Religious Politics - Conservative Christian schools

[Pah]

From an article by Austine Cline, Conservative Christian Schools Perform the Worst

http://atheism.about.com/b/a/258101.htm?nl=1

The article quotes, second-handily, a New York Times news article. Clines article is a good introduction and commenary.

Appearing at http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0715-01.htm

Little Separates Public, Private Schools -- Report Study Finds Worst Performance in Conservative Christian Schools
by Diana Jean Schemo (New York Times)


WASHINGTON - The federal Education Department reported Friday that, in reading and math, children attending public schools generally do as well as or better than comparable children in private schools. The exception was in eighth-grade reading, where the private-school children did better.

The report, which compared fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores from nearly 7,000 public schools and more than 530 private schools in 2003, also found that conservative Christian schools lagged significantly behind public schools when it came to eighth-grade math.

The study, carrying the imprimatur of the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Education Department, was contracted to the Educational Testing Service and delivered to the department last year.

Well, there goes the justification for vouchers.

 

[robtex]

Has anyone ever atteneded a private Christian school before? I am curious how much time they devote to religious study and metaphyical postulations in a typical school day.

 

[CaptainXeroid]

There was also this line from the article:

The report cautions, for example, against concluding that children do better because of the type of school they're in, as opposed to some unknown factors that might influence performance. It also warned that there was great variation of performance among private schools, making a blanket comparison of public and private schools "of modest utility."

I'm not a gung-ho supporter of vouchers, but this article quoting a study but omitting raw data and an disclaimer of how those numbers were manipulated, can hardly be cited as convincing evidence against their justification.

 

[Quiddity]

Has anyone ever atteneded a private Christian school before? I am curious how much time they devote to religious study and metaphyical postulations in a typical school day.

Public school for me. I usually see the best results with home schooled kids.

 

[robtex]

Public school for me. I usually see the best results with home schooled kids.

Interesting statement. Schools are run by professionals trained in the skillsets of teaching. Parents by contrast rarely have the equivlant training.

 

[Pah]

There was also this line from the article:
I'm not a gung-ho supporter of vouchers, but this article quoting a study but omitting raw data and an disclaimer of how those numbers were manipulated, can hardly be cited as convincing evidence against their justification.

In this case, all that was immediately known was a report released after peer review. That it does not contain data is more to the embarrassement of the government agency.

The remark about vouchers was flippant but underlines the false claim of Religious Conservatives.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Has anyone ever atteneded a private Christian school before? I am curious how much time they devote to religious study and metaphyical postulations in a typical school day.

I attended part time for a year or two. (Was home-schooled the rest of the time, that year.) When we did do religious study (which was rarely, perhaps (in total) an hour or two each semester), it was mainly approached with a "And here's why everyone who believes differently than us is wrong" type of attitude.

 

[dawny0826]

Has anyone ever atteneded a private Christian school before? I am curious how much time they devote to religious study and metaphyical postulations in a typical school day.

My daughter is attending a private Christian school. Below is the link to her academy (and our church).

http://www.thelivingword.net/school/lionsden.htm

The A'Beka curriculum is utilized in her school and the kids typically do VERY well in English and language. I can attest to that. My daughter isn't currently taking any math or science as she's too young but the kids in her school do very well.

Private Christian schools around here are very parent/teacher involved. Parents and teachers really work together to help kids get the most out of their education. Not implying, that this isn't the case for many, many parents in the public school systems. It's just...you're dealing with smaller numbers of children and it's easier for parents to get to know their child's teacher.

As far as the religious aspect of the school...it's a Christian school. Christian themes and biblical teachings are incorprated into the curriculum. Activities are normally biblically themed. There's a school wide bible verse that the older kids are expected to remember each week. Teachers and students discuss the bible freely and openly.

On Fridays, the entire school meets in the sanctuary for Chapel. And this is where the kids have a formal bible lesson and are able to share stories and testimonies. Several classes perform for the school each Friday. They sing...dance...recite poetry. It's really awesome.

