I have written before about the admission process for high schools and how closely it resembled that of college. Well, the Chicago Tribune recently published another article outlining the process for applying to private schools at any age. The same feeling overwhelmed me while reading this article as the previous one. The feeling that these kids aren’t allowed to be kids anymore and that their learning is only a tool to advance them in the professional world. I think this is incredibly sad.
Then some new feelings and thoughts popped into my head. The first got me thinking about “teacihng to the test”. These private schools put students through a rigorous process of admittance, so once they are in both the school and the students (and their families) want them to be successful. Well, what measures success? Getting good grades and scoring well on standardized tests right? According to this article and these schools that is exactly right. So, how are teachers supposed to introduce new or vangaurd ideas if they are confined to the test? My guess is that most students are not going to want their hard work getting into the school to go to waste by not learning what will be on the SATs.
The second and stronger feeling that surfaced while reading was that these private schools are attempting to create a perfect student population, where the weak, offbeat or quirky are thrown out. Only the most perfect specimens will do. Of course, it is not this severe, but their process strikes some alarming tones.
The panel is impressed by the high entrance exam scores of a 6th-grade applicant but troubled by a record of behavior problems that would likely require a special-needs study plan. He is rejected.
“We wouldn’t help him very much and only add to his anxiety,” Gillinger said. “He would be better somewhere where there is special training to deal with that.”
A 5th-grade candidate appears strong on all counts but also has a record at his current school of being late for classes. He is recommended for admittance — and required to take the school bus to ensure he arrives on time. (Rivera, 4/1/07: Tribune Newspapers: LA Times)
Perhaps this is just my overreacting, but that doesn’t seem right to me. Of course, they are a private school so they can do this, but should they? This is eliminating all diversity from the classroom, with the exception of racial. Students will get no interaction with other studetns whose learning styles may differ from their own. This is exactly like the tracking debate we had in class, only on a larger scale. Would these students be held down by “slower learners”? Or would they gain a new perspective and new experiences from it? This is academic snobbery at its earliest and finest. We are ridding our students (our children) of valuable experiences if we keep them from those who are different, whether that be cultrually, racially or academically.
“Privat Schools’ admissions a lesson in pressure, politics”
Tribune Newspapers: LA Times- Apr 1, 2007
By: Carla Rivera
I agree with you! I would even argue that this is somewhat eliminating racial diversity as well. Most kids who attend private schools are white. Also we know that standardized tests are racially biased, and this school uses these kids scores to decide whether or not to let them in. The kids attending this private school might be advantaged when it comes to college and finding a job, but I would argue that this school is giving the kids a disadvantage in life. Diversity is all around us! Like it or not, we are all going to have to deal with it at some point in our lives! Also being around diversity makes you grow so much as a person! These kids are missing out! This is really kind of random, but this post reminds me of the theme song for the show “Weeds.” The video is perfect too! Check it out! I’m sure you’ll laugh, and I’m sure you will see what I mean! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvK0ZKaK6h8 It isn’t letting me hot link it, but check it out!
Can you imagine what these “perfect” classrooms look like? It kind of gives me the creeps. It is like “The Stepford Kids” or something!
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Maybe I am nieve, but I didn’t know that there was a screening process for most private schools. I think I just figured that they were getting money no matter what, so why would it matter who they let in and who they didn’t. It seems as though it is like natural selection for students. You get to choose which student you get to have in your school and this could be the way to get more good and proper students in there. I just think that schools should be more worried about what their students are learning and how to make the best of the education we can offer rather than picking out the best student for the job. I just hope that public schools don’t start picking and choosing what students they allow in because then we would be in real trouble wouldn’t we?
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I feel that a good education is important, but it is also important to let kids have fun. You may have a rich, high education member of society, but you will also have an insane, hommicidal/suicidal kid who can’t “take it anymore”. People, wheter you want to admit it or not, are animals, and need freedom and do prace around and such. Sitting in a stuffy classroom, not being able to socialize with friends, listening to a teacher blab and being loaded with homework is cruel. Your kids will start to hate you, and you would’nt know why.