private, charter, and public schools. my experience

A bit of background before I go into my views on a voucher program. I am a high school senior who attends public school in a wealthy area of Texas. I attended a religious private school from K-6th grade, then public school for 7-8, a state funded charter school from 9-11th grade, and now public high school for 12th grade. My parents were able to pay for the private school, but all other education was publicly funded.

While the private school was fully funded through tuition, this could easily change with the possible implementation of vouchers. A main attraction of the school I attended was the religious aspects, the teaching of the Bible, the memorization of verses, and the attendance of a chapel service once a week. Many private schools (especially in my area) are similar in format and stance, and using taxpayer money for a religious education does not align with the nation's stance on a separation of church and state. While I have no problem with parents sending their children to a religious oriented school, using taxpayer funds that could have otherwise been used to improve the state of the public schools to pay for an education that is not only religious, but highly expensive is counterproductive. With a potential influx of students, schools will be driven to raise their prices, and cost more and more money as a guaranteed flow of money from the government.

The point of the charter school that I attended for the first three years of high school was to provide students with the ability to take community college courses. However, while good in policy, it was not in practice. A large draw of the school was "free college classes" but these classes were only free on the surface, and ignored the cost of classes, textbooks, and fees to the taxpayer. So few of my classmates took the program seriously, and wasted time and money failing out of college algebra, or just taking "free" for granted and abusing it. The teachers (for this program specifically) were no more than babysitters, waiting to send kids off to college classes. This is an enormous waste of time and money. After transferring to public school this year I saw just how much the money spent on a textbook could help my robotics teacher expand his tool collection and give more opportunities to kids who simply were victims of the system. My school is currently trying to raise money to be able to put on our graduation. If we cannot even put on a graduation for our students, than why are 200 kids across the street receiving free college classes, with a safety net that provides little penalty for failing.

While this has turned into more of a rant about the blindness of government officials to the actuality of their education systems, I do plan on taking my experiences (hopefully more fleshed out) and sharing them with people who are willing to listen. I can answer questions about my experiences across the spectrum of education, or tell more specifics if anyone wants to know.

Submitted February 07, 2017 at 07:56PM by spaceslother http://ift.tt/2kpvn8O