At first I wasn't going to buy Liam Julian's latest article, ("How's your drink?"), but I think he makes a good point. On some level, what people want in education is not exclusively about learning. Maybe the real lesson is not that we should make sure other factors (price, sports teams, etc.) are marginalized, but that we should realize such influences are real. Data, rules, and statistics are never going to match the sociological factors of belonging and excluding that are very real parts of how and why parents choose schools. As the leader of an inner city school, I find that, to a large degree, people want to have fun and be happy while their k-12 child is in school. Parents who pay high- priced tuitions are probably more concerned with excluding bothersome people from their lives than receiving unparalleled teaching for their kids. Perhaps someone should research it?
Theresa Ankenman
Lutheran School of the Miami Valley
Dayton, Ohio