Letter: Statistic about private schools way off mark

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2001 | 8:44 a.m.

Re Sharon Mesker's Feb. 7 letter, "Private schools perform better"

One thing that definitely should be addressed in all schools in modern times is the questioning of any statistics someone throws around. To state that "90 percent of children going to private schools go on to college" is ridiculous.

Just think of your own experience -- have 90 percent of the children you have known who went to private schools gone on to college? The following is a quickly retrieved quote from an Internet-available document on the Milwaukee system Lasker says is "working very well."

"According to 1997 figures, 75 percent of graduates from Milwaukee's Partners Advancing Values in Education (PAVE) program have gone on to college or technical school."

Note that, even including those who went to technical school instead of college, the total figure does not approach her 90 percent. And this is just one intense program, not a broad range of private schools.

WILDA MC MURRY