Posted on 04/18/2006 5:23:39 AM PDT by 13Sisters76
I'm wondering how many have been in a public school lately, to see the awful mess they have become. Or to see, first hand, what kind of children we have coming up who will be running things one day. I teach at a public high school in a large south-central metro area. I started here this year. Before this, I had been teaching in the military system, which I now realize is very different from the regular public schools. The difference being that where parents actually have something to lose, they WILL control their children. I want you to know something of what it is like. Our "children" are beasts. They are rude, disrespectful, full of themselves, pretentious, out of control, sex obsessed and stupid. They know they don't have to behave because there isn't a thing on God's earth we can do to them. The teachers cannot control the classrooms and we can't MAKE them learn anything. These little savages breeze through the system learning as little as possible. It isn't a stretch to realize that if a few of them can write their name, play ball or recite the words to the latest rap song, that is enough to graduate them. I WISH everyone could see an example of their reading, comprehension and writing "skills". I can promise you, you would be outraged. What's even worse, they DON'T care. They don't want to hear about the future. They don't want to hear about excellence. They are stupid and proud. We spend a fortune on Special Education- would you like to know how most of that money is being spent? The resources of special education are being spent on kids who are too disruptive for a regular classroom. These kids aren't "differently-abled" for the most part. I had one little darling tell me that he was there because he didn't want to do the work. That's all. I would love to bring you all in for an afternoon with an "honors class". I MUST wonder what, exactly, are the standards for "honors". There are a precious few kids in these classes who actually ARE brighter than the rest and, for them, I feel a great deal of sympathy. The atmosphere in these classes, as well, is not the least bit conducive to learning. One cannot teach when one cannot control the classrom. One cannot control the classroom when one if faced with parents who view discipline for their children as a lawsuit better than winning the lottery. One cannot teach or control the classroom when one is faced with parents as stupid and worthless as their kids. I will be leaving the public school system at the end of this year. The very people who have allowed this state of affairs to continue will remain in place until the people of this country learn to stand up to the left wing education establishment who have helped to create this abysmal "black hole" and until parents are forced to take responsibility for their horrible kids. Until then, I urge the parents of young kids to get them OUT of it- private school, home school. There are other,FAR better, choices. I'm heading for some OTHER type of job. I wanted to teach; I wanted to make a difference. Now, I am just bitter and angry. And more conservative than ever.
I go to a public high school every day.
Kill Your Television TurnOffYourTV.com
"Do you know we are ruled by TV?"
-- from the poem An American Prayer by Jim Morrison
"They put an off button on the TV for a reason. Turn it off . . . I really don't watch much TV."
-- President George W. Bush, C-SPAN interview, January 2005
"American children and adolescents spend 22 to 28 hours per week viewing television, more than any other activity except sleeping. By the age of 70 they will have spent 7 to 10 years of their lives watching TV."
-- The Kaiser Family Foundation
"You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on."
-- Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer and Pixar, in Macworld Magazine, February 2004
"Everybody’s got values . . . The thing that frightens me is the way that an eroding public school system . . . and television on all over the place is leading to a steady dumbing down of the American public and a corrosion of basic critical thinking in the population."
-- Jamie Raskin, American University law professor, November 2004 on the Democracy Now! radio program
"Protestant clergy named divorce, negative influences from the media, and materialism as the three greatest threats to families in their communities."
-- from an Ellison Research study of 695 Protestant church ministers nationwide, October 2004
"The media can wreak great harm on the family when it offers an inadequate or even distorted vision of life, of the family itself and of religion and morality."
-- Pope John Paul II, May 2004
HOMESCHOOL PING
No I have not thank the Lord. My sons go to a private Christian school and will remain there come hell or high water.
Ping
lol...I was going to reply, "Been to HTML Boot-Camp lately"?
Look.
I don't know much about formatting- or computers in general. I didn't grow up with them as many of you must have. I'm your GRANDMOTHER'S age. But I am left with this question: for those of you taking the time to kick me about PARAGRAPHS- do you CARE ABOUT THIS ISSUE? Do you have kids? Is the state of public education "OK" with you? While you dither on about what is unimportant, the next generation is in trouble. Do you care about THAT?
My generation started this mess- I'll admit to that. It is unfortunate that YOUR generation has to clean up the mess. Do you care enough to do that? My generation is going to be dead and gone when this crop of schoolkids starts impacting YOUR life. Think you can start focusing on what actually matters?
