Lessons in Public Education

Robert Kelly column: Lessons in Public Education, Part 1 of 5:

Barber's choice makes one wonder whether we're getting our money's worth

By Robert Kelly

Over the quiet snip-snip-snip of the scissors, the female barber and I discussed the tragedy in Littleton, Colorado.

Her interest in the subject, it turned out, was partly personal in that the faraway high school turmoil fed into her concerns about the education of her son who next year enters the 9th grade.

"Are you sending him to the local high school?" I asked.

"No." She paused and searched for another strand to cut. "A private day-school."

"Do you mind telling me the cost?" I asked.

"No, $5,300," she responded.

I almost fell out of the chair.

With no signs of complaint, she continued, "I want him to get a good education." Mother love in action.

She works one or two days a week. It's safe to assume she doesn't do it for fun, but because she and her husband need the income. The tuition she quoted probably eats up all or most of her net annual earnings.

My first reaction to her decision was surprise. She was refusing a pre-paid public school education for her son, selecting instead an expensive private one that would impose on her family significant economic sacrifice. My second reaction was anger.

"Why should this be necessary?" I asked myself.

When a public school system deteriorates to a level that forces parents of modest means to make such decisions, government has failed in its basic responsibility to make available to all a quality education in return for the taxes levied for that purpose. (See accompanying chart.)

Was my barber's decision justified? Is the local public school system as suspect as she thinks? Who should care?

Seeking answers to these questions led me down many roads, only a few of which will be related here.

Certainly everyone should care. Children, because their fate will be substantially determined by the quality of their education. Adults, because they pay real estate taxes that are a prime source of revenue (state aid is the other) for schools. And immigrants and minorities should especially care because they are more dependent than most on the public school system.

Taxpayers may think their real estate taxes are too high or too low. But the point is that a considerable portion of our real estate taxes goes into the cost of schooling, and taxpayers should be highly sensitive to the quality of the investment that they are making, year after year, in education.

When we refer to a "public education system," what do we mean?

Do we mean the school and its teachers? No. The answer must be broader than that.

Too many dump on teachers as the agents of poor education; too many point to low budgets, old buildings or inadequate supplies. Too many blame ideas like "social promotions" that protect students from reality and inept teachers from scrutiny.

Others point to parents as the first cause of the problems in our schools. And worst of all, the kids themselves are blamed by some, as if they are exclusively responsible for the reckless, brainless behaviors that have characterized their age group since the beginning of time.

When I was 17 I needed full-time supervision. Didn't you?

What then is an education system? It is all of these things. Not one or the other, but all of them taken together. The society that has fallen apart, the absent or preoccupied parents, the "modern" education system that has neglected the three R's, the silence of churches when confronted by immoral lifestyles, the laxness of adults who have allowed national standards of behavior to be trashed -- all of these contribute to Johnny's bad behavior and to his disappointing SAT scores.

SAT scores. Tests. Some people hate them, especially those who can't pass them, or those who spend their days and nights seeking victims of "the unjust American system." To them, tests are useless devices invented by dead white males to perpetuate their power.

Others -- the majority of us -- consider testing to be the normal conclusion of a course of study, a method for determining a student's capacity to absorb and retain knowledge. And, yes, testing is admittedly a device for detecting those who operate well under pressure, a trait highly valued in the real world.

"To thine own self be true," the sage said. "Know how smart and how tough you are before you shoot your mouth off," is a practical, modern translation.

Can one detect from the outside the educational quality of a school? If a business were the curiosity at hand, a statement of earnings would be a clear indicator of quality. Do schools have a similar efficiency index? If so, what is it?

If one believes in tests, the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) scores for a school district are useful indicators of the quality of education within that district. Not the only indicators, mind you, but meaningful ones.

Following that logic, two questions arise: 1.) What level of SAT scores indicate high quality? and 2.) How do local schools track against those scores?

In search of a standard, a measuring stick, 109 private American boarding schools with SAT scores of 1,000 (combined verbal and math) or more were examined, the theory being that scores emerging from such ideal conditions should be the best in the nation.

Using statistical devices, these scores were re-expressed as seven classifications of quality, and a table was built that assigns schools to the slots that their SAT scores earned.

Finally, local schools were entered the same table in the same way.

My table includes most North Shore districts plus, for contrast, two wealthy bedroom communities just outside Boston -- Winchester and Newton. The table speaks for itself but a few points are worth stressing:

1.) Only 47 percent of private schools actually deliver the kind of education that all their patrons no doubt think they are providing.

2.) In Massachusetts, high-income communities like Winchester and Newton are delivering quality.

3.) SAT scores of most North Shore districts are not good, and in some cases, are poor. Massachusetts taxpayers should be angry that their investment in public education is yielding such an unsatisfactory return.

My barber is wise to look beyond her town for a quality education system. She may or may not be right in her school selection. Certainly improving the education of her son is worth four years of sacrifice, however.

And, by the way, she got a bargain. Other nearby private schools charge over $8,000 a year.

Taxation without representation? A tea party, anyone? I'll meet you at Boston Harbor.

A regular contributor to the Viewpoint page, Robert Kelly has lived in Peabody for more than 25 years.