My experience with all my daughter's teachers has always been a positive one. Every teacher we speak to always shows concern for their education and always make time for us to speak with them about any concerns we have with their grades. Every single one of them. They respond to our e-mails, notes we put in their planners.
But we are very active in their education. We go the parent meetings and school meetings. We monitor thier progress reports and when we do some something of concern they are always ready to help in anyway they can.
My experience is that if a teacher sees parental involvement and knows you care as much as they do they will bend over backwards to help.
IMO, I feel some of the blame with public education begins at home. Too many students do not know how to behave in school and have no respect for authority.
I can't believe how some kids in HS talk to their teachers. No way I could have gotten away with that when I was in school. Teachers are there to teach and not babysit. Too many expect the public school system to do all the work while they just send their kids to school. It doesn't work that way.
I think teachers have one of the hardest jobs around and I respect them for their dedication and I do believe that the majority do it for the love of teaching and not the money.
This is very true.
But, parents that do that are few and far between.
JC, you seem to be a good parent.
If more parents shared your point of view, things would be so different.
But, unfortunatly, they don't. And, that leads to a great percentage of the problems we now see in public education.
You should make up a bumpers sticker, "My 2nd grader was beat up by your 5th grade honor roll student"
Not surprised that they may not know district policies....What surprises me is that ANY teacher who would not at least have a child looked over by the school nurse after they just told you that they were hit by several children or a single child. That is irresponsible!!! I would like to go slap the subsitiute for their lack of responsibility to any child!
Well, now that it's all said and done... we get nothing. They couldn't figure out which kids were involved. The teacher's excuse for not reporting it was, "Well, he didn't seem upset enough to report anything." So, no disciplinary action for her either. Big fat ZERO.
That's crummy, Des Flood!
Are you still planning to take your son out of school this year?
Des, really ty situation. Hope you made some administrators lives .
Public School....ahhh, where to begin.
Here's the thing, our school systems failing are simply a sympton of much bigger issues. You can start where ever you want if you're going to analyze the problem. You can start with the lack of parental involvement, the lack of financial compensation for teachers, the lack of accountability in the entire system whether it be for teachers or students or administrators, or you can start with our societies general (lack of) values.
The drop out rate is now insanely high. Kids don't give a about school, parents don't give a , and teachers are paid pretty poorly. You get horrible teachers in the system because there's no way the money is worth the effort.
Honestly, I couldn't care less about our public school system at this time. Our national mindset nowhere near where it needs to be in order to fix things. We don't address the real problems and there isn't anyway to fix them until you do that. My kids will go to a private school - the best i can afford - because I'll be damned if I"m going to let them turn into one of the many degenerates that roam those public school halls today. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let some dumb teach them what they barely comprehend themselves.
Accountability is a wonderful thing huh?
Sorry to hear things didn't turn out better.
My kids will continue to attend the public school system and I'll support them all the way. I think my oldest may be doing ROTC next year and I hope she does.
Best of luck to all parents out there!!!
I got beat up when I was in grade school on multiple occassions. I don't think this is a "new" problem. Kids can be mean.
I wanted to thank everybody for the sympathetic earHe'll be in private school beginning May 1st. It's so far ahead of the public schools that "despite the fact that he's obviously very bright and he's a hard worker, we might not feel comfortable putting him into third grade next year." Oh, gods! More problems!!
That is great news!! Good Luck!!
I guess it falls on deaf ears but I've been to both TMI and Central Catholic schools and I can tell you first hand that while both schools presented well to myself and my parents the assumption that they're better isn't always the case.
TMI a Military school for christ sake was far and away the worse. Teacher calls in sick no big deal students could roam freely till the end of the day or hang out in the gym or indoor swim center or the student lounge. Never questioned or stopped by an administrator because they assume you're doing what needs to be done. Try getting away with that in a public school. Rarely and I mean rarely would you see a subs ute teacher.
Sure you have higher grades or a higher % of graduation but the relaxed at ude of the teachers and parents financial backing was really what accomplished those feats.
I was met with far more violence than I ever saw in any public schools, mostly handled internally without informing the parents. Those teachers and administrators simply weren't prepared for bad behaving children and worst case scenarios WHY, the expection of a higher quality person was front and center. That in of itself makes it so much easier to cheat a system or get away with things you wouldn't dream of doing in public school. Not to mention the fact that these kids were a lot smarter than your average dillhole joe public. Hiding contraband and weapons was more of an art form than anything. A smarter thug is still a thug and every school has them.
