[lbo-talk] the petro-thusians/Schools

[joanna bujes]

Yes. What Jordan says is true of Oakland. There are some outstanding 
public schools in Oakland. As a parent you have to put in a lot of time 
to figure out which they are, and then you wind up spending a lot of 
time and money figuring out how to get your kid in them, donating lots 
of money so they can have art teachers, physical education, music 
teachers, etc., donating a lot of time to help with field trips, 
mentoring, tutoring, clean up, xtra activities. Etc.

It's both awful and great. It's awful that there's no investment in 
public education: the state is not doing its job. It's awful that only a 
few schools can get the parent involvement. But it's also great. I've 
had the time of my life getting to know other people and working 
together with them to make the schools work for the kids. I've also 
noticed that my participation/concern with school has had an amazing 
positive effect on my daughter's interest in school and her notion of 
its importance.

Joanna

Jordan Hayes wrote:


>>The ethnic composition of BCC resembled that of
>>Baltimore (65% Black) but academic standards were much
>>better than most schools I know, including a
>>suburban HS in PA my wife's kids attend.
>>    
>>
>
>I think that most cities now have a school or two that are designed to
>give urabanites an alternative to suburban private schools, but the
>average experience in the average city is really pretty pathetic.  So
>just because a small number of people can get their presumably
>far-above-average kids into a special school doesn't really negate the
>point: city school systems are dead and Urban Flight both caused it and
>undermined any kind of possibility to fix it.
>
>/jordan
>
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