I didn't mean to imply that I homeschool. For more than one reason, I am unable to homeschool. That may draw some derision from those who applaud it. Those parents that can do homeschooling are given my respect.
But as I said, I am involved in my son's education. And importantly, I closely monitor the worldly things that he encounters. I may appear to be too attentive. However, I only have one shot at this. I need to work very hard for his future.
When I was there, while the students weren't on the fast-track to sainthood, they were mostly decent kids little different than my parent's generation. Kids today are no different than they always have been.
I do know that my A.P. English teacher would have failed me, however, if I handed in a paper that was all one paragraph. Your screed, even if it made valid points (I think it did not) was utterly unreadable.
We must be lucky....both school systems we've had our kids in were great.
funny!!!!
Vouchers would solve the problem. It would take the kids who want to learn away from the troublemakers. Also, if someone had a voucher to get into a private school that required discipline and behavior the parents and child would be motivated to perform because they would have something to lose if they didn't. They could get kicked back to the public school. Give every parent a voucher, even home schooled kids, of half the amount of money being spent per child now. Current school spending is often over 10,000 per child. In one fell swoop we could cut property taxes, and give our children a better education. Of course, we would have to maintain some sort of public school for the kids who can't cut it in private school or who still don't want to learn, but the threat of being sent back to public would cause a lot of kids and parents to keep their little darlings in line.
Only from the homeschool nazis - and who gives a flying leap what fanatics think?
I am involved in my son's education. And importantly, I closely monitor the worldly things that he encounters.
That - and not which kind of schooling you select - is what really matters. Parental involvement in their children's education gives them a good shot at life. Neither homeschooling nor public schooling are a pancea for everyone, however. I've been through both, and both have their value.
Paragraphs are your friend.
Yup. I've been in once. I'm in one every weekday. It reminds me strongly of the elementary that I went to when I was child (in the 1960s and early 70s. The construction is the same, the art is the same, etc.
My child is in kindergarten. She turned 6 in march. She's READING. I have issues with some practices (she seem to be using "sight" reading rather than phonetics), but she's READING. I couldn't read when I was in kindergarten.
I have a lot of issues with modern day education, but right now I am satisfied with her progress.
Nice Freeper......
Thank you for your post. I think you may have struck a nerve with some freepers. When faced with firsthand accounts it pinches their conscience a bit LOL!! I am glad that you are leaving the system. Former teacher John Taylor Gatto has some great books on this subject to encourage you.
maybe your children are beasts, rude, disrespectful and sex obsessed... I've got 4 children in in the public schools here in Texas, including High school, middle school, intermediate school and elementary school.
They recite the Pledge of Allegiance, Pledge of Allegiance to Texas Flag, had Christmas decorations allowed and have been visited by members of the Armed Forces whose kids are in the schools. Discipline is tight and there are officers in the high school, intermediate and middle school.
The high school is a 5-A school and most of the college profs send their kids here. Unfortunately getting in the top 10% of the senior class in grades and SAT's is harder than heck because of the "non-black, non-Hispanic" minorities that dominate the Math, Science, Robotic clubs... there are numerous AP and Honors courses with pretty hard emphasis on performance.
There are "fights" and "drugs" like all large schools but I know where my kids are and who there friends are. I don't tolerate any "crap" from high school "friends" and my kids and their friends know that I'm very predictable... they don't get away with anything and if they're caught they'll never see my house or kids again....until they're 18 and in college.
I don't expect the schools to raise my kids and I chose this area of the country to live specifically because of the level of education and conservative population in general. I'd rather work as a landscaper in Texas than a CEO of a Fortune 500 company in San Francisco. Why would I put precious gems in pig sh#t? My kids and family are the most important things in my life and I'm lucky enough to be able to live almost anywhere and work.
I chose Texas. 'nuff said.
What will you see? Classes with few - or even no - Americans, and the balance foreign students. In this case, by foreign I specifically mean citizens of a nation other than the U.S. The next generation will be notably less educated.
Despite declining standards, Texas has a substantial and growing dropout rate. Some contend that the functional illiteracy rate approaches 40%; the implications for the future are not favorable.
You're probably wise to extract yourself from a problematic situation. Life is far too short to put up with the nonsense you mention.
Finally, the symbol to use for paragraphs is:
<p>
Just type it in your post, and the preview - and subsequent post - will show a blank line. Of course, if you get HTML editing software such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver, you can create posts that will forever silence the paragraph crowd.
Great post. I agree and parent the same as you.
I remember when teachers used paragraphs.
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