Posted on 04/07/2016 11:45:35 AM PDT by Mr Apple
Since the revolt by parents against New York State’s reading and math tests last year, education officials at the state level have been bending over backward to try to show that they are listening to parents’ and educators’ concerns.
The tests, which are given to third through eighth graders and will begin this year on April 5, were shortened, time limits were removed, and the results will not be a factor in teacher evaluations, among other changes.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Opened this thread from the link you provided. Thank you.
Good link.
Wife wants to move back to NY and put the kids in public school, admonishing me to go talk to the staff about my concerns & reservations. Nice to have the state’s leading paper admit the staff is threatened into lying about how bad it is.
It’s not nice to point out the emperor has no clothes.
“and the results will not be a factor in teacher evaluations, among other changes.”
Why bother?
ctdonath2,
If I may ask, to what area of NY are you planning to move? Because I have to tell you that as a lifelong resident of NY, Hell would literally have to freeze over before my children set foot in a public school here. (Nor did they; it was Catholic school and homeschooling for us.)
BTW, I am also an alumna of the NYC public school system. It was a zoo way back then, and it’s a zoo still today. As for the schools on Long Island...well...on the surface they don’t seem too bad, but all is not as it seems. I cannot speak about the schools upstate.
Despite what they tell you, Common Core is still the prevailing course. If you have not experienced it, well, it will be quite a shock to you. If you have, then you already know what a train wreck it is. Take that train wreck and amplify it to NYC proportions. It’s bad. Very bad.
You can talk to the staff if you want to, but I assure you that they are well-versed in blowing smoke up parents’ asses. They claim to want parental involvement, but God forbid if you don’t want your 12-year-old to be reading some of the pornographic “literature” they foist on the kids. Then it will be, “Mr. and Mrs. ctdonath2, we appreciate your concerns about little Janey’s assignment, but this novel was chosen by a team of experts who know what little Janey REALLY needs in order for her to become a person who embraces diversity in all its forms. If you will not allow her to read this book, I’m afraid that her grade will suffer for it.” (Translation: “Shut up, Mom and Dad, and don’t stick your nose in our business.”)
I won’t even discuss what they teach in “Health” class. BLEECH.
I’m begging you not to send your kids to a NY public school.
Regards,
Yikes. When you move and get settled in, you should consider home schooling.
We’re home schooling in GA now.
I’m not inclined to change it.
I grew up in central NY.
I know what’s wrong with the schools, and recoil ... but just can’t seem to get the point across. ~$10,000/yr for private schooling (even “hybrid homeschooling”, 2 days/wk at a school, ain’t cheap) is just a lot of money for someone to go “hey, I could do something fun with that” leading to “everybody else sends their kids there, why can’t we?”
Good Lordy. Just terrible.
Perfect. Stay with that is my suggestion.
Believe me, I know. We are on Long Island, and pay more than $15K/year in school taxes. That means that our monthly tax bill is almost twice our monthly mortgage. Preposterous!
Catholic schools down here are not, for the most part, $10K/year. Catholic grammar school is about half that. The high schools are more, but my son’s alma mater offers a basic scholarship to any young man smart enough to get in (and only the top 2% of test takers are), plus more for exceptionally high scores.
Did we get a new car every three years? Nope. I’m driving a 16-year-old car right now. Hubby’s is 10 years old. Did we go on pricey vacations? Nope. Summer vacations were to the family cottage on a lake in PA. Do I receive a sparkly piece of new jewelry for Christmas every year? Nope. Hubby and I generally do not exchange gifts. Something small, maybe.
As for homeschooling, the cost of books and curricula are minimal (a couple of hundred a year). Should you choose to supplement that by enrolling your high school age student in a class or two at a community college, that cost goes up a bit, but it’s not too bad. In addition, homeschooling families often give away materials to anyone who wants them. I know I did. The big investment as far as homeschooling goes is time.
And with the advent of online schooling (several of which are FREE), honestly, the possibilities are endless.
As for “everybody else,” well, I never bought that line from my kids (”But MOM! EVERYBODY ELSE has a cell phone!”), and I was not (and am not) the type to succumb to it myself. I knew that if I sent my kids to the public school, I would eventually become enraged at what I was seeing. It wasn’t worth the hassle.
Anyway, good luck to you. I hope your wife comes around to your way of thinking.
Regards,
PS: It’s not the tuition that’s too expensive, it’s the damned TAXES!
Yup. It IS terrible.
My mother always taught me that my name should only be in the papers upon my birth, marriage, and death. Having it appear in the news for any other reason was probably a bad thing.
Had I sent mine to the public schools, I probably would have been in the papers by now. LOL
Regards,
Probably many papers, lol.
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