Seattle lacks an elite high school because such a school would require hiring an elite cadre of teachers .. something the unions oppose and the white liberal community disdains because they see the very concept of “elite” as tainted unless it refers to the public school serving the cause of elitism in athletics.
A major part of the problem comes from the alliance between the teachers’ unions and the Democratic party. The unions are a major source of money and volunteers. Sadly, these unions are an all too sad example of what happens when a union, as it should do, puts the interests of its work force above the interests of the profession. Sadly, the current generation of public school teachers are the graduates of the bottom rung of our system of higher education… what used to be called teachers’ colleges and now are often called education majors. Many of these programs, e.g. the one offered by the notori0us online Western Governors University, are little more than diploma mills more concerned with certification than education. This situation is a result of underfunding of the profession, however it also causes a conflict of interest where the union MUST defend its members against changes that might threaten their jobs. This is why unions oppose merit systems and oppose efforts to bring content professionals … for example former military or eager young graduates in the humanities … into the school system.
The sad result in Seattle is pretty much as Puddy stated in a post over at HorsesAss:
1) The WEA is suing to overturn the voter-approved charter-schools initiative, just as the first charter schools prepare to open. 2) Earlier this year, WEA officials goaded lawmakers into a decision that caused Washington to become the first state in the nation to lose its waiver under the No Child Left Behind law and to cause school districts to lose control over $41 million to help children most in need. 3) The final example is the WEA’s misguided Initiative 1351, which is on this fall’s ballot. Perfect examples of how teacher UNIONS are not helping children, especially inner city children! It’s union perpetuation! Following in the footsteps of AFT and NEA!.
Let me add to Puddy’s comment. Seattle is the only major city in the United States that does not have a single central high school dedicated to the most academically ambitious students. Whether you call such a school Bronx Science, Boston Latin School, Nova, there is one obvious fact: Urban elite schools work. After admission to elite colleges, kids from these schools out-compete kids from even the best private schools. Indeed schools like Lakeside seek out such kids, especially from the underrepresented minority communities, not just to look good but because such kids do extremely well. The unions tell such kids Seattle doesn’t want them.
My wife and I had a wonderful evening last week with a prominent member of the African-American community. This long-term activist seemed surprised when I criticizeed the public schools for not serving the needs of the best and brightest of Seattle’s Black students. His comment was that such kids had no problem going to Lakeside.
Our friend’s comment was not new. The children of Seattle’s African-American leaders have long attended Lakeside, Bush, and other excellent private schools built for and by Seattle’s wealthy. The result of course is to remove a political force that might have long ago forced the Seattle Public schools to offer the kind of excellence every other major city provides to outstanding kids.
One might think that Seattle’s liberals, opponents of rule by the 1%, would oppose our current system where Seattle’s best kids are dependent on the largesse of the uber wealthy. Of course most of that elite send their kids to the elite private schools … Lakeside, Northwest School, University Prep, or to elite schools in the well-to-do burbs. The daughter of David Goldstein, very outspoken opponent of charter schools, is soon to graduate from the very elite school system on Mercer Island. David does not deserve to be criticized for this, anymore than Michelle and Barack Obama should be criticized for deciding not to send their children to the DC public schools.
Seattle’s need for a prestigious , central , academic high school is closely related to the issue of charter schools. Hiring teachers for such school and maintaining the quality of that faculty is very much a violation of the kind of work rules supported by unions . It is not impossible to solve that problem if the unions will collaborate . The rules created by Sec. Duncan require states to work with the unions to find formulae that support the teachers while giving parents and teachers the freedom of innovation represented by charter schools. Washington state is the only remaining state not to receive stimulus funds from the Department of Education because we have refused to follow the rules created by Sec. Duncan .
My wife and I remember shopping for a private school for our daughter. We lived in one of Seattle’s disadvantaged neighborhoods then, and didn’t want to inflict the city’s public schools on our only precious child. We interviewed the admissions people at Bush, Evergreen School for the Gifted, Annie Wright in Tacoma, and a couple others. I remember how uncomfortable we felt at Bush surrounded by all those rich parents. Apart from the affordability for a family living on modest government salaries, we just didn’t fit into that environment. We were too good for those people, if you know what I mean. (If you don’t know what I mean, slimy and rich go hand in hand, in most cases.) We ended up sending our precious child to Crista, a thriving private religious-based (more or less Methodist) ministry (for lack of a better word) in Shoreline that operates a K-12 school, a retirement home and a nursing home, a radio station, and other activities. To do that, every morning we had to drive from South Seattle to Queen Anne to meet up with Crista’s southernmost school bus route, and reverse that process every afternoon. It was burdensome, but our kid got 6 grades of excellent education there, then we moved out of Seattle and switched her to public schools. She graduated from college and works in IT now. My point is that elite private schools built for the rich aren’t just about education, they’re part of the wealth culture too, and if you’re not wealthy those schools really aren’t for you, even if you they give you a tuition subsidy, because you’re not part of that culture and never will be (unless you win the lottery). You need a school that’s not only an educational fit but also a social and cultural fit for your kids and your family, because school has to prepare them for the social milieu and culture they’re actually going to live in after they graduate and begin fulfilling their role in adult society. Of course, parents have the choice of a variety of private schools catering to different needs and interests (e.g., Crista v. Bush), and don’t misinterpret me — I’m not diminishing in any way the importance of educational excellence and providing appropriate academic challenges for gifted kids, if you’re lucky (or, looking at it another way, unlucky) enough to have a gifted kid. (And then, there’s the issue of educating kids of average ability and motivation, which is what most parents have to deal with.) Suffice to say, it’s a complicated problem for the parents, and the only generalization I feel comfortable making is: The more choices, the better.
Seattle is too politically challenged to have a taxpayer funded high school with screening that would weed out the non-gifted.
I can see the lawsuits coming already. Discrimination based on an IQ test? or Sat scores? that would be challenged in court as to why Johnny couldn’t get in to the best public high school in Seattle.
Dream on. Seattle’s communists, socialists and left wingers hate discrimination of any kind. Everything must be fair and equal especially entrance requirements to an “elite” high school.
Signed: Fed up with both political parties.
Not a likely problem for several reasons:
First the District already has and has had programs that require tests. (APP, Horizon) and these are not contested.
Second at lest fifty such schools across the US.
Third, an ACADEMIV high school does not need to use “IQ” or anything like that. It can be achievement based.
Forth .. the Uw, WSU etc all use achievement, etc testing as a criterion now.
Roger
Your experience illustrates the point. Rich kids are not more able than other kids. The elite high schools do not serve the rich, they serve the able.
We DO have elite athletics programs .. kids who want to play NBA level basketball do not go Lakeside! They go to Garfield!
Your daughter was a great loss to the SPS and she lost the opportunity to go to a school with the academic standards of Crista but a much more divers population.
I have an AA friend who calls that sort thing out by shaking his head and saying “Its a shame!”
Well, she did go to Shoreline Public Schools for grades 7 through 12, so she had a mix of private and public school experiences.