How (why) Private Schools Produce Tech Leaders

[arob]

Ontario private schools are well funded. They can afford to buy and implement state of the art technology, while the province's public schools cannot afford to be constantly up -to-date, or more accurately ... Private school faculty can better afford to take chances, and are more often encouraged to experiment with new teaching methods, gadgets and social networking software. So what does that mean for you and your child?

It could mean that private schools will produce more innovative tech leaders, while public schools will produce their labour force...? The Tech eZine on Lilith Galleries lists five reasons how Ontario private schools produce tech innovators.

In short, its because these 'privileged' students go to school with laptops and have no textbooks, notebooks or written papers. St Andrew's College in Aurora Ontario has Smart Boards that sends notes to student's computers. International students bring global relationships and new ways of thinking Social networking increases closeness of students.

All these factors combined give Ontario Private Schools greater odds of producing 21st century tech innovators . This new generation of students will graduate into new careers, jobs that probably haven't even been invented yet.

 

[Liberalman]

It could mean that private schools will produce more innovative tech leaders, while public schools will produce their labour force

Master and slave concept

 

[Johnnny]

there was this mennonite kid in my college way back in the day when i was there, and even though it was college math he literally scored 98% minumum in all maths, he would show up to class without a notebook and just listen..... home schooled kids that know their **** are impressive

 

[imnotcaroline]

Not surprising. The same thing is happening in Quebec as well. Private schools are well funded by the government as well as the students' parents. Public schools are left with not much and have to educate the mass with out-dated textbooks (not even mentioning computers or laptops).

 

[Mowich]

I attended private school when I was younger and got a first rate education. Our curriculum was far ahead of what my peers in public school were offered. However, my parents paid for my schooling at that time. I don't know if private schools are funded by the government in Saskatchewan now, or not.

 

[Bar Sinister]

Private schools have more than just funding going for them. They can also impose standards of discipline that require students to behave or face expulsion, and they can select students who are sure of success by screening them for intelligence and aptitude. Public schools are forced to accept everyone, including severe discipline problems, and are frequently deprived of the funding they need to do their job properly.

 

[L Gilbert]

Private schools have more than just funding going for them. They can also impose standards of discipline that require students to behave or face expulsion, and they can select students who are sure of success by screening them for intelligence and aptitude. Public schools are forced to accept everyone, including severe discipline problems, and are frequently deprived of the funding they need to do their job properly.

For those that don't get into private schools, there is always home schooling. That's the route Anna and I took. Our kids got the basics at home and the other curricular activities at the public school.

 

[Bar Sinister]

For those that don't get into private schools, there is always home schooling. That's the route Anna and I took. Our kids got the basics at home and the other curricular activities at the public school.

I am not particularly in favour of home schooling. During my teaching career I encountered a number of home schooled students that had been moved in to the public system. Many of them had large gaps in their education. This was primarily due to the fact that most of the parents teaching them thought that if they covered the material in the textbooks then they had taught the course, not realizing that most teachers add considerable content from outside sources.

A typical example was the Grade 11 history course taught in Alberta. The main text had less than 200 pages and many of them were taken up with illustrations. Sticking to the text meant the course could be taught in only a month. No decent teacher would teach a course that was so thin on content, but most parents did not have the expertise to flesh it out into a real course.

You may have been one of those few parents who did a fine job, but many others only thought they were teaching the course.

 

[TenPenny]

Private schools tend to attract two groups of students: those whose parents are heavily involved in their education,and those whose parents simply want them out of the house for a few years.

The students with parents who are highly motivated and involved in their education will, of course, do better than the kids with parents who let the system do its thing. You see kids like this in the public school system, too, it's just that they are more concentrated in the private system.

 

[YukonJack]

The success of a school i.e. what the students/pupils learn is a straight function of discipline.

That is why private schools succeed and public schools fail.

The difference can and should be attributed to political correctness.

 

[TenPenny]

The success of a school i.e. what the students/pupils learn is a straight function of discipline.

I would have thought that the intellectual capabilities of the students and teachers had something to do with it, but I guess not.

 

[YukonJack]

TenPenny, if a teacher is constantly bogged down with discipline problems, i.e. spending time attempting to get an unruly child to behave, all the intellectual capabilities of the students and teachers is wasted.

On the other hand if a class behaves, i.e. there is DISCIPLINE, all the time the teachers and students have can and will be devoted to teaching and learning.

But I guess not.

 

[taxslave]

The success of a school i.e. what the students/pupils learn is a straight function of discipline.

That is why private schools succeed and public schools fail.

The difference can and should be attributed to political correctness.

Partly. There is also the matter of union and management self interest in the public system. Both are in it for the money.
I find it odd that the same group of socialists that forbid both discipline and awards for excellence on the grounds that it might cause an inferiority complex in bad students are trapped by their very own ideals.
As for home schooling, I have seen both good and not so good. Depends on the parents mostly. Many do not impose time frames on their kids which in later life make it hard to work in any regular job. They often don't get enough interaction with other kids, although when you live in an isolated place this is just how it goes.

