Originally posted by Weird Little Self Loathing Man:
My point is, until parents that give a shit about their kids' education start putting their kids in public schools, the public schools are going to be filled with kids of parents who don't give a shit.
Not the case at all. I've done a lot of work with the DCPC schools (not in the past few years, but a lot in the late 90s, early 00s). There are all kinds of parents that are really involved, who care deeply and get things done for their own kids' schools. Does this make the full system better? Not necessarily. And I'm betting that you assume that the 'involved' parents all live in a particular zip code or two (where the parents are largely sending kids to private schools now). Also not the case. What I found most amazing (and inspiring) is how parental and
community (ie, non-parents) involvement varies by no rhyme or reason. It's usually about the principal. And note, it usually involves non-parent community involvement as well. There are some schools that are real bastions of success (on a relative scale).
I think what Brennser may have experienced or heard about is when you have a few parents trying to fix a school, and they find themselves alone -- you need a critical mass to get things done. So individual families can be frustrated with their school situation.
I'm not defending the DC school system, trust me. I'm not sure how it gets fixed, but it needs systemic change.
Parents, though, are not where the real fault lies.
