[speaker001:] recently graduated from high school meaning like uh you know three or four years ago I'm a senior in in uh college now and uh
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] I can't really talk too much about the problems with uh public education in detail because the school system I went to was uh really superb even though it was a public school system
[speaker002:] really yeah I I feel that my uh I'm a junior in college now and I go to Tech Georgia Tech
[speaker001:] oh okay yeah
[speaker002:] and uh
[speaker001:] I got a friend who goes there by the way I wanted to ask talk to you about that afterward okay
[speaker002:] okay uh I've the high school I went to was uh was a good one also and I well I guess you could say one of the problems with the public education system is the disparity between different schools because the one I went to was you know I'm sure a a lot nicer than you know a lot of the inner city schools and the things around Atlanta
[speaker001:] yeah yeah it was a a it's a more or less a suburban school system yes that's that was true for mine too um
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] although I I'm sure to some extent that money is part of the problem in the disparity but I don't think I honestly don't think that's the biggest part of it
[speaker002:] what
[speaker001:] you know I think that uh I mean I know that in my town you know most of the most of the parents they're valued education and uh
[speaker002:] yeah that's true
[speaker001:] you know and so the students were you know to some extent motivated to learn I mean you know
[speaker002:] yeah and I'm also I mean in the in those places where uh like the economy is really bad they might you know be more tempted to to quit school and get jobs and that kind of thing because they need the you know money to put food on the table and stuff like that more than they would you know in areas where they
[speaker001:] yeah that's true but but uh I think I mean even more than that even I mean if you drop out in high school
[speaker002:] yeah uh-huh
[speaker001:] you should still be able to read you know which it sounds I mean it sounds like uh now I think maybe it just started changing in the past few years because uh
[speaker002:] yeah that's true
[speaker001:] they have more of these um sort of mandatory mandatory tests you have to take before you get a diploma but uh
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] but uh certainly before that there are people that you know like would graduate from high school and could barely read um and that's just sort of inexcusable and you can't really I I I mean I just can't even picture how that could happen
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know except maybe to someone whose you know really badly learning uh disabled or something but these people obviously weren't
[speaker002:] that's hard for me to say since I didn't I didn't really grow well when I went to elementary school it it it wasn't in a great area but I still I mean I learned to read started learning to read when I was in kindergarten you know so I guess I can't really
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] I can't say what it would be like to uh grow up in a really oppressed uh region you know I guess the whole the whole environment and attitude towards school and learning is different for the for those people
[speaker001:] yeah yeah I mean I think that's almost a bigger factor than anything else probably I mean I don't I think you know if people just
[speaker002:] so I guess the problem is the the thing to do is to try to I don't get some kind of motivation to learn and
[speaker001:] yeah and again I don't I mean again I don't know that I'm you know how qualified I mean I think it'd be interesting
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] to you know to spend a couple of days just looking around an inner city school uh you know sort of sort of maybe from elementary through uh high school you know just sort of to get a feel for what it's like
[speaker002:] yeah uh-huh
[speaker001:] I think that would be an interesting experience but uh I haven't done that
[speaker002:] no I I can't say that I have either
[speaker001:] but uh but I do I do think that um I mean public education in general I think can work and I think it's a good thing
[speaker002:] yeah I've I've I've heard some I mean I've heard statistics statistics statistics and things that that compare a public education to a private education I mean within like within the same uh income groups
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] if you compare the like the people that could have that could have sent their kids to private schools and the people that you know the people that uh did send their kids to private schools I think they compare fairly you know fairly well
[speaker001:] yeah yeah yeah I mean I don't I honestly don't really think I could have you know done much better than I did in the school system I was in you know I mean it's
[speaker002:] yeah I I know in my schools also I mean they they have a lot of uh once once it seemed I got into high school they had a lot of uh accelerated accelerated programs and all kinds of stuff like that and that mean that that makes a big difference because uh when you're when you're taking classes with uh
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] with people that are really are interested in the in the subject and stuff like that
[speaker001:] yeah I mean and in the once you book junior high uh start junior high starting in eighth grade all the way through high school there were four levels you well no I guess it was in junior high it was still three then in high school it changed into four levels of uh of instruction in the major subjects
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh which I mean actually I think that works pretty well I mean that that makes