His teacher is excellent. Indeed we chose the school over another private school option because of her. The other teachers I have met also seem quite good. My son is learning a lot in school. But I see that there are some problems:
1. It is already obvious in kindergarten that the kids whose parents support them and take an interest in their school work do far better. Since the parents who do not do this are more likely to have their kids in public school, the public schools get the blame for these under-performing kids when it is the parents who have the highest degree of responsibility.
2. The teachers are bound to follow state curriculum mandates. In our state there is apparently a theory that starting kids on academics early will mean that they will be ahead later on. But there is evidence from other countries that a later start may actually be better in the long run for many kids and that they soon catch up. It is great to see that kids can learn to read at a younger age. But taking all the play out of kindergarten undoubtedly has some negative effects, including the possible establishment of a poor attitude toward learning in the long run.
A lot of kids, for a variety of reasons, just aren't ready to start learning to read at this age. Any problems down the road being caused by this state mandate will undoubtedly be blamed on the teachers and local administrators.
3. There is always a tendency for the physical plant of a public school to get somewhat run down. These schools have to handle more kids. A successful vote on a bond issue is required to build a new school. No one wants to pay more property taxes, especially people who don't even have kids in the school. No one wants to subsidize other peoples kids and everyone wants a cheap education for their own kids. Everyone wants to spend the minimum until the physical problems reach a crisis level.
You can still teach kids in a run down school but the environment will undoubtedly have some effect on learning and on the attitude toward learning.
Yet...homeschoolers excel with the most minimal of educational equipment by studying around the kitchen table.
In fact,...I state that nearly 99.9999% of everything a child learns is in the home. If they are institutionalized for the schooling the real learning is due to the **”afterschooling” done by the parents and child, himself!
If government schools were to complete shut down tomorrow. The same children who are being educated today would be educated tomorrow. Why? Because they would have the same teachers ( their parents and themselves!)
Amazing!
People are FED UP paying outrageous property taxes for a system that deliberately produces a sub-standard 'product'.