Public Schools
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2/19/2012
I live in the Bryan/College Station area in Texas. This area is very good with real estate costs, nevertheless there is still a sharp contrast between the "haves and the have nots". If you can afford to live in the higher end neighborhoods then the school is well furnished, well funded both publicly and though parent efforts. If not then the schools are not well funded etc. Until recently a schools' population was derived from "zones" that very deftly quarantined the working class and minorities into very specific schools that coincidentally qualified for Title 1 status. Although these zones have been altered to display a more pc rendering this is not the norm. Another problem with Texas schools in general are the mandatory tests that every student after 2nd grade take called the Taeks Tests. Although testing to maintain standards sounds good in principle in practice the goal of every school is for their students to achieve high scores on these statewide, mandatory tests. If the scores are high enough the school is favored with funding, more teachers etc. This tends to result in the teachers and the district to "teach for the test" instead of teaching to learn. Private schools do exist, however, most of these are from the far right christian based type of education that do not emphasize education over religion, where intelligent design is the type of science base education that one can expect. The exception to this is St. Michaels School in Bryan, which offers a classically based education that includes: latin, french, spanish, religious studies (all religions), geography, anthropology, among others. The only other private school that would be equivalent is a secular school that many favor but is very regimented. Most people in this area will say that the public schools are better in College Station than in Bryan and to some extent this is true especially for those schools that are the flag ships in both cities but otherwise the difference is negligible. Socioeconomically the difference between Bryan and College Station is whether you are among the professors and professionals associated with the four year university based in College Station. Most of the university based educators or professors and professionals live in elite communities in College Station where the better schools are located. The majority of residents in Bryan tend to be working class or below where a higher percentage of minority, lower socioeconomic slice of the community live.
dawn | College Station, TX