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JANICE FINE Public schools deserve a chance
By Janice Fine, 2/9/2004 IT'S NOT just a private decision. With decision time upon us, there is one conversation being carried on urgently everywhere I go. I catch snippets of it as I remove my daughter's heavy coat and boots at our neighborhood nursery school, as I stand around with other parents at winter's endless birthday parties, as I wait with my kindergartner in the pediatrician's office. It is the time of year when middle class mothers and fathers of every hue are asking the question: Should I send my child to the Boston Public Schools? I understand the question and the anxiety the decision provokes. We all want to do the absolute best by our precious children. But there is one theme I hear repeatedly that I do object to in these conversations -- the assertion that the decision about whether or not to send our children to public school is a private one solely to be made based upon what is best for us as individuals. Deciding whether or not to educate our children together is one of the most profoundly public decisions we will ever make as members of contemporary American society. It has dramatic implications for our democracy, our economy, and our civil society. I have turned the issue over and over and read the scholarly debates, and here is my conclusion: There is no way to improve the public schools if every single family that has an exit option takes it. Let me anticipate the objections: ''My child is not a guinea pig for some grand social experiment -- are you asking me to sacrifice my child's future to some abstract notion of the greater good?'' I am not. What I am suggesting is that parents consider the public schools, that they explore them, that they try them. And that when they visit them, they do so with an open mind. I am suggesting that they do not dismiss the Boston Public Schools out of hand based upon some stereotyped notion of what they think they will find there. When my husband and I visited the elementary schools in the West Zone last year, we saw several good options for our son Benjamin. We ultimately chose the James Michael Curley School in Jamaica Plain and by and large have been very happy with our choice. Benjamin is learning to read and write, he is stimulated, and he has made new friends. We visit the classroom and we like what we see. The school utilizes two highly regarded instructional tools: the Literacy Collaborative Model for teaching reading and the ''Terc-Investigations'' math curriculum. As is the case with many Boston schools, there is a strong relationship with a local university: Our teachers have professional development through Lesley College. They evaluate student work in grade-level teams where they discuss methods of tailoring instruction to meet the needs of particular students. All classrooms have computer and Internet access. We also like the fact that our principal and teachers hold all children to a high standard of civility and courtesy at all times. We have joined a community of talented teachers, committed parents and joyous children, all working together to make it an even better place. It's not perfect. The classrooms lack resources and teachers need a lot more support than they receive. I wish there were more money for the arts, the library and foreign language instruction. But our parents' arts team has brought all kinds of music and theatrical programs into the school; one mom has essentially functioned as our librarian and other parents have begun teaching Spanish in some of the grades. I hate the cafeteria, it is depressing and loud. I wish the lunch-mothers did more playing and less shouting. But I feel confident that we can change things for the better. Of course, I worry about what will happen in the higher grades: Will Ben continue to make good progress? Will we continue to like our teachers? When our children are ready, will there be good middle school options? I can't know all the answers now. But I feel that by taking an active part at the Curley now, our family is participating in the ongoing life of an important public institution -- a place where 273 children and their poor, working and middle class white, Latino, Asian, and African-American families encounter one another on common ground and with a common purpose. Sending our son to a public school is one of the ways we as a family can stand for the whole and keep faith with our vision of a loving, inclusive, egalitarian society that begins with our children. Decide what you will, Boston parents, but at least be honest with yourselves: It is not just a private decision. Janice Fine is a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute.
This story ran on page A11 of the Boston Globe on 2/9/2004.
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