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As far as public schools go, I've had experience with two. One was the one I attended (Parkville High School). It was in the suburbs. It was a magnet school meaning that there was an emphesis placed on math, science, and computer science and that students from across the county came to Parkville. This meant that there was a higher-than-average proportion of good students and that there was more money there (federal grants for the magnet program) than the average school. I had some bad teachers, I had some good teachers, and I even had a few great teachers. I got a good education from Parkville and am glad I went to it over a private school (I almost went to one).
I've also had experience with Edison Tech by working with them this year. Edison is in inner-city Rochester. Rochester City schools are not doing particularly well overall (they're below national averages). 75% of Edison's students are on free lunches. It's poor. In my albeit limited experience there I've seen students getting good educations and students getting bad educations. It's rather clear who was getting the good educations. It was the students who made an active attempt to learn. There were some classrooms where a teacher had turned on a television to keep the students occupied. But at that same time there were students who were actively working, in the same room. Who's getting the education there? Who's making the attempt to learn? It all comes down to you get out of your education whatever you make of it. There will be joke classes but mostly because you make them that way. To learn you need to actively try and learn. So don't knock public schools as they're doing their best in a tough situation and probably would beat most private schools given the same students.
Matt who thinks he should take a bit of his own medicine there....
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