DU Education Census: Grades 1-12

[Zynx]

I was looking over national education data and found the following for students between grades 1 and 12:

73.9% went to an assigned public school
15.4% went to a different public school
8.4% went to a private religious school
2.4% went to a private secular school
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=6

I am wondering how representative DU is of the national data. I will put together a poll for post-high school education too later.

I went to a non-assigned public elementary school then to assigned public schools for the rest of my pre-college years.

[Zynx]

1. I'm not going to edit it now, but if you had a mix of assigned and non-assigned, vote

by the bulk of your education. Thank you.

[hedgehog]

2. RC all the way.

[Zynx]

3. I believe I read that the majority of private school students are Catholic.

I can't say that surprises me.

[hedgehog]

4. I don't think Catholic schools can be easily classified. In some cities,

Catholic grammar schools are the alternative to dysfunctional public schools and are filled with non-Catholic black students. In other places, Catholic grammar schools became the refuge for whites fleeing desegregation. My high school tuition was $25/month when I started and my class mates had parents who were doctors, lawyers, nurses, steel workers etc; middle class to upper middle class. Today, tuition is higher there than for my kids at the state university. There is no way I could afford to send my daughters there.

[kimmylavin]

15. Its not that the students are Catholic.

Its that the schools are better than the public school alternatives.

Two of my cousins teach in Jersey City, NJ, Catholic schools.
Fully one-quarter to one-third of their classes are not Catholic.
Its a strange situation...

[mondo joe]

19. Correct. As I recall, about 20 percent of my peers in Catholic school were not

Catholic at all.

Also, though technically private my school was very inexpensive, located in the city's worst neighborhood. I doubt any of us could have gone to a PRIVATE private school

[Zynx]

21. Come to think of it, I know a bunch of people who did this.

It's relatively common I suppose.

[seabeyond]

5. kids in nonassigned public now. first 6 yrs prek-4 was a religious private

i marked non assigned public for now

the religious said it is non donimational christian, but the truth is it taught southern baptist beliefs

on edit: non assigned mean out of district, correct. i had to have kids transferred from their district public school to this one they are in now.

[kath]

22. I believe this poll is about YOU and your education, not your childrens'.

[seabeyond]

23. assigned public. was three decades ago almost, so not relevent to today. kids in today

i guess it depends what this person is gathering the information for.

[Zynx]

36. I'm just curious about people's backgrounds.

[seabeyond]

38. aaahhh. i always wanted to go to private. i figured my parents didnt love me enough. n/t

[Zynx]

40. I've always been thankful I went to public schools. However, I have lived in nice areas.

If I was in a city with a stressed public school system I might feel differently.

[seabeyond]

43. teasing. i was in calif in '70's. schools were fine. n/t

[Zynx]

44. Sorry I didn't even really read your post anyway. I had a long day and I'm lazy.

;-)

[seabeyond]

46. bah hahhaha. upside. tis friday. lol have a good weekend n/t

[Zynx]

6. kick for data

[rocktivity]

7. Other--some public, some semi-public

I attended the High School of Music and Art, which though technically a public school was also "special admissions," taking only qualified students from all over New York City. And apparently I passed on my genes to my nephew, who attended the Bronx High School of Science (after skipping both kindergarten and sixth grade, boast boast!).

:headbang:
rocknation

[Zynx]

8. Cool stuff.

[ThomWV]

9. Assigned my whole life, but the best thing we ever did was put our son in the next county

The county we live in seems to me to have the worst educational system I've run across. I say that with no more evidence than that I have spent the last 30 years talking to the people who are its products. Just ten miles away, in the next county, the situtation is much much better - almost exclusively due to West Virginia University being located in that country.

[Mz Pip]

10. Both

K - 2 - public school
3 - 8 - Catholic School
9 - 12 - public school

[Breeze54]

11. I went to a parochial school for elementary, took an entrance exam and

was accepted at a parochial HS and attended for 9th grade. Then transferred to public
for 10th grade and then transferred to a Catholic prep school for 11th & 12th grades.

