Choosing a Kindergarten Just the Beginning of the Battle
We just got word that the Pre-Schooler will be promoted at his day job; his new title will be Kindergartener. This happens next fall. As such, the Pre-Schooler will have to find a new office to work in. We’re hoping for the one in the corner by the water cooler with the windows.
Pre-Schooler is currently enrolled at University Primary School in the mornings and Early Learning in the afternoons. He thrives in both locations and we love both schools, especially Early Learning where he has basically grown up. That daycare is like a second home to us: so warm and with such a wonderful family atmosphere. Early Learning is a reason to have another child!
But now it’s time for us to decide where we want to chance the Kindergarten. I grew up in the north shore of Chicago’s suburbs public school system and The Husband grew up in the western suburban one. I went to Washington D.C. for class field trips, our choir went to Mexico and Spain, I learned to canoe in the school’s pool, and had two semesters of calculus before I got to college.The Husband came here even more prepared than me. So we’re huge proponents of public schools.
However we both had a tough time socially in our public school upbringing, and that is something we do not want for our child. So the hysteria we hear from the parents who currently enroll their children in the private schools around here also plays on our minds.
The Husband has been carefully researching and has attended the first of the school meetings. The old consent decree which balanced schools by skin color — and ONLY African-American vs. non — expires in 2009 and is being modified to balance schools instead by socio-economic status. There are instances of schools in this town that have equal parts African-American and non-African-American children and the school still is filled with the most underprivileged children in the town. The new partitioning is an attempt solve this problem.
We live equidistant from three of the best schools, a mile or two west of campus. We also live equidistant from every private school in town, philosophically. It is a hard decision to make and it seems we are set on a different solution each day. Good friends of ours swear by public schools and other good friends speak equally compellingly about the wonders of private schools.
Here is a list of comments and concerns I have and some I’ve heard from parents around here.
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It doesn’t matter what the public schools teach him; we’re here to augment and complement his knowledge.
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We want the parents at his school to care about their children and OUR child.
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We want the school to be a warm, learning atmosphere.
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I am very freaked out by the “Top 10 list” that the Kindergarten teachers sent out recently, that puts “FOLLOWS DIRECTIONS” as the number one important successful characteristic of a Kindergartner; #4 was “excited about school.”
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What if my child is bored in Kindergarten and starts to hate school?
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I had a terrible time (socially) in school, with no one to help me, and I still turned out “fine.” But it was a lot of years of pain.
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What if my child goes to a school where no one looks like him?
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What if my child goes to a school where everyone looks like him?
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What if my child learns sex in school?
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What if my child learns religion in school?
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What if my child doesn’t learn religion in school?
Anyone have any experiences in or thoughts about the Champaign School District Unit 4 that they’d like to share?
7 comments
of course you guys had a tough time socially. you’re both computer science nerds.
the product of that introspective unease was some of the edgiest, most vital noise of an era. (and it made billy corgan a lot of money.)
i say throw Child One at the public schools. i’m guessing he’ll be a lot different from his parents, because that’s usually how it works. but whoever he turns out to be, he’ll be operating in a society of ex-public schools kids. he might as well get to know them. it won’t always be easy, but that’s what happens when you leave the womb.
if you want to elevate the level of scholarship in the public schools, you can start by injecting it with one clever 5 year-old.
heather teaches kindergarten in The Unit, you know.
We homeschooled our kids for the first few years, and we were very trepidatious about the public school system. Our kids have thrived in it, and I realized that I was committing the number one mistake of parenting: putting my own “stuff” on my kids. I was geeky/awkward/outcast/picked-on. But my kids aren’t, and it would have been wrong to to give them the chance to be who they are among their peers. What’s more, we have had so many great conversations with them because they’re exposed to all those things you’re worried about, and that I was worried about too.
There’s no doubt the school system has problems, but so does the world. In the end it’s about being there and helping them find their place and learn to trust themselves and stick to their values while learning from and co-creating with others. At least, that’s my take :)
yep. they can’t all talk at once. and many of them have never been told about that. you can say that kindergarten is front lines of the war on individuality. but i went through it, and i came out all egomaniacal.
i never liked the idea of trying to get little boys to sit still. it seems unnatural. maybe that’s the next step in elementary ed—learning while jumping in place. or maybe on a treadmill, or stationary bicycle.
too, i’ve found it’s easier to read with white noise and/or non-lyrical new age music in the background.
finally, i hear there are pharmaceuticals which make it really easy to sit still and pay attention. i wonder how many kids in private schools aren’t taking them.
(that was in response to #4)
In elementary school, the choice of teacher is much more critical to a particular kid than the choice of school. If the hallway is filled with quiet, uniformed children politely whispering to each other, but the classroom teacher doesn’t connect with your particular child, the child will have a bad year.
On the other hand, if there are riots going on in the hallway, but the teacher is able to engage your child and keep the noise out, they will have a good year.
So, I would suggest visiting classrooms and paying attention not to whether the class is quiet or loud or busy, but whether the kids seem engaged, also, whether that particular teacher might inspire your particular child.
And, as a public school parent, my humble belief is that everyone should, by default, give the public school system a chance, and only switch out if there are problems. All of our kids have had reasonably good experiences with Unit 4, but we did put one of our kids in private school for two years because of her particular needs.
Like Clint, we homeschooled. It was great.
After 5 years, we hung it up and the kids are in school. While I don’t love everything about school, both kids have really blossomed. Be involved, agitate, make them go, “Oh, god, here come G’s parents again…“
Mike
I think that Gram may be the sum of his parents? I guess I haven’t seen him around kids his own age but I have a hard time imagining him developing similar issues. I would suspect that his issues would be ‘alpha’ issues. Not that there’s anything wrong w/ that but if I were betting money, I would bet that Gram > Unit 4 and that he’d do better than fine. I would also bet that private school would turn out to enhance the geekiness? Not that there’s anything wrong with geekiness [if you want a “Deities and Demigods” w/ the “Call of Cthulu” stuff in it, please let Rose know and I will dig it out of my closet and sell it to you…] but Gram is really set up to be a fantastic person. School will not push it one way or another. And, w/ the money you will save, you can buy some neat pyro for your show in May!
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I had a great time reading around your post as I read it extensively. Gold