Private school that listens to parents input is the key.
That can also be the key to destroying a good school. Some parents wan their children to have a good education and are willing to do their part. That is good. Some parents think the money they spent guarantees good grades and will raise a ruckus if their children do not pass with flying colors. They do not want to do what it takes to be a good parent and they expect the school to perform miracles. Some just do not want to be bothered with their children's education and get hostile if any poor reports on academics or behavior reach them but then turn around and get very hostile that they were not informed that there is a problem. They just want to hear good things so they do not have to put out any effort for their children. They think they own the teachers and administration and want to call all the shots. That does not work too well most of the time.
I even had one mother openly ask why her daughter could not just stay home and be stupid like her.
Dyslexia is a condition that can make learning more difficult for a student. I was associated with a private school that had a student who was dyslexic. She was not stupid but could just not read things properly. Her parents, fine people very concerned about her education, sent her to a doctor in Raleigh who diagnosed the condition. She really had dyslexia. She was allowed certain concessions in classes and for tests. She thrived. Other parents saw what happened and sent their children to the same doctor to get their children diagnosed with dyslexia. That doctor evidently was not too concerned with ethics because every child, a whole bunch of them, sent to her came back with a diagnosis of dyslexia. That was great for the parents because they could have an excuse for having the child not do well in school. The children loved it because that meant they were not expected to do as well and were given all sorts of advantages during tests. It did not help the children one bit. It was socially acceptable for them to do poorly since they had this "medical condition" that made it not their fault that they got poor grades.
I have been associated with good private schools and with bad private schools. I would still rather bet on a private school than on many of the public schools I have witnessed.
Some of the public schools near where I taught in a private school in Alabama would have regular parents' days. These days were not for the parents of the students to come to school but rather for the students to bring their children to classes with them. The classrooms from about the 4th grade on up would be crawling with crumb crunchers during those days. It was nothing to see a 7th grade girl dragging around several children, one by the football star, one by the baseball pitcher, and one by the dude who made the winning shot in a big basketball game. Keep in mind that the average age of the mother giving birth in a hospital in central Florida was about 12.5 years there for a while in the 1970's. That is the average age. That came from a friend of mine who was a doctor in the hospital at the time. That was over 30 years ago, and I fear things have gotten worse rather that better.