I wouldn't call the public school 'assigned' though because it was the only HS in my town.

[MrCoffee]

12. Assigned public based on where we lived in the district.

I have no idea if we could have transferred to a different school on request. I just went where the bus took me.

[mondo joe]

13. Private/Religious 1 - 9, Public 10 - 12

[seabeyond]

16. what

catholic? lol

[mondo joe]

17. Quite Catholic. It was hazardous and sick at times, but also provided an education

superior to my cohorts.

[seabeyond]

18. so funny

i like the catholic. always have. i dont know what it is about the catholic, i go to them, they come to me, but all friends in calif catholic, easy enough. but catholic minority in texas, everyone one of my few firends and hubby catholic. dont know how it works

so....

i have a love for catholic

and an understanding

and geeeez

lollol

catholic/guilt/sex............

and you are right, it is a fine private education.

[mondo joe]

24. I was an atheist from about 3rd grade on, so that was a bit of a challenge.

Guilt about sex or other issues was not a problem for me.

The only guilt issue I've ever had was about unintentionally hurting others.

[seabeyond]

25. ya.....

it is more a tease for me than anything else. they say....

hubby non practicing catholic and there is just a feel to the catholic, (mostly non practicing) that i like or go to. mellow

[DireStrike]

14. Was close

K: assigned
1-3: non-assigned
3-9: assigned
10-12: non-assigned

[goodgd_yall]

20. Most was in an assigned public school

But grades 8-12 were in Catholic schools.

[mulsh]

26. 1-12, Catholic schools

in the 4th grade we moved out of my grammar school parish and my twin brother & I were sent to the local (Oakland, CA) public school. Within 2 weeks our teacher told our parents that we had "learned pretty much everything we teach up to the end of 8th grade" they wanted to advance us to the 7th grade since we were "so small" My dad, a public school teacher & my mom, a former teacher were horrified. They somehow got us right back in our old grammar school.
thanks to reagan for helping to destroy public education in my state, with a stiff nod to dukemajian, wilson and der gropenfuerer for doing as little as possible to remedy the situatioin, Davis got recalled before he could do anything.

[mondo joe]

27. That's a funny story. Eventhough I grew up in a very poor neighborhood,

with a lot of people on public assistance, or in blue collar work, "public school" was synonymous with "special ed" or "their parents don't love them".

[RedCappedBandit]

28. Assigned the whole time..

Was very fortunate though.. good school district and I got great teachers with few exceptions..
I have a feeling if the public school wasn't as good as it is my parents would have sent me elsewhere. /shrug

[Zynx]

29. This is reasonably in keeping with the data. Interesting.

[bicentennial_baby]

30. Private Secular, even though my HS was founded by a Fundie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.L._Moody

[Zynx]

33. That's quite a fancy school.

And it was quite a fundie who started it.

[bicentennial_baby]

37. Best education money could buy! But I was partially there on Financial Aid

And my parents finished paying it off when I was around 21. It was $22,000 for boarding students when I was there in the early 90s, now that they closed the Northfield campus and halved enrollment, it's around $45,000. :o

Moody, yeah...We still had weekly meeting in the chapels on each campus, but they had nothing to do with religion.

I loved that place. :)

[Zynx]

54. It's an experience I can't say I shared. I'm always interested to hear about people's

experiences in education because mine is rooted in suburban public schools.

[bicentennial_baby]

57. I went there for the Latin program, actually:

My story:

Age 3-5: Preschool at the First Congregational Church (secular program)

K-1.5 Public assigned, hated it! Was having emotional issues, went to family therapy, therapist convinced my parents to send me to this private alternative elementary school. Parents agreed. I spent the latter half of what should have been my 2nd grade year at home, started 3rd at the new school in September.

