This Is Not News

I went to an open house at the neighborhood public school today – Alex will start kindergarten this fall, so we registered her there. I got to look at the kindergarten classrooms, and the kids there seemed enthusiastic. Lots of projects and signs were hung around the room, and while it wasn’t the brightest of environments – the kindergarten classrooms are in the basement – it seemed like a place where kids were learning. I was a little late to the opening discussion, so I stayed later to talk to the principal, who asked me if Alex would be continuing at the school after kindergarten. A large number of kids in the area apparently go to the public school for K and then switch to parochial schools for first grade and up. (The Archdiocese of Philadelphia runs a huge network of schools – there are two parish grade schools within a ten minute walk of my house and a third about 20-25 minutes away.) I said that while Alex won’t go to the parochial schools, I don’t know whether she’d stay at the public school. The principal offered to show me a first grade classroom, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I have heard so many horror stories about the public schools from my classmates at Temple, and I had my own memories of grade school in the front of my mind. But in this classroom, there were no rows of desks with kids expected to sit in them all day. It looked a lot like the kindergarten classrooms, and I mean that as a compliment. Round tables for students to sit and work in small groups, a large floor space for kids to gather together with the teacher, colorful student projects all around – it looked like the students were getting the attention they needed and participating in their learning process. It was a considerable relief, to tell you the truth. The principal seemed pretty proud of the work they were doing given the resources they have, and I can’t really blame her. Now if we could only figure out how to replicate that success.