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
Oh gee, bxgirl, I meant other people should stop hurling insults at YOU. It’s such a sport on this blog. I’m not much of a humor writer.
However I did just take my own medicine. I trotted over to DonorsChoose.org and donated enough for a middle school in Ft. Greene to purchase scissors (!) and rulers (!!) for a science classroom. If, unlike bxgirl, you have an unfulfilled desire to contribute to public education beyond your taxes, DonorsChoose.org might work for you.
IMO, a good safe school, with adequate supplies, an environment that encourages curiosity and makes learning tolerable if not fun is important, but nothing comes close to the importance of the right environment at home.
The most important factor is time, just spending time with your kid (not watching tv) is one of the best educational tools. My parents couldn’t always take to me museums or educational events, but they read to me ALOT (edgar allen poe and tennison were my bedtime stories) and rescued art books from the trash. They never told me they were too busy to answer a question, even when they were. And they asked me lots of questions too. Essentially, they taught me to be interested in the world, which might be the most important factor in education after all.
Colonel said Mulatto!?! Mulatto, really, we’re saying that now???
Sorry, major major pet peeve.
Back to intelligent discussion.
CSA – i don’t know if we are of the same generation but i was never robbed, mugged etc…i had a great experience traveling to school in bushwick! so i was not in the best areas at all!
Bxgrl, do you even know how much of your taxes goes toward subsidizing the school system as you put? And of that amount, do you think you should get back all of it? Or should some be put aside in the event that you, gasp, might have a child? What if you’re sterile or gay, does that exempt you for subsidizing procreators? When does it end.
What does “quit insulting bxgrl” mean? And I’ll have you know I ve been donating to MFTA and Pencil for years. While paying my taxes for your kid’s school. Maybe you need to quit insulting.
Oh, and while I’m at it, if you want to contribute to schools, DonorsChoose.org is a GREAT way to do it. It is a micro-grant search engine. Teachers or schools submit proposals for smallish things, like a magazine subscription or a digital camera, and some largish things, like large-format printers. You can search by location, subject, needed resource, poverty %, and cost, among other modifiers. I have personally purchased a year’s worth of magazines for a classroom of autistic children, part of a digital camera, and a few other projects I can’t remember. If you donate more than $100, DonorsChoose sends a camera to the benefitting class to take pictures of your gift in action. Then EVERY SINGLE KID writes you a thank you note. You get the whole thing in a big manilla envelope. It is immensely gratifying!
So, put your money where your mouth is. Quit insulting bxgirl and point your browser to DonorsChoose.
Additionally, if you’re shooting for such, you won’t get into a really good law firm if you don’t go to a really good college and law school. But you could certainly hang your shingle and practice.
Rob, apology accepted. Keep on sticking it the man.
Montrose, we are in agreement in principle, if not method. Although my children do not attend my zone school, I have let people there know that my fund-raising, grant-writing, and any other skills and energies are theirs for the asking. They don’t ask. In fact, it’s clear to me that they don’t want. The children who attend that school deserve better than they get, as do all children. But it’s unreasonable to ask me or other parents to throw our children on the pyre of social change. If I sent my children to that school, the only thing that would change is their attitude towards going to school.
Not all schools are so insular, of course. There certainly are low-scoring schools with struggling principals who could use and would welcome help from the community. Don’t wait! Call your local school and ask what you can do. You can donate to the PTA, volunteer tutor (the Gowanus in Unity tutoring program in Boerum Hill is great), present to a class about your job or skills, or just read aloud. In the near future, it is reasonably certain that arts and after-school activities will fall under the budget ax. Many of us here are in a position to help cushion that blow. Start dialing!