I agree that the rest of the country tends to be good. I had a lot of friends from Chicago (suburbs) in college, and they almost all went to public schools. However, they were from Naperville which has some of the best publics in the country...
What you said there is true about EVERY major and even smaller cities in the country that are not in the Northeast. Some of the best high schools in the country are found in suburbia around Dallas, Chicago, Columbus, OH, Toledo, OH, Cleveland, OH, Cincinnati, OH, Louisville, KY, Nashville, Atlanta, St. Louis, San Jose, San Francisco, Indianapolis, St. Paul, MN, and on and on and on.
The Northeast has a LOT of people who live there, and in general, the public schools there suck hard, so private schools are a viable option for a lot of people. The problem is that too many people in other parts of the country think private schools in their area are better than the public ones too, and that's just not the case. Public school teachers in most of the country get paid more so the better ones go to public schools, the schools have more resources, etc. People who know, know (like me).
Some of the worst high schools are in metropolitan Pittsburgh, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, you get the idea! It's time for EQUITY in education.
Just saw a video tour of Carmel HS near Indianapolis. First 20 seconds or so I thought, "No different than any other high school I've seen." Then it started to get ridiculous.
This is non PC, but yes. The best public schools are ≥ 90% (combined) Asian + white.
Thomas Jefferson High School (before it removed most entrance standards for "equity") was like 70% Asian, 25% white, 3% biracial, and like 1% each of Hispanic and black (mostly African).
When I moved to Carmel it was basically 100% white. There were allegations of racism thrown around due to the police pulling a few too many people for "driving while black." That seems to have subsided in the last decade. There has been a fairly substantial influx of residents from China, India, and the middle east. The schools are probably still 70-75% white.
Southlake, TX is similar. There have been many high income (there, typically Indian) Asian immigrants coming. I believe the mayor has celebrated Diwali which is cool
LOL, huge schools like this ARE NOT that great. the truly elite nice schools are generally in the north east, much smaller (500 to 1k kids), and very wealthy with a high feeder program to ivy league schools.
bronxville high school is an example. only 500 kids and focused an academics (its a public school, but the average home in the district sells for over 2 million).
You're not seriously comparing a good public to New England (or NYC) boarding schools?
Carmel is a (very) good public HS, but it's dwarfed by the best privates. Similarly, UC Berkeley is the best public college and still a very good school, but its "prestige" is significantly lower than the top Ivies
Yep...Mason School District, Upper Arlington, Worthington, Perrysburg, Ottawa Hills, Shaker Heights, Solon, Sycamore, Dublin, Beachwood, Hudson, Rocky River, New Albany, and on and on and on in Ohio and other states. In the Midwest especially, there are great public schools, and private school in general are for religious bigots.
You lost me here. I can speak for the Indianapolis area as I live here. Outside of the rich suburbs (Carmel, Zionsville, Fishers), the public schools aren't very good. IPS is a train wreck. Most folks with money in Indianapolis would prefer to send their kids to private school. It has nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with math and reading proficiencies being at like 20% in the city.
Not sure why you are lost. I'll try to be more clear...yes, there are BAD public schools...in every state. However, there are also very GOOD and even GREAT public schools in most states. Most suburbs that have great schools also have housing that is available to even modest earners. Yes, if you are super poor, you may lose out.
IF you are poor so that you can only live where the public schools suck hard, AND you can get full tuition at a private school, then that may be your best option...IF you can handle the religious indoctrination that goes on in most of those private schools. And yes, MOST private schools in this country are religious based and filled with religious bigots. I all all for their RIGHT to have those schools, but I will still call them out for what they are...religious indoctrination about an imaginary man (yes, a MAN as that's how HE is described and depicted in the prominent religions in this country) in the sky.
"I'd like to know Flagpole's opinion on this topic."
-No one
I wouldn't mind his opinion, if it was at least based in fact.
I would wager that he went to public school and sent his kids (if he is old enough to have any) to public school. A lot of people are envious (for whatever absurd reason) of private school students and/or parents. It's just a choice of where to send your kids. Nothing else. Making these sweeping generalizations about public and private schools he knows nothing about makes him seem to be one of these envious folk.
People who know aren't envious about private school (we're talking K-12 here). The vast majority of private high schools in the country are worse than the average suburban high school. Public school teachers are typically paid more, so the better teachers go there. Private school teachers also are not required to have the same level of education/certification as public school teachers. If you can afford to live in a good school district (again, the Northeast is a different beast here), then you are better off sending your kids to school there rather than spending money to send them to an often inferior private school.
There are three kinds of people who send their kids to private schools (again, I am leaving the Northeast out of this):
1) Religious nuts who only want their kids in a religious school.
2) Dumba$$es who don't know that private schools aren't better than even average suburban public schools.
3) VERY POOR people who can only live in a horrible school district yet have tuition forgiveness due to their poverty.
4) People who care about image and THINK that sending their kids to private school makes them look good to the Joneses.
I wouldn't mind his opinion, if it was at least based in fact.
I would wager that he went to public school and sent his kids (if he is old enough to have any) to public school. A lot of people are envious (for whatever absurd reason) of private school students and/or parents. It's just a choice of where to send your kids. Nothing else. Making these sweeping generalizations about public and private schools he knows nothing about makes him seem to be one of these envious folk.
People who know aren't envious about private school (we're talking K-12 here). The vast majority of private high schools in the country are worse than the average suburban high school. Public school teachers are typically paid more, so the better teachers go there. Private school teachers also are not required to have the same level of education/certification as public school teachers. If you can afford to live in a good school district (again, the Northeast is a different beast here), then you are better off sending your kids to school there rather than spending money to send them to an often inferior private school.
There are three kinds of people who send their kids to private schools (again, I am leaving the Northeast out of this):
1) Religious nuts who only want their kids in a religious school.
2) Dumba$es who don't know that private schools aren't better than even average suburban public schools.
3) VERY POOR people who can only live in a horrible school district yet have tuition forgiveness due to their poverty.
4) People who care about image and THINK that sending their kids to private school makes them look good to the Joneses.
That's it.
Actually, I DID leave out one (though there could be exceptions):
5) People who have a kid who has failed miserably at the public school either because that kid is dumb as a rock or due to behavioral problems. The private school can't fix any of that, but often it's the last chance for a dumb or problem kid. I know a couple of kids who got expelled from their public school in elementary school...both were poorly behaved, and one of them was dumb as a stump. They both went to private school as a result, because that school would gladly take their money. Oh, and that private school sucks.
Christians don't believe God is just a "man" in the sky at all, God doesn't have a gender and is just a pure spirit meaning he doesn't have any physical or gender characteristics at all. The reason why many Christians and people (including myself) refer to God in male pronouns is because of the belief he sent down his only son Jesus as fully man and fully divine. You would know this if you ever took any time to research it for yourself and were more understanding before you call other people "bigots" based on their religious beliefs