The only problem is that without public education, how are most of America's children going to get any kind of an education? ;-)
Michelle in NV
I don't know - how did it happen before we had public schools? Parents taught their children, or got together and paid a teacher, I think. My baby sister home schools her children, 8 & 6. And she works, just does it from home (self-emplyed tech writer). I just hate the bureaucracy and the "one-size-fits-all" attitude. I have a bi-polar, ADHD son, now 30, who did not fare well in the public school system, either. I was more sympathising (sp?) with Nightmist than anything else.
Taria wrote in news:q8Yog.11931$Wh.300@trnddc04:
My thoughts on it is it seems a lot of the job entails crowd control thru most of the day. And in my area, it seems from the number of police and news stories, that the basic need of crowd control is not being met and safety isn't in place. That is my concern, because even if you spent extra time teaching your child, if they come home at all or come home raped, or after being duct taped, abducted etc.... well... there's just a long road back from that.
In my small town, the kindergarten kids are put on the same bus as the highshcoolers...... now I've heard some really bad stories from that bus idea...... home schooling will be a reality for us as long as we are here. Some states are now doing virtual schools, they ship the supplies and lesson plans to the parents.... that's appealing.....
I realized you were sympathising. It's just as one person very frustrated with the public school system to another, I was hoping maybe someone would have some good ideas to fix it. :-)
My mother was an elementary teacher for 36 years and she'll be the first one to tell you that the current system serves no child well--especially those who require extra help or the gifted.
It's a many-faceted problem. First off, schools used to be responsible for teaching reading, writing, math, science, history and social studies. Next, they became responsible for building a child's self-esteem--and at one of the schools where my mom taught, this was more important than whether the child could do the work or not--by order of the principal. (My mom didn't stay at the school but one year.) After that they had to teach drug education; then computer education. etc. There was barely enough hours in the day for the basics, much less any extras.
Next while I know everyone reading this thread is (or has been) a concerned parent, you'd be surprised at the number of parents who simply aren't--and it cuts across all socioeconomic levels. People used to value education. Now many parents are simply too busy or disinterested to care that their children do their homework or give them any extra help. My mom once asked the parent of a child who was struggling to learn his multiplication tables, if she couldn't help him just 5 minutes per night. The parent told her that she was too busy. The woman was a stay at home mom!
As Jan pointed out, safety is also an issue. We tend to worry about it more with junior high and high school students, but my mom had a fifth grader threaten to "cut her" when she simply asked him to take his seat. If it's bad for the teachers then we know it's horrible for the students.
Then there's the issue of class size. How is a teacher supposed to teach 30 students as well as she would 20? Study after study shows that class size makes a difference in student performance, yet we continue to cram them in like sardines. And since the push for inclusion of those students who require very individualized attention, ability levels vary drastically, but there is no way a teacher can give individualized attention to 30 students.
Lastly, teachers don't get paid as well as babysitters. I know that anybody who reads this is scoffing at the idea. Think about it. What's the going rate for babysitters? $5.00/hr per kid per hour? (I've been out of the babysitting business a long time, so I just pulled that number out of my hat. Perhaps someone else knows the going rate?) If we do the math, that's 5 bucks per hour per 30 kids for 6 hours. I come up with $900 per day--if teachers were paid as well as babysitters. LOL! They can barely afford to keep up with the continuing education demands--all of which comes out of their own pockets. And somewhere in between crowd control, they're supposed to teach too.
Society has changed drastically since the public school system was first set up. And frankly, I don't know how to address the problems inherent in the change. On the other hand, the same kids whose parents are disinterested in their child's education now are the same ones who wouldn't take any responsibility if public education wasn't available. We would have an even larger pool of poorly educated people.
Okay, now you can see I have no great ideas either--at least not at the dollar amount society is willing to commit to educating our children. I count the children who are properly homeschooled very, very lucky. (Unfortunately, there are some parents who homeschool who are not really capable of homeschooling.)
Michelle in NV
Most schools in CA have class sizes through either 3rd or 4th down to 20 kids. State pays extra money to districts if they keep the number that low. I am not on site anymore at schools but from the results I see it doesn't seem to help.
Safety is an issue. The 5th grade teacher my son had is now sitting his pretty fanny in a state prison for messing with kids. He was slick. He targeted the poor kids that didn't have involved parents around. Administrators knew and hid things for years.
Yep teachers are underpaid. I can tell you there are a few that are overpaid for the crummy job they do. I don't have an answer to accountability but people pay more for their dog kenneling than their child care. That speaks a lot to our society. Throwing money at education doesn't help. Money never gets to good teachers. The system just doesn't work like that.
As the system degrades the parents that care at all pull their kids and either home school or send them to private schools. That leaves public education with the worst of the lot. DH teases that kids should be able to check their weapons before they go into school since they take them anyway : (
DD just graduated from college but I guess I am still disgruntled at all the things I saw while my kids were in school.
I have a sis that home schools and one that is a public school teacher. We tend to avoid education discussions at family functions! Taria
desert quilter wrote:
I told Ash's story to a friend who is Director of Special Education in a local school district. She asked what you planned to do and I said that you were talking to a lawyer. She said, "Good!" She thought if the child's desk was being moved a meeting should have been callled and the educational plan changed to reflect the move. Let us know how this turns out.
Susan
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