Anyway I've seen a lot and been to more than a handful of schools. I really hope you find a place that works for not just you but for your kids too. Hopefully private school will be money well spent.
If we were going to go private school it'd be a Catholic School.
Because you're religious?
Some of the biggest girls I have ever met in my life went to private schools. Some of the guys were stoners as well. I really dont think it matters as long as you study and stay away from trouble. JMHO.
I tend to agree with Joe and B2B about private vs public schools. Of course none of my kids has ever gotten beaten up! But my kid(s) were all privately schooled in Washington, Georgia and Maryland. When we moved to Texas my husband and I figured we were products of Texas public schools, why not try it? We all LOVE it here. The teachers are concerned, dedicated, and much more open to discussion. The private schools all had an air of secrecy, kind of like, "Ma'am, this is a private school, how dare you ask that!" and the illusion of being better was that---an illusion. Yes the difference is money (you can perfume a pig) and we just felt our $3000/yr per kid would be better served going towards college. I don't know what I would do if I were in your shoes Des, but I'm glad you have the means to do what is right for your family!
I'm Catholic and believe in God. Is that religious?
Only you know that.
One very interesting eye opening moment for me was the Religion class I took or had to take at Central Catholic. Day 1 the Nun had "GOD" written on the chalk board. Once everyone settled in she pulled out the biggest bible I've ever seen and said. "guys the very first thing you should learn is that this (the book) isn't the same thing as that (GOD written on the chalk board). She proceeded to give a class on the bible being a book of reference for strength to strive to do the right thing day in and day out. She called them "fables and stories" with little factual basis. I was shocked because I was prepared for the by the book mentality. I actually did very well in the class because her and I shared similar beliefs.
My point is that for a very religious family looking at private school you'd be surprised at how little research into the fundamental teachings parents do. I'd suspect had any of those parents known what was being taught they'd second guess sending their kids.
For some people or families it doesn't matter. My parents just wanted me to go to a good school Catholic so it was a non issue.
My belief is that even if you have a single person in a child's life, whether it be a parent or teacher, who cares enough about their education, that's all it takes for them to do well in school. Obviously it's harder to change parents' at udes about education, but it's relatively easier to change teachers' at udes, especially before they start teaching. I think a lot of the problems start with teachers giving up on students they believe will never achieve much, be it in school or in life. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. There was a study on teachers' expectations of students that demonstrated this:
And it's the same with honors courses in high school, where only the students with the best grades get in. The teachers' expectations for those classes are obviously higher than the rest, so it isn't surprising that those students keep doing well. I learned a lot in my AP classes, but the "regular" classes were crap. And those were the ones full of kids who didn't care. And nothing about their apathy is intrinsic. They learn it. And the less teachers care, the less students care. You can't expect students to stop that cycle on their own. Teachers need to do it.As part of a study, prior to the start of a new school year, teachers were given a list of the students who would be entering their classrooms. Next to each student’s name was an indication that the student was a “poor,” “average,” or “excellent” pupil. At the end of the year, the grades the students earned were compared to the ratings their teachers had been given earlier. For the most part, the performance of the students matched the level of academic capability indicated on the list.
The “kicker” in this study was that the “poor,” “average,” and “excellent” notations were made entirely at random. There was no connection between an individual’s rating and his or her past performance, test scores, readiness assessments, or anything else. In other words, it was clear that during the school year, the students lived up to the high or low expectations of the teachers rather than to their actual potential.
The implications of this study are tremendous and tragic. For generations, large groups of children have been doomed to less than stellar scholastic records due to popular prejudices and preconceived notions concerning their race, ethnicity, or gender. And countless individual kids have never been allowed to develop their capacities fully because of conscious or unconscious beliefs and at udes their teachers acquired as the result of experiences with older siblings, comments written in their official records, or offhand remarks made by colleagues.
Once teachers understand that, and really believe it, I think things can really start changing.
That's so much pressure. One good teacher is often times the only chance a kid has!
I concur. Parental involvement is crucial, IMO, in teaching your children regardless of where they go. Even if they are home schooled.
I suggest you take some advice from Back2Basics.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
