NYTimes piece on Sunday pointed out that most of today’s champions of public school reform went to very exclusive prep schools. Many of these, like Andover and Phillips Exeter I had heard of, but I was browsing around the websites of some of these I wasn’t familiar with and note that the curriculum’s, class size, emphasis on testing, etc. appear to be nothing like those that they now promote for the public schools.
Michelle Rhee - Maumee Valley Country Day School – Annual tuition between $13K-$16K.
Bill Gates – Lakeside School – Annual tuition $25,250
Arne Duncan – University of Chicago Laboratory School – Annual tuition between $20K - $24K
They all appear to have mission statements similar to this one at Duncan’s U of Chicago Laboratory School –
“The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools provide an experience-centered, rigorous and well-rounded education for a diverse community. Recognizing that students have a variety of needs at each developmental stage and learn in different ways, the Schools are committed to help each student:
- Learn to think critically and creatively
- Cultivate a passion for excellence in academics, the arts, and athletics
- Master important subject matter
- Achieve a sense of emotional and physical well-being
- Celebrate both our cultural differences and our common humanity
- Gain a sense of personal and community responsibility
- Develop a life-long love of learning
In pursuit of this mission and in keeping with John Dewey's legacy, the Schools strive to exemplify educational practice at its best.”
As Diane Ravitch pointed out on Twitter yesterday – “Those elite schools teach critical thinking, great arts, not silence, obedience or boot camp, and seldom give standardized tests”
Christopher Hedges recently wrote an excellent piece that, sadly, explains this –
An excerpt:
“Passing bubble tests celebrates and rewards a peculiar form of analytical intelligence. This kind of intelligence is prized by money managers and corporations. They don’t want employees to ask uncomfortable questions or examine existing structures and assumptions. They want them to serve the system. These tests produce men and women who are just literate and numerate enough to perform basic functions and service jobs. The tests elevate those with the financial means to prepare for them. They reward those who obey the rules, memorize the formulas and pay deference to authority. Rebels, artists, independent thinkers, eccentrics and iconoclasts—those who march to the beat of their own drum—are weeded out.”
Read the rest here -
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