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Dear Hugh:
Thanks for your comments. I will address some of them below because
you kindly implied an interest and curiousity in these issues. I taught
in a similar private school before returning to graduate school, and
my son has been enrolled in three different private schools- so that's
the extent of my experience. I speak from that limited experience.
Here goes:
I won't take on the other issues you raised, because they seem to me
to be pure matters of opinion that we will have to agree to disagree
on. But let me suggest some reasons why your son's school seems to do
better in standardized testing than the local public schools that are
better funded. As you say, money isn't everything, but here is what I
think the difference is. Please correct me if I am wrong.
First, the private school takes only those students that it wants to,
limiting enrollment to only those students it thinks it can serve
(both in number and in student motivation).
In the school I worked in, this was not the case. We had some
students that were unruly and ill-prepared. It was their parent's
"last ditch effort" to save their kids. Unfortunately, some remained
lost.
Second, the teachers probably have smaller classes than in the public
school and probably have far fewer teacher-hassling rules to deal
with. In other words, they are free to teach and don't have to spend
much of their time on supervisory or activities or paperwork.
In the school I worked in, all my classes had 40+ students.
Admittedly, in my son's school a large class is 30. I went
to a public school with LARGE classes and a university with
even larger classes- yet learned and survived.
Again, in the school in which I worked I had 7 preparations
a day with 20 minutes for lunch, science fair duty, and even
parking lot duty. I can say for a certainty that at least two
of my son's teachers have similarly tough jobs. At the school
I worked, some teachers left for the public school for lighter
loads and more pay. Obviously, I did not work at an Exeter-
there are private schools and then there are the elite... What
you say is true for some schools and not true for others.
Third, and probably the most important, disruptive students or those
who, for whatever reason, are not interested in learning can be
eliminated with relative ease. I have sat in on too many classes
where, no matter how talented or dedicated the teacher is, the class
is governed by a few disruptive students, whose activities demand
almost all the teacher's time, leaving the rest of the students
standing around hoping to maybe get a bit of education during the
times when the disruptors are taking a breather. And it often is very
difficult to get rid of the disruptive students.
Where I worked, we received disruptive students as a last
ditch effort for parents to save their kids, as I mentioned.
I do admit that at my son's school disruptive students are
very few... The school doesn't tolerate too much in the way
of disruption.