Been in a public school lately?

Apr.19,2006 | 13Sisters76

[stentorian conservative]

Ma'am, I understand your situation.

I am the Mother of five (5) wonderful children--all but the oldest are Home Educated. The oldest id in High School. I know that may seem contradictory, but she is militantly conservative, and isn't easily swayed beyond her beliefs.

Our Education system has been on a downward spiral for decades now. I feel it will continue down this path until PARENTS take control of their Children and realize that our Children are not a mere possession (as in cars, lawn mowers and electronics) but are and should be OUR LIFE!

From the moment I gave birth to my first child I knew what my occupation was/is. Sadly, the Family unit no longer exists in most cases. Parents have left the raising of their Children to the system, and the system is the homosexual agenda and anti-Christian among other things.

On another note, I will say that our schools are in dire need of teachers such as yourself. It is an uphill battle but the kids need you.

[brownsfan]

"...for those of you taking the time to kick me about PARAGRAPHS- do you CARE ABOUT THIS ISSUE?"

Age is no excuse for lack of education.

I'll tell you why you're getting kicked for trivial things... your post is full of venom, and no suggestions for recourse. You make it sound as though you love teaching, but you run. You make it sound like in every public school, it is filled with horrible people and there are no bright spots. No children who are well parented, or worthy of concern.

I have 3 kids. Our local public schools are in the range of adequate to good. Parenting will make an adequate school good. A good teacher and good parenting will make an adequate school excellent.

I realize that public schools are in trouble, escpecially inner-city schools, (I am in a suburb). I realize you are burned out. It's good you're leaving, good for you, and good for the kids.

[moog]

I t makes me wonder if this person is even a teacher.

[Toby06]

Spellings OK.

You missed an apostrophe to indicate it's a contraction. < ducking >

[RedBloodedAmerican]

rofl great post, I need to read no more!

[moog]

And you succeed because you and your parents give a darn.

[13Sisters76]

I have a friend teaching at college level and she is very disillusioned as well. The young students she is seeing are "dumb as rocks", complaining, and confrontational. They refuse suggestions to bring up their grades and then whine to the administrators when they do poorly. She says she is looking for other work, as well.

I spent 32 years in medicine and this is a second career for me. I'm beyond saddened.

[geezerwheezer]

Your article really puts fear in my mind. I'm afraid we have allowed too many "educators" to ruin our school systems, and we have run off our real teachers. When the teacher cannot control the classroom, we like to blame that teacher, and not the system that allows it.

My wife teaches here in Savannah, and just getting the parent(s) in for a conference about THEIR CHILD, is damn near impossible. Notes are sent home, calls to disconnected phones, letters returned by the post office, on and on and on....yet these same "parent(s) are the first ones to bitc* when their child fails the state-mandated tests required by the "No child left behind" laws.

You tell me why this is allowed by our school systems? I think the child should be taken away from the parent(s) and placed in a home where they are taught social manners, homework is expected to be done, and proper rest is allowed.
When my wife has had three "missed parental conferences", she can then fill out the paperwork required by the state without the parents' signature. That is three separate days she has to be ready, three days she is wasting for one child/parent, when she has to take time from her class and all the other children, to wait for someone who doesn't show up. Multiply this by the other 12 kids' parents who don't even bother to show up, OR EVEN CALL THE SCHOOL, and you have the modern teachers' day at work. This is a waste of our monies as taxpayers, and is typical of most school systems. Thanks for your article, I hope it helps folks understand what is really going on.

[martin gibson]

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? ...

You really remind me of some snotty 7th grader arguing with her Composition teacher after having an assignment returned with all the spelling, punctuation and grammar errors politely red-lined for correction. I mean, it's the ideas that are important and anyone who is soooo hung up on the cosmetics and standards of presentation must be some kind of fascist or something.

Hysterical, unformatted rants have their place, but Sis, this isn't one of them. Formatting is a simple courtesy to your readers as well as a basic tenet of Standard American Usage.

In the future, if you will try to present your ideas in a civil (without 'shouting') presentation, I will try to read them.

Thank you so much!

[Gabz]

Our local public schools are in the range of adequate to good. Parenting will make an adequate school good. A good teacher and good parenting will make an adequate school excellent.

BINGO!!!!!

Regardless of the setting (public, private, or home school) education of our children still remains OUR responsibility as parents.

[moog]

Interesting that they aren't using much phonetics. I haven't seen one kindergarten in my area that doesn't. A good combination of sight words and phonics makes for good readers.

[Aquinasfan]

The schools do what they were created to do. Read it and weep.

Then get your kids the hell out. They'll get my kids over my dead body.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

My son was tormented on the playground by bullies for weeks, before he finally told me. I got in touch with the principal who monitored the situation.

When it didn't stop after three warnings, three little third graders were paddled! Interestingly enough, their parents were sent home letters before the paddling. And the parents had to consent to this type of punishment. They all did.

Now, the little rugrats RUN when they see my son on the playground. They haven't forgotten the paddle!

[moog]

lol I remember when teachers weren't bitter or angry. My daughter-in-law is a teacher in Middle School and loves every minute of it. She has the WORST kids and works like a dog. She loves those kids and has made a huge difference in their lives. They write her letters how much they respect her and how she gave them a chance when no other teacher would give them the time of day. As a result, their test scores are up and they are proud of themselves. Thank God there are some teachers that still love what they do. ,/i> I still see many teachers like that, but in the current climate of accentuating the negative you hardly hear about them. Yes, there are not so good ones too who ddn't realize the conseuences of their actions.

[stentorian conservative]

Yep, bullseye. My Parents thought I was ruining my children when they saw that my Children could read, but didn't know the ABC's song.

phonics leads to reading leads to correct spelling,
reading leads to anywhere you want to go.

[13Sisters76]

(laughing!) Posters like you keep me coming back to this site!

[moog]

Good points.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Our "children" are beasts. They are rude, disrespectful, full of themselves, pretentious, out of control, sex obsessed and stupid.

Another excuse about why teachers can't seem to do their jobs.

First it was not enough money and then it was that parents weren't involved enough and then it was that parents were too involved and now it is all the children's fault.

[Buffettfan]

The inmates are running the asylum.

[Amelia]

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.

At least some sight reading is good to start out - it's faster & less frustrating. Sounding out every word is tedious & tiring when one is just learning how.

That said, children need to learn phonics so that they can figure out what those unfamiliar words are.