Where teachers' kids go to school. Public school teachers are nearly twice as likely to choose private schools for their own children, says a Fordham study I linked to earlier this month. George Archibald writes in the Washington Times: In Philadelphia, 44 percent of the teachers... [joannejacobs.com]
Joanne Jacobs, a widely-read education blogger, posts this report on her site, with the apparent implication that public school teachers, with their first-hand knowledge of public schools, conspicuously send their own to private schools. Some of the responders point out some flaws in the Fordham study.
Regardless of the validity of the study, let's not judge teachers who choose other alternatives for the education of their children. A master teacher I had while student teaching had chosen home-schooling for his children. He describied himself as bing "in the system but not of it." Which is a perfectly legitimate position, as legitimate as any other. I hold a similar philosophy for myself. I choose to teach in an inner-city public school to be an influence and resource for underpriviledged students, as well as hopefully a thorn in the system's side. Becasue one teaches in the public schools, does not mean one has to "believe in" all, or even any, of the public schools' mission. In fact, we may consider ourselves subversives, with a counter- directive (if that is a term) of our own.
10:01:18 PM 
|
|
