Up until this year our kids have gone to private school. I have been really impressed with the financial literacy, character building, art, science and music in the public school my sons attend. We do not live in an affluent area and it is a Title 1 school. The building is old and the classes are full but there are a lot of great things going on there.
They have music, art, Spanish, a free after school violin program, special programs honoring veterans, MLK, and several great field trips focusing on history, theatre, and science. My fourth grader has had special classes for coding and upcycling.
Fourth graders are also spending the whole year on financial literacy. He has a class job, he has to pay rent for his desk, they’re fined for poor behavior and they can buy and sell items on market day. He has learned to balance a checkbook, fill out a job application, and interview. They also do the pledge of allegiance, recite the preamble, sing the Star Spangled Banner, and America the Beautiful in the morning.
Is this typical? It is way better than what I had in the 80’s. We just had music and the music teacher was mean. My kids’ music teachers are like 50 year old cheery camp counselor types. They even lead line dancing at the school dance.
I know it is commonplace to criticize public schools but this one seems great to me.
