Advanced Learning Frameworks

Joann McPike, the founder of THINK Global School, graciously answered some questions that I posed about the school. ~ Rob Kennedy

RK: Explain why you took the reins rather than finding some institution that you could guide and shape according to your ideals and goals.

JM: My husband and I love to travel. We have always taken our son Alexander with us whenever we went anywhere. We took his schoolwork with us. It was Alexander's never-ending questions and comments that started showing us the benefits of traveling and opening the minds of youngsters.

We started looking at boarding schools all over the world for when he had to go to high school, and although there are some fantastic schools out there, we couldn't find one that would provide the different points of view that we felt were necessary to have a truly open mind.

As to why I didn't find an institution that we could guide and shape... I assume you mean an existing school? I guess I thought it would be more challenging to try to convince a school board to do something so out of the ordinary than to start a school from scratch. Most people feel safe in the status quo, but there are a few risk-takers who want to shake things up a little. I guess I am one of those who want to shake things up a little... as are the courageous parents who took a leap of faith and sent

You want the best possible education for your child. The local school district is reasonably good but is facing some drastic budget cuts next year and, as far as you can tell, probably for many years after that. You don't want to sacrifice your child's educational opportunities or spend money needlessly on other educational options, such as private school or homeschooling.

Private school makes sense on so many levels because everything's there. Academics, activities, sports, facilities, and staff are the critical components of every private school's package. In a private school, learning and teaching are continuous. It doesn't matter whether your child is in the classroom or on the playing field; she will be learning.

Perhaps you are considering homeschooling. While homeschooling is doable, you must track everything and make sure all the paperwork is completed, submitted, and approved by local and state authorities. It's a lot of work—indeed, it is a full-time job. Now contrast that with the kind of life and activities your child can have at private school, as shown in this video.

So, what about some of those rumors you have heard about private schools? Are they true? False? Are things changing? Are private schools different from what they were fifty years ago? Well, things have indeed changed over that period. Most of what the popular media says about private K-12 schools today can be charitably categorized as misconceptions.

"Everybody does it." Sadly that excuse is one of several reasons why there is so much cheating in America's high schools. Children learn by example. When they see adults cheating, they assume that there is nothing wrong with cheating. Adults cheat for a variety of reasons although I suspect that expediency probably tops the list of reasons why. Students seem to cheat because they are under tremendous pressure to be successful. Getting the best marks constantly so that Ivy League colleges will accept them has been many students' mantra ever since they could remember. We parents are to blame for putting that kind of pressure on our kids.

Michael Winerip's article on the cheating scandal in Philadelphia public schools underscores one of the intrinsic differences between public and private schools. Private schools do not have to teach to the test. Public schools do. That is as a result of The No Child Left Behind legislation which required that minimum test scores be attained, among other requirements. The consequences for not achieving the benchmarks are serious. The net result is that some unethical teachers and administrators are alleged to have cooked the books in the Philadelphia schools. And they got caught. A similar situation occurred in Atlanta's public schools with several educators jailed for their role in a wide-spread cheating scandal.

Private schools are not covered by NCLB or its replacement legislation the Every Student Succeeds Act. Consequently private schools do not have to

You would think that education in the United States has been public since colonial days. But that is not the case. The earliest schools were private and religious schools. Only in the mid-19th century did governments begin to compel children to attend K-12 public schools. Here, then, is a brief timeline of private K-12 education.

The purpose of this article is not to cast blame. Instead, I want to highlight the disturbing trend that many of us have heard and read about: enrollment in American Catholic schools has declined severely over the past 50 years.

The following is quoted directly from the National Catholic Education Association's Annual Statistical Report on Schools, Enrollment, and Staffing.

"U. S. Catholic school enrollment reached its peak during the early 1960s when there were more than 5.2 million students in almost thirteen thousand schools across the nation. The 1970s and 1980s saw a steep decline in both the number of schools and students. By 1990, there were approximately 2.5 million students in 8,719 schools. From the mid 1990s though 2000, there was a steady enrollment increase (1.3%) despite continued closings of schools. Between the 2000 and the 2011 school years, 1,755 schools were reported closed or consolidated (21.5%). The number of students declined by 587,166 (22.1 %). The most seriously impacted have been elementary schools."

This short video gives us an overview of the issue.

Personally, it saddens me to see any private school in decline. It is even worse to discover that schools have closed. But the sheer magnitude of these numbers is just plain scary. Let's examine some of the reasons why Catholic education finds itself in this state.

The Economy

The economy has been a major factor in the decline