My Kids Survived Public School

True story.  My teenage daughter went to an oral surgeon for a minor procedure.  While she was in the chair, the surgeon asked where she went to school.  When he heard that she attended a public high school, he asked if she carried a gun to class.  He was only half-kidding.

Despite such imagined horrors of gang member showdowns or  girls with razor blades in their hair and rattail combs filed down to stilettos, our kids have not only survived public school, they’ve thrived.   

After two years in a cooperative preschool with a developmental (rather than academic) curriculum, both entered kindergarten on the young end of five and were reading within a month.  They’re both strong writers.  I’ll admit that our family is oriented more towards the humanities than math and science but both my kids have solid math skills.

Between them, my kids have had the opportunity to compete in PTA-sponsored art programs, tour with a capella singing groups, perform in school orchestras and bands, and participate in year-long cultural exchange programs with schools in England.  They’ve had field trips to museums and dance performances and music recitals.  They’ve made films.  They’ve been on sports teams.  They attended an elementary school that had a deaf/hard-of-hearing learning academy on campus and learned sign language as a result.

Although most of the public schools they’ve attended have been large, they’ve never felt overwhelmed, lost, anonymous or unsafe, partly due to the Los Angeles Unified School District’s focus on Small Learning Communities within schools.

They have smart, interesting, creative friends who live all around Los Angeles; our kids have explored the city as a result.  (My son knows every used bookstore within walking distance of the Metro.)  Additionally, some opportunities have only been available to them because  they attend public school.  In high school, our daughter was awarded a year-long paid internship at the Los Angles County Museum of Art that was only available to public high school students.

I’ll admit that making the public school system work for our kids has required effort; we’ve invested sweat equity instead of cash.  We’ve sought out Magnet Programsand other individualized programs and have formed carpools and gotten up early for years to get our kids to school.  (We probably know every carpool lane and clever shortcut in a five-mile radius not to mention all the available super-fast/super-healthy breakfast options.)

If either of our kids had/has problems with a subject, we’ve met with readily available teachers to determine what areas needed focus and how best to address the issue.  There’s been the occasional exception, but overall we’ve been extremely impressed with the dedicated, creative and hard-working teachers and principals that we’ve met  while volunteering at schools and at parent-teacher conferences and back-to-school nights.   In fact, many of our kids’ teachers are still involved in their lives: showing up at performances and art shows and other important events.  (One teacher, who attends the same martial arts dojo as our son, held his parent-teacher conference with us after her class one night.)

Do we think that public school is the only option?  No.  But neither do we believe that living in Los Angeles automatically means a lifetime of private schools; we think public school is a viable option that many parents dismiss out of hand.   We believe in public schools philosophically because we believe that it’s important to engage in the larger community that is our city,  For us, it’s also been an economic decision.   Private school would be a financial challenge, especially with our desire to save for college.  (If only universities took coupons….)

Bottom line, public school has worked for our kids without compromising their education or their safety.  If anything, we feel our kids have gained confidence, learned independence, and have richer lives as a result of interacting with an ethnically and economically diverse student body.

No guns necessary.