Do I think private schools are doing a good job?

I grew up in government-controlled schools. Those schools were definitively unhealthy, exploitative, anti-educational, and destructive. I fully support helping children leave that environment. Does that mean that I like what I am currently seeing from the private sector? No.

There are numerous problems with the government-controlled model of schooling. We segregate children into rigid age-based groupings that keep teachers from seeing children as anything more than their ages. We subject them to minimum standards that push children to aim well below their potentials due to the severe consequences of falling short in any subject. The benefits of exceeding expectations in areas of strength are insufficient to overcome falling short in any area. Just the fact that we give so much control of education to a government that clearly views education as a threat to power should be a concern to everyone.

What should private schools pursue? Should they try to maximize the quality of education, or should they seek the best way to implement the conventional schooling model? Unfortunately, the evidence I have seen has shown that private schools are trying to be the same but better. They are copying the disastrous model used by the government and looking for ways to improve. This is a model that is so seriously flawed that it will never work for the benefit of society.

Most private schools market themselves based on the grade levels they serve. This indicates that they embrace rigid age-based groupings that don't see children as anything more than their ages. They boast about test scores, showing that they embrace the same kinds of shallow measures that reflect a miniscule amount of the mental development that should be occurring. They mention their grade scales, which were clearly modeled after grades used in government-controlled schools. Even the use of the same terminology such as student and graduation point to copying the disastrous model developed for our anti-educational government.

For anti-child hate groups such as the NEA and AFT, this isn't enough. They want to increase government control over private institutions to guarantee that children can never have anything better. This includes subjecting private schools to measures created for the government-controlled model. As I keep saying, innovative schools will never outperform conventional schools at being conventional schools.

Simply put, private schools are copying a disastrous approach to education when they should be offering diversified opportunities. They don't care about quality education. Instead, they are focusing on outperforming the worst schools in the country. I didn't attend private schools, so I can't be certain of their performance. I have a hard time believing they could be any worse than the horrific schools I attended, but is that enough? As long as private schools are modelled after disastrous government-controlled schools, I will remain skeptical of their performance. The best schools in the country appear to be complete and utter crap. Being the best in that model doesn't mean they're doing a good job. It doesn't even mean they're doing an adequate job.