The Shifting School Equation
There wasn’t room to discuss it yesterday, but we suspect the public/private school issue is on a number of people’s minds. Over the weekend, The Times ran an article about the number of people who bought their apartments in recent years with the assumption that they would send their kids to private school. Now that…
There wasn’t room to discuss it yesterday, but we suspect the public/private school issue is on a number of people’s minds. Over the weekend, The Times ran an article about the number of people who bought their apartments in recent years with the assumption that they would send their kids to private school. Now that the economic downturn has made that a more difficult proposition, they are left to confront the limitations of their own school district. In some cases, parents are even considering renting a cheap apartment within a good school district just to get access—after all, it would be cheaper than the $30,000+ tuition in Manhattan. (It’s more like $25,000 here in Brooklyn.) Question for the renters and those in the market to buy in Brooklyn: Has the school issue shifted your real estate plans since the downturn began?
The Sudden Charm of Public School [NY Times]
Photo by Steve and Sara
lechacal – i agree with everything you have said so far – my children are average and i love them and i will spend my time and money giving them a good life, taking them on vacations and enrolling them in an extra curricula activites that they want to do.
i will not spend 50k a year on kindergarten!
I wish luck to everyone who chooses NYC public schools for their children. I hope it works out for them. Unfortunately, I feel it is terrible system for a myriad of reasons already discussed (budgets, bureaucracy etc…). One thing that hasn’t been discussed is the testing system. Great you move into a good school district to get a good elementary school, but by age 8 (3rd grade) they are testing to see if they can get into a good middle school (which more than likely they will need to commute to). Then they again need to test into a good high school (of which they are only a few) which more than likely they will need to commute a minimum of 30 minutes. All the while they never go to school with kids from their own neighborhood (after elementary school). And even then that isn’t even always the case since so many families move after getting into a good school district. These reasons along with a host of others lead me to feel that NYC Public Schools are just not the way to go if you have the choice. I wish Brooklyn could become the utopia that all of you people not originally from NYC want it to be. Good luck.
lechacal is spot on here.
um, you can argue about this school vs. that school all you want. the most telling stat about the public school system in this city is that the on-time graduation rate is less than 50%. pathetic and scary.
http://tinyurl.com/c6dnh2
SERIOUSLY PEOPLE — “HIGHER ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT???” IN FRIGGING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL???? STOP DOING THIS TO YOUR POOR CHILDREN!!!!
(had to resort to all caps yelling for this one)
CSA – i believe the reason you don’t see the diversity at PS11 & 20 is b/c alot of these diverse (white) parents have young children. i went on the prek tour at PS 11 a few months ago. almost every class room was 100% black. however, i was 1 of maybe 5 blacks that showed up for the tour. there were at least 100 parents in attendance for the tour. so the shift is clearly happening…
Bed-stuy – “And I agree that kids who have a college educated parent and books at home have a leg up on the competition. But it is that very fact that necessitates that the schools have the funds and wherewithal to help balance the playing field.”
I do not think it is the “college education” and the “books at home” that causes the higher academic achievement; they are a by-product of a family culture of educational emphasis and I’m afraid that there is no amount of “funds or wherewithal” that can materially bridge this gap.
Architerrorist: So what if your kid wasn’t able to take french? Is she happy? Does she have friends? Is she developing confidence and good social skills?
Do you really think she actually “wants” to learn French, as opposed to having multilingualism strongly suggested to her (one of the many ways liberal and culturally white parents attempt to live vicariously through their children)? I bet she doesn’t give a wet slap about becoming multi-lingual.
And fwiw almost no one who learns a second language in school becomes fluent (move to another country if you want to do that). Most of them manage to forget almost all of their language skills by the time they are working adults.
Being judgmental again…. uh-oh.
Ringo:
“58 is a really great school and an interesting case. when I have more time. it has to do with projects not being the same everywhere and 58 has a large immigrant population which can bring up test scores (ditto Shuang Wen)”
I’ll be waiting for you to “have more time”.
I’m curious where Carroll Gardens “immigrant population” comes from.