Is there a point to public education?

[petmoosie]

Beyond the goal of teaching the curriculum. Is there a set of actions that we want all children to have experienced? Are there values that we want to share?

Another blog was talking about overnight field trips (8th grade). Those are boondoggles from one point of view (particularly here). We have all the resources to provide everything locally with no need for an overnight trip.

On the other hand, an overnight trip provides a world of experiences that are unique to the experience of having an overnight trip with your classmates.

Comments

[cozit.livejournal.com]

Problem is that it's the kids who *aren't* in any of those programs who *really* need them... and no other way to fill that need. And the kids who have similar experiences elsewhere generally benefit from them as well.

Of course, there are all types. It's amazing the variety of responses middle and high school students let loose in the Museum of American History have. I've poked kids in my "teacher voice" to remind them that they're there for a reason, and I *heard* their teacher/chaperone give them an assignment... and other in the same group will be avidly looking at this and that and talking to each other *about what they're seeing* (yeah, it's always a bit of a shock to me too :-) Then there's the ones who always seem to be hanging out outside... and never seems to be an adult who shoos them back inside in the hope that they *might* pick up something from osmosis at least...

[petmoosie.livejournal.com]

Targeted charities, such as The Boys and Girls Club, Big Brother/Big Sister and The Fresh Air Fund (Bob Levey of the Washington Post, but I don't think it died when he retired) aim at the kids who really *need* these experiences. But I think that only a tiny bit of the need is met by them, either because they don't have enough volunteers/funds or because the parents who could benefit from them aren't aware of them (or don't trust them).

As a privileged parent with a higher education, I feel funny about saying that the schools *need* to provide this for other children. It feels like some variation of cultural imperialism or "noblisse oblige" (where the gracious lady makes her servants do good deeds for the peers of the servants--she wants good deeds to be done but won't dirty her hands to do them herself). I am pretty conflicted here.