 

[AnnaG]

I am not particularly in favour of home schooling. During my teaching career I encountered a number of home schooled students that had been moved in to the public system. Many of them had large gaps in their education. This was primarily due to the fact that most of the parents teaching them thought that if they covered the material in the textbooks then they had taught the course, not realizing that most teachers add considerable content from outside sources.

It's a crapshoot, I guess. Most of the kids I've met that had either private tutelage or home tutelage have been more advanced in their skills that public students. Personally, we taught our kids from a variety of books. This is because both Les and I had went through school discovering various errors in the texts that schools used. Using a variety of texts limited the chances of inducing the errors from texts into our kids. Actually one of our kids was suspended because she called her teacher on an error in a text once. A minor verbal scuffle ensued between her parents and the principal and she was unsuspended. Our homeschooling also resulted in our kids being far ahead of their classmates in reading & comprehension, arithmetic, and they were both writing by the time they started taking public school classes.

A typical example was the Grade 11 history course taught in Alberta. The main text had less than 200 pages and many of them were taken up with illustrations. Sticking to the text meant the course could be taught in only a month. No decent teacher would teach a course that was so thin on content, but most parents did not have the expertise to flesh it out into a real course.

You may have been one of those few parents who did a fine job, but many others only thought they were teaching the course.

I agree but, I wouldn't go so far as to say "many".

 

[YukonJack]

taxslave, thanks for pointing out the unions.

Unions should have no business in teaching. Teaching is - before hijacked by unions and supported by worthless pieces of crap masquarding as teachers - a VOCATION that one enters with selfless and noble intentions.

If your intention is to get rich quick, without minimal effort, don't be a teacher.

If you need a union thug speak for you to get decent wages, you are obviously incapable of speaking for yourself, therefore, automatically, incapable of teaching children.

 

[AnnaG]

The success of a school i.e. what the students/pupils learn is a straight function of discipline.

That is why private schools succeed and public schools fail.

The difference can and should be attributed to political correctness.

Partially. Regimented schooling when kids are really young simply doesn't make any sense because after a certain length of time (which varies from kid to kid and from one hour to the next) kids get fidgety and it's pretty much unproductive to make them sit and pay attention. Whether you like it or not, their attentions wander anyway, so they really aren't learning to the best of their abilities. And what's more they start developing a dislike for schooling as a result.

I would have thought that the intellectual capabilities of the students and teachers had something to do with it, but I guess not.

That, too.

TenPenny, if a teacher is constantly bogged down with discipline problems, i.e. spending time attempting to get an unruly child to behave, all the intellectual capabilities of the students and teachers is wasted.

On the other hand if a class behaves, i.e. there is DISCIPLINE, all the time the teachers and students have can and will be devoted to teaching and learning.

But I guess not.

Ten Penny wasn't saying that there should be no discipline, he was saying that the educational abilities of the parents and the learning capabilities of the kids ALSO has something to do with their learning. It isn't JUST discipline.

As for home schooling, I have seen both good and not so good. Depends on the parents mostly. Many do not impose time frames on their kids which in later life make it hard to work in any regular job. They often don't get enough interaction with other kids, although when you live in an isolated place this is just how it goes.

Yeah. We thought time frames should be introduced to ours gradually and why we didn't totally home-school them.

 

[YukonJack]

I went back to school as an adult student when I was a 24 years old immigrant, whose command of English was at the time sporadic at best. I was astonished to see that there was no break between classes. I could hardly believe that I had to go sometimes directly across the school building to another teacher's HOME ROOM.

I wondered: Why could not the teacher come to a different room? Who is top priority here, teacher or student?

Anyways, I got my basic education in the old country. I am proud to say that my basic education enables me to say that I am smarter than a fifth grader, (you know, the TV show) while so many failed on that TV show.

There were times when there were more than fifty of us in the same class room. But when the teacher came in we stood. When he/she spoke we were silent. When asked by the teacher to speak we spoke. When we spoke we showed respect and stood up.

To make a long story short, we behaved and we learned.

 

[AnnaG]

I went back to school as an adult student when I was a 24 years old immigrant, whose command of English was at the time sporadic at best. I was astonished to see that there was no break between classes. I could hardly believe that I had to go sometimes directly across the school building to another teacher's HOME ROOM.

I wondered: Why could not the teacher come to a different room? Who is top priority here, teacher or student?

Anyways, I got my basic education in the old country. I am proud to say that my basic education enables me to say that I am smarter than a fifth grader, (you know, the TV show) while so many failed on that TV show.

There were times when there were more than fifty of us in the same class room. But when the teacher came in we stood. When he/she spoke we were silent. When asked by the teacher to speak we spoke. When we spoke we showed respect and stood up.

To make a long story short, we behaved and we learned.

Congratulations. You're much like a lot of other people. Discipline is not all there is to education, though.
Computers have discipline, too. They do things according to programs. But can they think, learn, and satisfy their own curiosity? Mine can't.