Comment by subsubzero | Hacker News Reader

Comment by subsubzero | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

You are not alone, looking at enrollment for most public schools they are falling across the board with many choosing homeschooling[1] or private school[2]. On the homeschooling article one thing that blew me away was 16.1% of black families now homeschool their kids(from 3.3%). Private school admittance went up 53% as well during the pandemic. With my daughter I am extremely disappointed in the quality and difficulty(way too easy) of her schoolwork(1st grade public school). The school iving out 2-3 homework assignments a week with mindless addition and subtraction really makes me feel like my Daughter is wasting her time and even she says she doesn't know why she is doing the same problems over and over. Overall we may look to pull her and move to a private school if the low quality of this education continues.

[1] - https://www.ksbw.com/article/homeschooling-surge-continues/3...

[2] - https://www.thewellnews.com/education/private-school-enrollm...

Usually enrollment declines on a regional basis have more to do with generational variances. People have smaller families at different times.

In some areas you have more religious fanatics driving homeschooling, but the COVID numbers were really kids dropping out. Urban and rural schools did a particularly shitty job during the pandemic.

Private school is no panacea either. My kids have been in private schools, and you have to keep an eye on what’s going on. The teachers get paid a lot less and they have a tendency to paint a rosy picture. You need to be a strong advocate for your kid, especially if they have needs for extra help.

The differences are three fold:

- You can pick your private school. There is choice. Public school, you can’t (with some caveats). People who say you can just move so it’s not a monopoly are fooling themselves, moving with a family is a very large decision not taken lightly.

- Private schools are aware you picked them and are paying them directly with your hard earned dollars. This motivates them to provide superior service. If they don’t, people will send their kids elsewhere.

- Many (most) private schools do not have a teacher’s union. My kids’ teachers are very proud to be non-union.

These three facts make an enormous difference.

I'm curious why private school? The usual reason people don't unschool is they haven't really heard of it (or they've heard of it but believe some boomer conventional wisdom like muh socialisation or it's just for extreme Christians). You obviously have, so like... what evidence are you seeing that's convincing you of school?

I assume the higher number in black families is because of parents not sending their kids to school for other reasons?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com