A typical day though...isn't much different than a typical day in a public school. You're just dealing with a smaller school setting and some of the pages in the workbooks that the little kids use may feature biblical characters. The kids have school...eat lunch...play games...play on the playground. We have a soccer team and a basketball team. It's a pretty typical school setting where Christian themes are incorporated.

 

[Quiddity]

Interesting statement. Schools are run by professionals trained in the skillsets of teaching. Parents by contrast rarely have the equivlant training.

It was surprising to me as well. I have no idea why this is. Perhaps someone more trained then I could answer that.

As to the OP, I'm rather surprised at the results. Public schools out by me are doing much worse then private.

 

[GloriaPatri]

It was surprising to me as well. I have no idea why this is. Perhaps someone more trained then I could answer that.

As to the OP, I'm rather surprised at the results. Public schools out by me are doing much worse then private.

Private schools do, for the most part, perform better than public schools. This article is just saying that performance in conservate, Christian, private schools is below average. This is a small portion of all the private schools that operate here in the U.S.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

At least when I was in S.C., the public schools would kind of battle each other for getting the home-schoolers to do the standardised tests at their school. (The tests that reflect how much funding the school will get.) I honestly don't know why this was, though they said it was because we did better at testing and whatnot. (At least then.)

 

[spacemonkey]

Public school for me. I usually see the best results with home schooled kids.

Except when it comes to forming the important SOCIAL skills one develops from being in an enviroment with many peers.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Except when it comes to forming the important SOCIAL skills one develops from being in an enviroment with many peers.

My apologies for dragging us away from the topic- private schools- but some kids wind up more socially adept if they are raised in a homeschool environment rather than a public one. (We can always create another topic to debate/discuss this, should people wish.)

Okay, back to topic!

 

[robtex]

My daughter is attending a private Christian school. Below is the link to her academy (and our church).

http://www.thelivingword.net/school/lionsden.htm

The A'Beka curriculum is utilized in her school and the kids typically do VERY well in English and language. I can attest to that. My daughter isn't currently taking any math or science as she's too young but the kids in her school do very well.

I remember in your online journal stating that sometimes you daughter comes home and says "Jesus loves me and you mommy" or something like that. That entry made more sense now.

About the science classes, I may be incorrect, but I thought you are a creationist. If you are how do you feel about the biology classes?

 

[dawny0826]

I remember in your online journal stating that sometimes you daughter comes home and says "Jesus loves me and you mommy" or something like that. That entry made more sense now.

About the science classes, I may be incorrect, but I thought you are a creationist. If you are how do you feel about the biology classes?

I am a creationist.

My daughter has yet to take a biology course, so I'm really not qualified to opinionate.

My hunch is that Darwinism is briefly mentioned and is frowned upon but that's just my hunch.

I'm assuming that this is what you were getting at when you asked about my thoughts on biology classes.

 

[CaptainXeroid]

In this case, all that was immediately known was a report released after peer review. That it does not contain data is more to the embarrassement of the government agency.

I agree with this, and I don't dispute that if the results had been more favorable, they would have gotten much more press.

The remark about vouchers was flippant but underlines the false claim of Religious Conservatives.

The point of the paragraph I quoted is that this study does not render the claims false. At best, the results can be classified as inconclusive.

One thing we all have to be aware of is that the conclusions in the article are based on results from standardized tests. Test results may help predict a child's aptitude, but they are by no means a guarantee of future achievement or worth.

 

[Bishka]

I wouldn't be surprised, because the private Christian schools I know focused more on the we're right and you're wrong instead of curriculum.

 

[dawny0826]

I wouldn't be surprised, because the private Christian schools I know focused more on the we're right and you're wrong instead of curriculum.

That surprises me, considering the fact that Christian schools focus on teaching the children of parents who have ELECTIVELY placed their children in a Christian environment.

Maybe, we've been extraordinarily blessed. I find my daughter's academy to be very balanced. She's receiving a dynamite education and will be able to worship Jesus Christ without the need for apology.