Not all schools go out of their way to not teach Jack.
First of all you make the mistake of thinking I’m defending our public school systems, and I’m not. My kids were all home schooled. That doesn’t take away from the point I made, the problems originate at home. Do you honestly think that any school system can do an excellent job given what our pop culture, divorce, disinterested parents, drugs and so on do to the kids 24/7. It’s nuts. Look at what I said, and at your reaction. I am saying parents should take responsibility for their children’s education. Parents had them, not the schools. If parents can’t participate in the education of their children, they should at least give their kids a few values that would make them behave in school or anywhere. You don’t need to yell at me. I don’t agree that the whole problem is with the school systems.
The military and jails have to deal with these same people, yet they do, and quite successfully overall (i.e., go to a prison some time and you’ll see what I mean regarding behavior).
Schools can do the same, but CHOOSE not to. In some states, like here in Texas, they can practically whip the kids who misbehave...but there is a big problem, they schools CHOOSE to not do so (stifles their ‘creativity’ and whatnot). Instead they CHOOSE to ‘mainstream’ (or at least ignore) those kids and wreck it for everyone else.
The schools can simply say to the kids, something to the effect of: “We don’t care what happens out there, when you’re here, you sit down, shut up, and pay attention. And if that is asking too much from you, we promise that the next time you sit down, it will be painful.” It’s incredible how quick kids can behave if they’re given some no-nonsense rules. Except for the relatively rare cases of kids being pregnant, sexually abused, or physically beaten, blaming the parents is simply an EXCUSE for the failed educational system, and I am very surprised that someone who claims to home school can’t realize that.
And yes, the curriculum make a HUGE difference in their attitudes - if the kids are LEARNING something, they at least see a reason for being there...and if they’re taught to read before they’re 16 they will be a whole lot happier.
And since EVERYONE knows that phonics is the ONLY way to teach reading that works, I sure as hell do believe that schools go out of their way to teach Jack.
Sorry if my tone bothers you, but I have to work with a lot of products of public schools, and most of them do have good parents (as far as I can tell).