Posted on 11/13/2004 4:04:54 PM PST by Marinefamilyx3
To The Editor: I have a daughter in first grade in Henderson County schools. She gets off the bus at 4 p.m., dinner around 5:30, and bath/bed by 8 p.m.
That in itself is a busy enough night. But she has spelling words (writing 10 words five times each), reading a book (first grade, 100 words), nursery rhyme, memorization goals.
Where does family time, playtime, or just sit and stare time go? And then there are families with multiple children in school. And you can forget it if they participate in Scouts, dance, sports. There's just no time!
We spend at least 1.5 to two hours a night on homework. My child is 6 years old! With barely enough patience to sit through an episode of Pokemon.
I can't blame the teachers. Sorry, but I can't. The schools are overloaded, the classrooms at capacity. And then you throw in the language barriers, and various learning disabilities, and the teachers aren't able to do their jobs.
So we're having to do it at home. There has got to be something that can be done within our schools to get this problem under control.
And you claim I have a reading comprehension problem?
Destro, i highly recommend your reading The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto, and Repairing the Ruins by Douglas Wilson... both have excellent ideas on how to improve public education; unfortunately, neither is optimistic because the people "running" public schools don't truly want reform... public education is engulfed in thoughts, theories and ideas that have nothing to do with educating children... Gatto was a public educator for 30 years... he was NYC Teacher of the Year and NY State Teacher of the Year... he resigned when he submitted his resignation/short essay to the Wall Street Journal in 1991...
here is John Taylor Gatto's Website: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com
here is a link to his essay to the Wall Street Joural... it's titled, "I Quit, I Think": http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/prologue2.htm
"it puts me right up there with homeschoolers because I made decisions based upon the best interests of my child."
Absolutely. What is best is best.
We decided some 19 years ago to HS our children....and it's been the very best thing we've ever done for our kids.
Best FRegards,
Not all school districts need to learn the same way. Somemay need to focus on English language and citizenship (used to be called civics) courses for heavily immigrant communities. In suburban WASPy areas they can have other needs, in rural White areas even more diverese needs.
What we have now is a regimentation of PS education as a primer for college which is wrong and in fact harmful. The whole system is rotten.
And here I get into trouble with certain groups - inluding relatives - because they are of the view that education begins in the womb - children should start school as soon as they can crawl - ballet and gymnastic course for toddlers - If they don't get into the right pre-pre-school they will never get a good life - IT'S A CULT I TELLS YA.
Hoisted upon my own petard about judging others too quickly. Thank you for the ice water splash I very obviously deserved.
You and I are actually on the same page and basically agree on the idea that homeschooling is a viable option, for some, but not all.
See my post and see how it fits with Gatto's views:
To: ican'tbelieveit
I hope you are not doing any of the home schooling history instruction.
In America's past the vast majority could not read or write much - nor did that matter in searching for work - being that you were a farmer or worked in the factory or other such manual labor. President Andrew Jackson was barely literate.
The common school movement as public schools were called had to fight against some (not all) industrialist forces (for whom universal education meant less availability of child labor and more taxes), with parochial schools (who perceived public education as a threat to their religious values), and with parents (children were not available to work on the farm or in factories for the family).
The late 19th and early 20th century saw the creation of a massive, secular system of public education open to all.
The movement for common schools constituted a rebuilding of the educational system (from the one school house model of old) to respond to the needs of expanding industries and the realities of growing cities such as training and disciplining of the new immigrants so they could become productive workers, and the provision of stability and control in the populated urban areas as well as educating away dangerous ideas from European immigrants such as anarchy and Communisim, etc. The common school movement was supported by the need of far seeing inustrialists/factory owners for a disciplined and productive workforce, the need of the emerging liberal state for social and ideological control (removing it from the church - lots of Catholics made our leaders fear this back then), the hopes of working class and immigrant groups for upward mobility, and the good faith and drive of many well-intentioned educational reformers who conceived education as the main avenue to build a more democratic, more egalitarian, and better society.