3-8 Private Alternative School: Grouped by our developmental ages as opposed to our chronological ages, free-form and very affirming. A good number of us went on to local or New England Prep schools.

http://www.centerschool.net/

9-12 NMH: Sound experience in latin, ancient greek, math/science, english, religious studies, and various other subjects. I was one of the founding members of our GSA in 1992. Work study was actually beneficial in the long run, now that I think about it.

All in all, a weird trajectory. I'm satisfied. :)

[Mike03]

31. Public Assigned

Maybe it is strange, but I LOVED going to public school; I loved my teachers (they are still role models to me). They inspired me more than I can ever say, and nothing I could do can ever repay them for what they gave me.

[Zynx]

35. I genuinely enjoyed my public high school for all but senior year.

It's considered a little strange, but I liked it and so did most of my friends. I had an odd group of friends though.

[Mike03]

48. Thank you for raising this question. I have not seen it discussed here

before, and it's a topic that is probably dear to a lot of our hearts. And it's interesting to get diverse opinions.

Your posts are so often fascinating, thoughtful and informative.

Thanks.

[Zynx]

51. You made my day just now. Thank you.

:-)

[noamnety]

32. public assigned, 1-10

carefully skipping the prom years.

[Zynx]

34. Prom is B.S. can't blame you.

[Firespirit]

47. Heh, true that

If I'd stayed, I probably would've wanted to go with another girl -- I was always crushing on my best friends, who were uniformly female, and didn't really start to crush on both sexes until college. At a fundy school in an 80% Republican area, OH BOY.

On the other hand, the sheer sh-tstorm would've been awesome. :evilgrin:

[Firespirit]

39. Assigned K-10, dropped out & went to college

And before I'm trashed for that, here's my defense. High school was horrific, run by fundamentalists, and my parents and I ran politically afoul of the school board in my final year. No other option really.

Not sure which poll choice to pick. You say vote for wherever you spent the most time, but have the "didn't finish" option. Who drops out before finishing half of their K-12 years?

[Zynx]

42. I guess I didn't think through the poll that much. My apologies.

I was trying to also see who didn't finish as a separate group.

[Firespirit]

45. No problem

Voted last option.

It occurs to me that most people probably would get it. I'm kind of Aspie, though, and took it literally. I doubt you'll see much confusion, really. :hi:

[Thickasabrick]

41. I got sent to a private school out of state because of the "busing"

issue. It was a same gender school so really put a crimp in my high school social life.

[Alexander]

49. K: Public. 1: 1/2 of each. 2-3: Public. 4-5: Private. 6: Public. 7-8: Private. 9-12: Public.

My mother hated public schools and my dad hated private schools, so I was bounced around like a ping-pong ball as my parents played tug-of-war with my education.

I never finished high school. I took the GED and now attend college.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

50. Started at a

Lutheran kindergarten
Then we moved to a town where there was no Lutheran school, so I went to local public schools grades one through twelve.

[Cabcere]

52. Assigned public for me

:shrug: :hi:

[Zynx]

53. I personally am an enormous advocate of public education. I'm glad to see that DU

is representative of the public at large on this point.

[MrSlayer]

55. I went to Catholic school.

Which is what made me an athiest.

[Zynx]

56. I think that is a pretty common experience.

haha

[Zynx]

58. DUers seem pretty representative of the public after 125 votes. Good stuff.

[LeftishBrit]

59. Just out of curiosity...

what are 'assigned' and 'non-assigned' public schools (I realize that public schools in America = state schools in Britain; but what does the 'assigned' mean?)

[Zynx]

63. If you live in certain area, you are supposed to go to the public school that covers that area.

However, you can choose to go to a different public school nearby or a private school.

[marmar]

60. I was in a Lutheran school from K-12....

Despite all the years of dogma, I'm still OK. :)

[apocalypsehow]

61. Other: I had an (elementary school) private Catholic education, but went to a public junior high &

high school.

[mitchtv]

62. 8 years nuns, 4 years brothers