property owners pay property taxes, which funds schools. These are paid whether you have a child or not and whether you send your child to a Private school or a Public school. The question is, using the Public School as a baseline, what extra costs are there for a non-public school. I am NOT saying that there is no cost to operate Public Schools!
I don’t necessarily agree with the social aspect results. I know several home school families who have children that are very sociable and comfortable in speaking with adults. On the other hand, I know several that are schooled in public school that are unable to converse in more than yes and no and answers or “uh” and are not involved in extra curricular or other social activities. They don’t even want to leave their own homes.
Ruth, I agree! The homeschooled children that I have met were very outgoing, mannerly and far more intelligent than most products of public schools. In the last 70 years the mental caliber of the students has gone downhill for a number of reasons...One of the biggest the public schools mandate vaccines, which damage important glands in the brain, which lower the intelligence and affect the consciousness of the student.
Ruth: Not sure what you are referring to as there was no criteria listed about sociability. The first reason for that is that there is no reliable way of measuring a person's "sociability."The second reason is that this is what should be primarily taught in a family, not school.
Great info. I had not heard of Alpha or Thales schools before. I love the idea of bringing back Classical Education. Its loss has hurt us badly.
In any case, I am 100% for a simple (and total) voucher system for every state. State gives a voucher to each kid, and parents choose schools from the menu. Allow new schools to start and compete. End the current "public school" paradigm.
Mike: You;re welcome. I'm sure that many people are not aware of either Alpha Schools or Thales Academies — but they should be. Rather than just complain about public schools, we should: a) try to meaningfully improve them (<https://criticallythinking.substack.com/p/fixing-the-us-education-system>), and b) support quality alternatives.
My recent college grads both did K-12 at a small non-denominational, classically Christian liberal arts focused private school. Not particularly woke. Not as many "cool" supplemental courses and programs as the public schools, but they learned to read, write, do math, had 4 years of Latin, and to speak in public. They were shocked at how unprepared their STEM program college peers were. And their schools were non Ivies, but both were very selective.
HDW: Sounds like they had some of the elements of a Classical Education. The Science material is crucially important as is formally teaching students how to critically think.
Their science courses were the basics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and a robust math program, thru Calc 2. Since my kids graduated, they added some trendier courses. My D felt that her freshman college pre-med Bio and Chem classes were mostly review.
HDW: These days there is no such thing as basic physics, etc. In K-12 almost all of it is infused with progressive ideology — e.g. fossil fuels are bad, renewables are good. That is not Real Science but rather political science
Have you seen any reviews of an 100% on-line option called Acellus? Thanks!
Ryan: I know only a minimal amount about it, and that looks good. That said I am in the process of checking it out further — lifting up some rocks. I'll let you know what I find out. TY for the good questions.
The table commits the usual Democrat fallacy of claiming that expenses hiding in your tax bill result in things — like public education — being free.
You are right! When my daughter receives her property tax bill covering public education, she feels it is unfair as she has never had children. It would be wonderful, if President Trump ends property tax...as he has mentioned.
Van: What we are talking about is the extra cost to send a child to a particular school. Most property owners pay property taxes, which funds schools. These are paid whether you have a child or not and whether you send your child to a Private school or a Public school. The question is, using the Public School as a baseline, what extra costs are there for a non-public school. I am NOT saying that there is no cost to operate Public Schools!
I don’t necessarily agree with the social aspect results. I know several home school families who have children that are very sociable and comfortable in speaking with adults. On the other hand, I know several that are schooled in public school that are unable to converse in more than yes and no and answers or “uh” and are not involved in extra curricular or other social activities. They don’t even want to leave their own homes.
Ruth, I agree! The homeschooled children that I have met were very outgoing, mannerly and far more intelligent than most products of public schools. In the last 70 years the mental caliber of the students has gone downhill for a number of reasons...One of the biggest the public schools mandate vaccines, which damage important glands in the brain, which lower the intelligence and affect the consciousness of the student.
Ruth: Not sure what you are referring to as there was no criteria listed about sociability. The first reason for that is that there is no reliable way of measuring a person's "sociability."The second reason is that this is what should be primarily taught in a family, not school.
Sorry-guess I should have had glasses on! It’s scalable! You can delete comment if you like.
Ruth: No problem. It was early in the morning...
Great info. I had not heard of Alpha or Thales schools before. I love the idea of bringing back Classical Education. Its loss has hurt us badly.
In any case, I am 100% for a simple (and total) voucher system for every state. State gives a voucher to each kid, and parents choose schools from the menu. Allow new schools to start and compete. End the current "public school" paradigm.
See what Sweden dd.
MDee
Mike: You;re welcome. I'm sure that many people are not aware of either Alpha Schools or Thales Academies — but they should be. Rather than just complain about public schools, we should: a) try to meaningfully improve them (<https://criticallythinking.substack.com/p/fixing-the-us-education-system>), and b) support quality alternatives.