The Public School Brand
A private school in New Jersey is running ads that subtly point to the effects of budget cuts on public schools. People in the public school system are, of course, getting a bit hot under the collar.
I can understand why. Recent budget cuts and ten years of school reform rhetoric have made it all the easier for private schools to portray themselves as the anti-public schools. "Public" is hardly a selling point for many wealthy parents.
The story from New Jersey describes only one school, but it gives us a whiff of something larger. If we're not careful, we'll portray public schools as the schools of desperate measures. I've seen it happen in the communities where I've lived.
Even before the budget cuts, public schools suffered from the perception that they were test prep factories. All the talk of shrinking curricula, endangered recess and constant tests of basic skills has hardly drawn in more wealthy parents.
NCLB boosters and detractors may have been complicit in harming the public school brand. The more alarm bells you sound about schools--or what's being done to them--the less appealing they can become. It can seem like a Catch 22.
The budget cuts may also drag down the brand. News of growing class sizes and shrinking extra-curricular options could give private schools an edge (assuming their budgets are still sound). Some researchers assure us that rising class sizes really don't pose a threat to a school's quality. Tell that to prosperous parents studying glossy prep school brochures.
Some of the debates that are tarnishing the image of public schools are unavoidable. We can't ignore the fact that far too many low-income students and students of color aren't prepared to succeed after they leave their public schools. And we can seem a bit evasive when we discount the state tests of basic skills that so many students in struggling communities can't pass. Children won't get a well-rounded education if they can't read well.
But I do think we should be careful not to let our vision for what public schools can be succumb to budget cuts and debates over mechanistic reforms. I was lucky enough to attend public schools that gave me all the things most private schools promote in their catalogs.
In the end, all those things should be a public good.
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Ahhh, but you just can't have
Ahhh, but you just can't have it both ways. Public school and "brand" are not synonymous unless you're going to one of the elites. I think public school's strength lies in the fact that SOMETIMES the generic is just as good as the brand name. Tell parents to shop and compare for themselves! :)
Mrs. C--I'm concerned about
Mrs. C--I'm concerned about the flight out of public schools because there is in fact a "brand," one that has been influenced by recent debates on policy, news about budget cuts, and very real challenges in some schools. And yes, I think people can compare.
When I was growing up, my parents, who were recent immigrants to this country, were told they should put their children into private schools. So they put my older brother into a private school starting around 1970. By the time I was ready for school a few years later, they discovered that the public schools served their needs (and ours) better than the private schools did. They managed to get over the negative brand, which didn't reflect the reality.
But this branding issue may get more difficult as the policy and budget debates get more acrimonious.
But WHY are you concerned
But WHY are you concerned with the "flight" out of public schools? Rich or upper-class people becoming less supportive of public schools? Rich children not bringing up test scores in a given school? The public schools beginning to slide from "middle class" brand to "poor people's only option/bad second choice" brand?
And if so... whyyy does that matter? I'm wondering why it even matters if certain sorts of people left public education entirely. Surely that means more money in the state "pot" to use on other students? Surely for many families, private or home education IS the best option?
It might be for me if I had a spare $30,000 a year lying around per child. Where do these people in New Jersey get all that money? And can I have some? :)
Seriously, I am wondering about where the numbers are. Is student population increasing but ps enrollment declining? Are people moving OUT of a given district in droves? These would be more telling than a private school trying to drum up business because IT is losing money in the economy, too...
Why am I concerned? I think
Why am I concerned? I think it's always a matter of concern when people who have the most influence and the most money leave the public schools. I don't judge those people for doing so. They might feel it's the best choice for their children.
But when that happens en masse, the children who remain have far fewer advocates--and they loose the benefit of peer effects.
What's more, it worsens the economic segregation that is already plenty bad.
Of course it does... I guess
Of course it does... I guess I'm cynical... I know you will always have poor students. The rich WILL find ways to get out of having their kids learning anywhere near them. They'll move to an elite district or private-educate. You're left with the middle class and the poor, really, so this whole article is probably a moot point as ads like this would attract people with $20,000 a year to spare anyway...
I think it also bears mentioning that "public schools" run the gamut from very high-achieving places that colleges are excited about recruiting from... and horrid places you see on the news with water buckets on the floor to catch rainwater leaks and daily riots. Most of us live somewhere that the schools are not at either extreme. I mean, if public school is a "brand name" package, it's one that has a great big star on the label with RESULTS MAY VARY BY DISTRICT plastered on the back. :)
PS. And to add to this, public schools DO compete with each other on state tests etc. etc. and advertize "blue ribbon" this and "excellent standard of achievement" that.
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