That is the history.
So why did the Public School system fail us in the last 30 years? I don't know.
One answer? No more factory jobs. Therefore industrialists no longer lobbied the Fed govt for such public education programs? Still reading studies on the matter myself.
140 posted on 11/14/2004 12:40:17 AM EST by Destro
I agree with Gatto's point that Public Education is a form of social engineering - created by American industrialists to produce better coggs - er workers. It is my theory that the PS system declined when the Factories in America started to close.
Thus the real power behind Public Education - the industrialists - lost interest and the practicality of the past American PS curriculum (simple and designed to produce a good orderly work force) vanished. The power vacuum allowed for Left Wing Socialists to (Industrialists can be seen as Right Wing Socialists) take over the PS education system and freed from what the Industrialists wanted began to work in the area of theory free from any practical constraints.
That is why we have seen the PS system in shambles.
Comments are welcomed.
A.Pole, I pinged you because we can see here how the decline of American industry has impacted our PS system.
The first schools were run by churches. It should be no surprise that schools fail because of the simple fact that God was taken out of the equation.
I understand - after 12 years of Catholic schools myself, I know all too well about excessive homework!!!! And I've been out of Catholic school for more than 20 years.
The idea of God - any god(s) in general - or the Christian God? How do they do it in Japan without Christ?
bookmarking
See, I disagree with you and the idea of school uniforms. You can have a dress code, without forcing that form of uniformity. No reason for it. But, if the school has a dress code, the ACLU cannot come in and sue them so someone can violate that standard.
And, if school control is returned to the community level, then yes, the needs are better met thru that school.
And, actually, I see the schools more as a conformity institution than a college prep institution. Everyone must come out of them the same, think the same way, view the world the same way. There are no allowances for creative expression, whether it be thru the arts or the sciences.
Six years of Catholic Colleges (undergrad and grad) were a totally different story! I do wish some of the ancient nuns had been relieved of classroom duty, however!
Honestly, and you and I have talked about this a lot, if there were more dicipline in everyday life, less emphasis on self-esteemm and PS teachers who weren't fearful of lawsuits, there would be no problem in public education.
I do wish our schoolkids wore uniforms like they do in Europe. It would solve the what do I wear?!! dilemma that you moms of daughters go through everyday. It would make it easier to spot the truants, as well.
Jeans, t-shirts (long or short sleeves?) and sneakers are the rule of the day with my boys.
I'm not arguing over whether or not homeschooling is 'right' for a particular family or not. I believe homeschooling is appropriate in many situations.
However, I believe it is inappropriate to conclude that the only choice for someone who has a problem with the amount of homework, or other aspects of the schooling system is to pull their children out and homeschool.
As citizens of a democratic society, we should speak up and share with our districts our concerns if we believe inappropriate teaching is conducted at our schools. This is all the more true if you are standing up for spiritual beliefs. Separation of church and state should be upheld for Christians as much as for other religions.
Taking a child out of a system and then ignoring the system is not standing up for your beliefs, is it? Instead, that's leaving the children left behind to the wolves. I'm not advocating saving the world, just stating that we all have a responsibility to stand up and be counted.
Actually, you seem fighting for conversion to homeschooling, even when others explain that is not the focus of the convo.
Then you start off on the tack that someone is defensive.
Why?
Oops. Misread (funny in light of a reading comprehension discussion) your post so I posted to you inaccurately. I think we are both decrying the reaction of homeschooling aficiandos attempting to convert others to their way of thinking. I'm in your boat and didn't even know it.
Cheers.
Nonetheless, homeschooling is NOT for everyone. There are those who homeschool and play it year by year, as they feel 'led,' rather than because they want to do it, or it's incredible, or whatever. Sometimes God provides new avenues. Would you accept God's re-direction if He made it clear you were to change and no longer homeschool?
It really would be good to have a reward in the hip pocket such as shop class for five days of no pencil fighting or no excessive pencil sharpening... that kind of 'reward' or 'incentive' I could go for.
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