re: #3 jogiff

There are barely any standards for many private schools. I’m a substitute teacher at a public school system and the whole process of being approved required a) a college degree b) passing a test c) getting my fingerprints collected d) going through hours of seminars e) bringing in person documents f) other stuff

Meanwhile I know a guy who works at a private school without any background checks. He knows perfectly well that once the results come in he’ll be fired. There’s no way I could conceivably get my current job without getting a background check.

I beg to differ, having taught in a private school for 20 years. Don’t paint all private schools with the same brush, for one thing. The term “private school” or the more la-di-da term “independent school” means it’s secular and does not take tax monies. Some private schools are affiliated with churches (mine was affiliated with the Episcopalians), but do not include religious instruction in their curricula. Others do — parochial schools being a notable example. And still others are just organs for proselytizing.

Private schools do have standards! What on earth are you talking about? While it is true many independent schools do not require background checks, fingerprinting or state certification, they do require demonstrated ability to teach and familiarity with the subject. They don’t hire just any Joe or Jo off the street. At least mine didn’t.

Private-school teachers can also be fired much more easily than public school teachers, as you noted. Most schools vet their applicants to screen out poor teachers, or security risks, by calling references. But, some references don’t always tell the full story. We hired an English teacher once who had serious psychological problems. No reference bothered to tell our head about this woman’s previous difficulties working for them. Once her erratic behavior in class became a problem, however, she was quickly let go.

Vouchers are a problem when the “private” schools involved are not accredited by any independent schools association (ISACS, in our case) or obviously have a religious mission. Before the Religious Right co-opted the idea, vouchers were supposedly a way to allow low-income families the chance to send their kids to more expensive independent or parochial schools. Now any two-bit RR church can open up a couple of classrooms and call it a school, and accept voucher students, making money along the way. That’s a big problem, because it subverts the entire premise of public education, and quality education. It’s fleecing the taxpayers.

Charter schools, the other darling of the “reform education” set, are often no better than regular public schools. Some are just instruments for the operators to make money by fleecing the taxpayers.

Diane Ravitch has written extensively about the subversion of public education. You should check her books out.