Back to school: Why public education is awesome (Julie Mack column)
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Years ago, I interviewed a man who adopted a teenage boy from Central America. The boy had to adjust to life in Michigan, which included dealing with winters and going to a school where very few people spoke his language.
But surprisingly, the teen had boundless enthusiasm for the latter. In his home country, educational options were very limited for poor children. The child could hardly believe his good fortune is being able to attend a high school for free, a school that offered a broad curriculum and even provided the textbooks. What a privilege! What an opportunity! What a country!
American public education gets plenty of negative ink these days. It's regularly disparaged as a system mired in mediocrity and plagued by the chronic underachievement of poor and minority schoolchildren. There's plenty of angst over college-readiness rates, dropout numbers, America's
But surprisingly, the teen had boundless enthusiasm for the latter. In his home country, educational options were very limited for poor children. The child could hardly believe his good fortune is being able to attend a high school for free, a school that offered a broad curriculum and even provided the textbooks. What a privilege! What an opportunity! What a country!
American public education gets plenty of negative ink these days. It's regularly disparaged as a system mired in mediocrity and plagued by the chronic underachievement of poor and minority schoolchildren. There's plenty of angst over college-readiness rates, dropout numbers, America's