Immigrants (and other groups which have reservations about the dominant culture in public schools) use private schooling for similar purposes in many countries. I think this is one more reason why having university admissions settled by objective, transparent examinations is such a good idea.<p>There are a number of Japanese public schools in my region. There is also at least one school for Koreans descended from South Korea, one for Koreans descended from North Korea, one for Brazilians, one private school which is primarily used by parents who think the public school curriculum has gone soft ("They NEVER would have let students out on Saturday back when I was a kid! How do you expect them to learn like this?!"), and two or three religiously affiliated private schools.<p>There are a number of academic and cultural reasons to choose the private schools over the public schools. As you may have heard, Japan has historically had issues with acceptance of people from non-dominant cultures. If you go to the Catholic school, you don't have to actively hide the fact that your first name is Tomas (as in, Saint) rather than Taro, which at least one lad who goes to my church is forced to do to avoid teasing at a public school.<p>So how to judge the private school Tomases versus the public school Taros once they both apply to the same university? Well, you could compare their GPA at vastly different institutions, after having your admissions officers use their personal judgment in deciding "OK, that Catholic Theology course is clearly not academic in nature, so we'll discount his grades from that" or "A Korean high school can not possibly be as academically rigorous as the best public school in this prefecture, minus three points". And then you end up replicating the biases in your admissions office.<p>Or you could be transparent about your admissions process -- not over the course of a day, over the course of a generation:<p>1) Our school tests for these subjects and expects this level of mastery of the material.<p>2) Here are ten years of tests to show you what kind of questions we ask.<p>3) Here are the kinds of scores which have resulted in admissions to the university to particular departments for the last ten years.<p>4) The only requirement we have for you to take the test is that you have a high school diploma issued by an accredited school. Your GPA, your courses taken, your school's pedagogical choices, and whether you start every class with a prayer to the Flying Sphagetti Monster do not matter to us. We admit the students with the highest scores on the tests. Period.
While public schools may have been "assimilation engines" back in 1950, my experience was that they are staunchly opposed to the "melting pot" and far more partial to the multicultural mindset. Since main stream public schools are essentially not allowed to teach subjects like ethical reasoning, they are implicitly teaching relativism AKA "tolerance." Public schools also tend to teach academic subjects in a scripted and mechanical way.<p>I think that this is the phenomenon that the folks in the article are responding to. Hopefully in realizing that there is no catch-all "best" way to educate, I think these charter schools will unlock previously untapped potential.
<i>“My dad always says, ‘Back in Somalia, when I was 14, I could see myself running my own business, having my own children. You’re 14, you can’t get your studies done.’ ”</i><p>I can think of a very effective solution to this stupefyingly (but unsurprisingly) ungrateful person's attitude, and it doesn't involve stealing money from the taxpayer.<p>No, really, what's the proper response to a group of people's disgust for their new country who (in certain cases) were delivered here against the wishes of the people? What should we say to this? How about, umm, "Go fuck yourself. Seriously. Fuck yourself." That's the <i>reasonable</i> response, but the nytimes rather sings a paean to the unquestionably superior culture and people of Somalia, in deep contrast with the allegedly "American" culture that involves saggy pants.<p>It's a great example of media framing. When I hear of people who come to a country and immediately:<p>1. Spit on the ground.<p>2. Demand extra services.<p>3. Demand segregation from the natives.<p>...there are serious social/political questions to be raised. Not fuzzy, where's-your-sandal-I-want-to-lick-it bullcrap.<p>I didn't submit the article so don't blame me for writing an appropriate response.