Everyone is well aware of the Guam Department of Education’s shortcomings. However, I would contend that private schools on Guam also have their own shortcomings but their successes are hyped so that they can recruit new students. For example, what are the graduation rates of private school students. What are their reading and math levels when they graduate?
There are reports of private schools in the states that cheat so that their students can have that “A” grade to be better able to keep with their “tradition of excellence.”
But private schools cannot cheat on one thing and that is getting their students accepted into top schools. Those schools not only look at GPA but SATs and ACTs.
However, more top schools now prefer to look at course content rather than standardized test scores. We all know that that depends on the teacher and the student — and the principal, if necessary.
You know, to adjust test scores so that the student can maintain a perfect, or near perfect GPA.
My position is that the performance gap between public school students and private school students is not that wide.
We have had public school students graduating with a Ph.D. from schools such as MIT. In fact, I know two of them personally. One was on the women’s soccer team, of which I was head coach in the early 1990s. The other was on the men’ soccer team, of which I was assistant coach in the early part of the last decade. Granted, these are exceptions but how many private school students have had graduated with a terminal degree from MIT over the last 20 years?
MATT PHILIPS
Mangilao, Guam
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