Pittsburgh Bishop Rejects Common Core Standards

[pnewton]

The major reason public schools do so poorly is lack of parental involvement.

That is a legitimate point, and one reason not to compare schools head-to-head. However, this also raises the question of whether or not private schools more actively engage parents to be involved in education and if they do, shouldn’t all children have a chance to attend and education funds be divided justly?

 

[JimG]

I can certainly agree that the reason many public schools fail is the lack of parental involvement. I would go further to say that the major reason for the lack of success is the students’ lack, increasingly, of an intact family. This problem has been getting worse for decades. Until the crumbling of family can be reversed, nothing any school can do will significantly help. The main predictor of success in life is not education, but living in an intact functioning family.

The government can’t help with that. All it can do is stop helping family structures to disintegrate.

 

[Dulcinea2721]

1. Yes.
2. Yes, a portion of your property taxes fund the public school system. None of this money goes to Catholic or private schools.

Thank you

Back to lurking!

 

[shockerfan]

The major reason public schools do so poorly is lack of parental involvement.

I would say that parental involvement is definitely an important factor. I would also not discount lack of rigor in many public schools, or the inability of many public schools to fire incompetent teachers (due to teachers unions).

Regarding lack of rigor…in the city I used to live in, I remember looking at the math homework of my neighbor’s public school 3rd grader and my son’s 1st grade Catholic school math, and there was no doubt the 3rd grader’s math was much easier. [Like 2+3 = ?, with the answer 5 being shown with a dotted line…no thinking required]. Also, had a scenario in the same town where they had a public magnet school that kids had to test into. It catered to the best and the brightest from across the city…didn’t matter what district the child was in, until one day a “bright” school board member felt it was not fair that kids near the school could not attend (because they couldn’t pass the tests), do they forced the magnet school to accept the local kids. Test scores dropped like a rock. Basically, every thing had to be “dumbed-down”, thus ruining the concept of getting bright kids together and pushing them to succeed.

Not all public schools are like that, but certainly an issue at many.

 

[qui_est_ce]

You substantially overestimate the competence of parents

WOW

I guess the government does a better job of being a competent parent.

 

[qui_est_ce]

Can someone clarify this point…
1.Are catholic schools considered private in the USA?
2. You automatically pay a portion of your property taxes to the public system (IOW you do not get to choose public or catholic)

Private and Public have the opposite meanings in the US than in the UK.

Public schools are funded by tax dollars and run by local school boards whose members are elected at large.

Private schools generally don’t get tax dollars and are run by private boards. Most of the private schools in the US are Catholic and are managed by the local parish, (parochial schools) religious orders (many high schools), or the archdiocese (Archdiocesan High Schools). At least that’s how it’s done in the St. Louis Archdiocese.

 

[Dulcinea2721]

Private and Public have the opposite meanings in the US than in the UK.

Public schools are funded by tax dollars and run by local school boards whose members are elected at large.

Private schools generally don’t get tax dollars and are run by private boards. Most of the private schools in the US are Catholic and are managed by the local parish, (parochial schools) religious orders (many high schools), or the archdiocese (Archdiocesan High Schools). At least that’s how it’s done in the St. Louis Archdiocese.

I am in Canada, specifically Ontario.

We get to choose where our tax dollars go either public school board or catholic school board…furthermore, since I am of french background I send my tax dollars to the French Separate (means Catholic) school board. My kids attend french catholic school with no cost incurred to our family. And they are bused.

As a general rule the catholic schools are thought to have better ratings.

Our schools are rated by the Frasier Institute through standardised, province-wide testing as well as other metrics.

 

[shockerfan]

I am in Canada, specifically Ontario.

We get to choose where our tax dollars go either public school board or catholic school board…furthermore, since I am of french background I send my tax dollars to the French Separate (means Catholic) school board. My kids attend french catholic school with no cost incurred to our family. And they are bused.

As a general rule the catholic schools are thought to have better ratings.

Our schools are rated by the Frasier Institute through standardised, province-wide testing as well as other metrics.

I like the way Canada does it. Not surprisingly they out rank the US in math, science, and reading
geographic.org/country_ranks/educational_score_performance_country_ranks_2009_oecd.html

 

[SuperLuigi]

Couldn’t agree more. Common Core is a waste of time and a terrible thing.

 

[JimG]

Found some articles about the literary value, or lack thereof, in the Common Core standards:

Common Core’s Substandard Writing Standards

How Common Core Devalues Great Literature

Common Core: 21st Century Peonage

 

[BigBlueCane]

Found some articles about the literary value, or lack thereof, in the Common Core standards:

Common Core’s Substandard Writing Standards

How Common Core Devalues Great Literature

Common Core: 21st Century Peonage

All these articles are from the same source and based on the looks of the website it looks like a right leaning website more than anything else.

 

[BigBlueCane]

Our entire K through high school system is inferior. I have family in Colombia and in what is the equivalent to high school they are taking college level courses such as Organic Chemistry. When I explained that I went to college for a 4 year degree then to graduate school they didn’t understand that concept. Over there when you finish high school that is the equivalent of a 4 year college degree here. To go to university over there is like going to graduate school here where you specialize in a particular field.

Our standards are way to low and I feel we don’t challenge the kids enough and rely too much on ridiculous standardized testing.

 

[JimG]

Our entire K through high school system is inferior. I have family in Colombia and in what is the equivalent to high school they are taking college level courses such as Organic Chemistry. When I explained that I went to college for a 4 year degree then to graduate school they didn’t understand that concept. Over there when you finish high school that is the equivalent of a 4 year college degree here. To go to university over there is like going to graduate school here where you specialize in a particular field.

Our standards are way to low and I feel we don’t challenge the kids enough and rely too much on ridiculous standardized testing.

Certainly our standards are too low, and Common Core intends to lower them further. Education is too important to be turned over to the government. Boards of Education are or should be, responsive to the direction of parents.