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Now's Our Chance To Create Public School Alternatives
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/02/nows_our_chance_to_create_public_school_alternatives.html ^

Posted on 02/27/2021 7:11:46 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET

We have never had a better opportunity to create an alternative to the crumbling, corrupt public school system. Conservatives must decide how to act and then act quickly. Throughout parts of the United States, children have not been in school for a year. Instead, they are expected to daily attend zoom classes. What that means in practical terms is that many kids sit somewhere at home, log in to class, turn off the camera, and go back to bed or play games on their phone throughout the “school” day. One young man I know is one of only two students in his entire middle school class whose face appears in the zoom classroom -- and that is because he is a disabled student whose mother sits with him. The school district cannot force children to turn the camera on.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: curriculum; learning; schools; teaching
This is the crisis we are letting go to waste. We never think outside the box.
1 posted on 02/27/2021 7:11:46 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: DIRTYSECRET

The alternatives have been in the hopper. Time to act but the subject is not sexy.


2 posted on 02/27/2021 7:14:08 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET (`)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

“This is the crisis we are letting go to waste. We never think outside the box.”

Tell me about it. It blows my mind the number of FReepers who bitch about the indoctrination centers (public schools), and then turn around and bitch when their kids FINALLY aren’t forced to go there.


3 posted on 02/27/2021 7:15:55 AM PST by BobL
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To: DIRTYSECRET
We have never had a better opportunity to create an alternative to the crumbling, corrupt public school system.

Any alternative to the current public school system will be promptly infested by leftists, probably from day one. There is no running away from the left - they pursue escaping non-believers and dissenters like hyenas pursue wounded zebras. The only way to redeem our kids' educations and our country as a whole is to stand and fight - the public school system did not always belong to the Left, and there's no reason it should do so forever.
4 posted on 02/27/2021 7:17:40 AM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Yup. And for those who may not have kids...if we can put a dent in the public schools, imagine the savings in property tax.

Something like 80-90%% of our property taxes here don’t go to roads or infrastructure, they go to the school. Which we don’t use.


5 posted on 02/27/2021 7:20:47 AM PST by Claud
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To: AnotherUnixGeek

The only way to defeat the teachers unions is with a voucher system. Let the parents make the choice of where to send their kids.


6 posted on 02/27/2021 7:29:03 AM PST by snoringbear (,W,E.oGovernment is the Pimp, )
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Public schools bureaucracies are quickly becoming impenetrable, unchangeable political-government fortresses, impervious to change.

How to deconstruct any such government bureaucracy to allow change?

The conservative reaction is usually to simply escape it entirely.


7 posted on 02/27/2021 7:31:17 AM PST by PGR88
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To: DIRTYSECRET
Now's Our Chance To Create Public School Alternatives

At the same time, we need to figure out a way to have the state and county taxes go to paying for those alternative schools.

Example: my daughter pays to have her 2 daughters go to a private school, while also paying the county taxes and real estate taxes that pay for public schools that her daughters don't attend.
8 posted on 02/27/2021 7:38:39 AM PST by adorno
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To: DIRTYSECRET

One idea I have heard that is developing quickly is the creation of “pods”.

A group of parents organize a pod for their children and hire certified teachers to instruct them. The parents themselves also teach. They follow a curriculum that is similar to the district schools with some modification.

I guess you could say this is similar to homeschooling, but with more children participating.


9 posted on 02/27/2021 8:06:17 AM PST by twoputt
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To: DIRTYSECRET

First you would have to get around the current legislation, both Federal and State, to open an alternative public education system. The problem has its roots in the SCOTUS decisions that have happened in the past. You cannot simply say let’s start an alternative to what is going on now without addressing the legislation the US currently has for its schooling. This part is as much of a problem as are the teachers in the classroom.

I will give you an example. The No Child Left Behind Act changed how teachers were allowed to grade students. This included late assignments. I once spoke to a teacher where the school policy was to accept all late assignments as if they handed in on time. There was no consequence for a student turning in late work. The same teacher stated she was not allowed to give a failing grade on any assignment as a grade of “F” was seen as offensive to the student.

Many teachers, good and bad, face this type of micromanagement in their classrooms. Students are not held accountable for their actions. A student can do no work in school and still be moved forward. To which they usually drop out.

Currently, an alternative schooling system would be shot down. Not due to the teachers in the classroom that want to teach, but to those in the Unions and in governments, Federal, State and Local government.

Once you have gone through the government and Unions then you have to deal with the Administrators who control the schools. This includes Charter School Organizations which are a huge problem in inner city schools.

Starting an alternative school system is not out of the realm of possibilities. It will be a very long road fraught with many obstacles and setbacks. All the while it is the children that suffer.


10 posted on 02/27/2021 8:18:58 AM PST by zaxtres (`)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

I’m familiar with the topic because we have grandchildren who are about the age when they enter Kindergarten. So far they’ve learned everything that should be learned by PreK 4, and a lot of the Kindergarten skills from our DIL. She is a SAHM and has been so since the grandkids were born.

Looking for a private school,it was soon revealed that the price would be a problem. All private Kindergarten, Christian and private, had a price tag of $7500 to $10,000 per year. Maybe tuition for one student could be affordable, but what about the second child, or third or fourth, and the price tag soon becomes unatenable.

There is an alternative, still with a price tag, but lower than the other alternatives. (about $3K per year).

It’s a private/homeschool hybrid. The kids attend in person classes two days per week. The hours are 8-2:30 and an onsite teacher uses those hours to teach 5 subjects. Then during the homeschool days the students completes the lesson and uses workbooks to reinforce the on-site school teacher’s lesson.

The school is accredited with the local school system and they keep all records to actually keep a profile that the child had been “schooled” in particular subject. Like a transcript we had to produce that the subjects had been taught.

We discovered homeschool in the 3rd grade, 25 years ago, and then never went back for “regular” school. However, at 10th grade level we placed him into a dual enrollment program at the local Community College where credits count for HS and college. They graduate with a HS diploma and AA at the end of what would have been their last grade of High School, and the credits are free.

One thing I’ve noticed in our area. When we started homeschooling, the community of homeschoolers was strong. If we chose to, there were afternoon activities for most days when the homeschooled kids got together and went on a field trip, played at a playground, or had an activity...we had a version of show and tell which we called Presentation Platform. This go, in trying to feret out such activities, at least in our neck of the woods, the strong bond of homeschoolers doesn’t seem to exist.


11 posted on 02/27/2021 8:43:51 AM PST by dawn67yo
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