Re: public vs. private schools

["Lois Melina" <lmelina@moscow.com>]

Daniel Kronemann wrote:
 
> I am all for freedom of thought and doing things as you see fit and not
> being forced to do something.  This is why I feel a need to keep any one
> belief system from dominating in education.  And that is what you are
> doing when you send your children to a solely Christian school.  You
limit
> their worldview.  You make them fearful and distrustful of other schools
> of thought, which is the natural human reaction to the unknown. 

This has not been my experience.

With the exception of about 6 months in the 4th grade, the first 13 years
of my education were in Catholic schools--mostly funded by the diocese
(rather than through tuition, so they were accessible to all.) My social
life was made up of the Catholic girls in the neighborhood who went to
school with me. When a new family moved in, the first question I asked was,
"Are they Catholic?" because I knew if they weren't, I wouldn't go to
school with them and wouldn't socialize with them outside of school. Today,
I'm no longer a practicing Catholic and my social circle is much more
diverse. To whatever extent I am open-minded (and I think I am) I credit
the quality of my education, which was a pretty solid liberal arts
education with required Latin, lots of literature (some of which would be
banned in public schools today), lots of writing, and some pretty
interesting discussions in theology classes (which definitely would not be
allowed in public schools today). It taught me how to think, not what to
think. 

I value diversity, but I don't think it necessarily follows that greater
exposure to diverse viewpoints and people leads to greater understanding
and tolerance. Sometimes it has quite the opposite effect. Sometimes the
schools with the greatest diversity have the greatest isolation of
different "groups" with the corresponding fear and distrust that Daniel
Kronemann describes.

Daniel Kronemann also wrote:
> Another thing that bothers me about people's preception of education is
> that some think we education so people know the answers.  This is not how
> I hope my children with be educated.  I want their education to teach
them
> to ask more questions with each "answered" they come across. 
 
This is what I would like of education, too, and I think it is what helps
children process differences, evaluate conflicting viewpoints, and learn to
think for themselves in a world with many beliefs and a wealth of
information. To expose children to conflicting, diverging ideas without
helping them learn how to process differences is, in my opinion, what
really leads to fear and distrust and hate.

However, not everyone agrees that this is the purpose of education. I think
the trend in public education is to deliver information and make sure
students know the answers. Schools are increasingly restricted in their
abilities to push children to "ask more questions" because teachers put
themselves at risk if they discuss controversial issues, encourage children
to read controversial books, or show controversial films.

I think we do need to have some discussion about what we want the purpose
of our public schools to be in this community and what kinds of trade-offs
we're willing to make to achieve that purpose.

Lois Melina