Now that the kids are asleep (I have no idea at all whether Elba will be well enough for school in the morning -- she's fever-free, but still coughing a little, and not quite right), I have time to follow a few more school links. In a comment at Half-Changed World, Kristen recommended an article in The Progressive by Ruth Conniff titled "Back to (Public) School."
Conniff's oldest child starts kindergarten this year, so that makes her one more link to add to this year's kindergarten carnival.
Here are a few quotations that stayed with me:
And, in our free-market preschool system, we are used to shopping for child-care arrangements that suit us. We are consumers, and the babysitters and daycare centers and preschools pitch their services to us, giving us at least the illusion that we are in control (even if the trade-offs are high cost, short supply and no guarantee of quality).
There is a seismic shift when school starts. Just being in the school building--with the bells ringing and lockers slamming and the unforgettable school-lunch smell—marks the beginning of something entirely different. The principal at our daughter's school--a tough-looking, middle-aged woman who has been around the block a few times--sat all the new parents down in the library and went over the rules, giving me, at least, the feeling of being a kid again, listening to what I was supposed to do, not making any demands.
I think Conniff is spot-on here. Middle-class parents today almost universally send their kids to preschool: of course that would affect the way we think about public schools.
As for old-style principals, our school has a new principal this year (its second since the school opened ten years ago). She's a younger woman, and she came from Urban District, where she was a respected assistant principal. During the teacher roundup event a few days before school started, there were lots of quiet comments about her style. One comment that stayed with me: "She's used to managing student behavior. It's going to take her a while to learn she doesn't need to do that here." And while I think the comment tells you a lot about the biases in this community, I'm not sure I see that in our new principal. During kindergarten orientation, she served primarily as a cheerleader. She urged us, when we were unhappy, to treat the receptionists and staff nicely, and to save our wrath for her or the new assistant principal. She said, with a laugh, "we can handle it, that's why we're here."
So far, I like her.
Another quotation from Conniff:
One of the school bus routes passes through a trailer park, then climbs a steep bluff to one of the wealthiest areas of town.
That sentence describes our bus route: the bus stops to pick up the kids in our neighborhood, then makes a giant circle along the rural edges of the school district, with stops along a whole series of dirt roads, several of which lead into trailer parks. One trailer park, next door to the school, is large enough to merit two stops on the route.
It hadn't really occurred to me to factor that into the discussion about diversity.
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