Overwhelmingly varied responses came in for our second survey. The response set was larger than the previous one by by approximately 50 percent. What really threw me was the sheer number of different schools. I had no idea there were so many! In fact, there were so many different schools at the K-6 level that it almost seems that each of you went to your own school!
Of course, this broad collection makes mincemeat out of any possible statistical analysis. We'd need a response set one hundred times larger to figure out any real trends. For this reason, I've omitted any calculated percentages from the displayed results - they just don't mean much, except for the fixed response questions. Once again, I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions from the results.
Please note that for the most part, I've taken your word for it that these schools were all in the Bronx. A few responses had schools that I know were not (Music & Art, Stuyvesant, etc.), but I just didn't have time to research all of the unfamiliar names.
The total number of unique, usable responses was 97.
Here is a list of the Grammar (K-6) schools that were represented:
|
|
Here are the Junior High Schools that were represented.
The schools whose names are in bold typeface had a significantly larger representation than the others.
|
|
Here are the High Schools and the response counts:
| School | Count |
|---|---|
| Alfred E. Smith | 1 |
| Bronx HS of Science | 9 |
| Cardinal Hayes | 6 |
| Cardinal Spellman | 1 |
| Christopher Columbus | 9 |
| De Witt Clinton | 4 |
| Evander Childs | 11 |
| George Washington | 1 |
| Grace Dodge Vocational | 3 |
| Herbert H. Lehman | 2 |
| James Monroe | 4 |
| John F. Kennedy | 1 |
| Mount St. Michael | 3 |
| Our Saviour Lutheran | 1 |
| Preston | 1 |
| Salesian | 1 |
| St. Barnabas | 1 |
| St. Peter and Paul's | 1 |
| St. Simon Stock | 1 |
| St. Thomas Aquinas | 2 |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 4 |
| Villa Maria | 1 |
| Walton | 4 |
| William Howard Taft | 17 |
What level of education have you attained?
| Level | Count |
|---|---|
| Didn't graduate High School | 1 |
| High School or Trade School | 21 |
| Associate's Degree | 13 |
| Bachelor's Degree | 30 |
| Master's Degree | 28 |
| Doctoral Degree | 5 |
| Post Doctoral Degree | 0 |
What was good about Bronx schools?
| Quality of the faculty | 59 | 61% |
| Physical surroundings | 31 | 32% |
| Variety of students' backgrounds | 40 | 41% |
| The curriculum | 50 | 52% |
| Proximity to home | 65 | 67% |
| Discipline, rules and regulations | 59 | 61% |
| Opportunities to excel | 38 | 39% |
| Nothing | 0 | 0% |
| Other* | 6 | 6% |
What was bad about Bronx schools?
| Quality of the faculty | 16 | 16% |
| Physical surroundings | 24 | 25% |
| Variety of students' backgrounds | 4 | 4% |
| The curriculum | 9 | 9% |
| Distance from home | 16 | 16% |
| Discipline, rules and regulations | 8 | 8% |
| Lack of opportunities to excel | 12 | 12% |
| Nothing | 28 | 29% |
| Other* | 9 | 9% |
What was your favorite grade in Bronx schools?
| Kindergarten | 5 | 5% |
| First | 5 | 5% |
| Second | 2 | 2% |
| Third | 2 | 2% |
| Fourth | 3 | 3% |
| Fifth | 1 | 1% |
| Sixth | 17 | 18% |
| Seventh | 3 | 3% |
| Eighth | 12 | 13 |
| Ninth/HS Freshman | 8 | 9% |
| Tenth/HS Sophomore | 1 | 1% |
| Eleventh/HS Junior | 9 | 10% |
| Twelfth/HS Senior | 21 | 23% |
| None | 1 | 1% |
| All | 1 | 1% |
| Can't Decide | 5 | 5% |
Do you think attending school in the Bronx prepared you for life?
| Yes | 79 | 81% |
| No | 10 | 10% |
| Not sure | 8 | 8% |
Apparently, the feeling is strong about how we perceive the value of our Bronx educations. I wonder how that would compare with people from other cities, or other less urban areas? Could there be a correlation between people who use the internet and those who approve of their educations (in which case the answers are worthless)? There is that possibility. However, I'd prefer to think that going to school in the Bronx was a special experience for most of us, and one that can never be replicated in the current times. Thank you for participating. Our next survey will deal with where we're living now, and should appear within the next couple of weeks.