Cup of Tea

With the entry of schools into a free marketplace, the decision about what kind of education my child is to receive is now mine. I have to make compromises; I don’t expect to have everything I want in one school. But, I’ll come close.

I think I will select a school that bans formal prayers. I pray, and encourage my children to, but prayers in school are not quite right for us.

I like a school that emphasizes phonics, and luckily for me, most of them do.

A swimming pool and gymnasium are important to some people, but those features bring the price up, and since I’m not too interested, I think I’ll look for a school that doesn’t have them.

I think I would not mind a school that has an occasional Communist, or other controversial speaker, but my neighbor’s child attends a school that shuns them.

I know a lot of people who use discount schools, and they get a lot for their money. Also, the “free” lunches they offer are an inducement. However, I think I would rather spend a little more, and have smaller classrooms.

There is a chain of schools that emphasizes science. That is something I might look into.

There is a little red, one-room schoolhouse near me which is tempting, but that is something I haven’t made up my mind about. The nice thing about this school is that for recreation and exercise, the children are just turned out into a big empty yard to play. You’d be surprised at the ingenuity those kids develop. Did you ever hear of “Run Sheep Run”? On the other hand, this school uses McGuffey’s Reader. Some of us are not sold on that.

I like co-ed schools, but one of my friends sends her daughter to an all-girl school halfway across town. I don’t like busing. It’s expensive, and time-consuming.

I know a teacher who has a few students in her home. This is a bright, happy bunch, and the kids are getting a quality education.

About half the schools I am acquainted with have sex education programs. Those who are adamantly opposed send their children to the schools that don’t.

My task is certainly complicated. I must choose a school from among those that have smoking lounges; those that teach boys to crochet and girls to fix leaky faucets; those that have dress codes; those in which classes are conducted in Spanish, French, or some other language; those that have a portrait of George Washington hanging in the lobby, or Martin Luther King, or Jesus Christ, or Susan B. Anthony; those that guarantee to teach your child to read or you get your money back; those that . . . well, you get the idea. It’s a complicated job, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s a dream that could, and should come true.