Many school textbooks woefully outdated - Deep cuts in funding shackle teachers

Houston Chronicle ^ | September 2, 2003 | APRIL CASTRO, AP

[homeschool mama]

It's called **revisionist history**. :o/

[homeschool mama]

Perhaps it also would depend on the student. My daughter has experienced the exact opposite of what you're suggesting.

[Dataman]

Maybe they should write text books with longer life spans instead of being topical to the minute like Newsweek.

It's called planned obsolescence. It keeps taxpayer funded book expenses unnecessarily high... though unnecessarily high expenditures is a central characteristic of public schools.

[Dataman]

Saxon math has never met the standards set by the state.

Both my kids were raised on Saxon. My oldest graduated with the highest gpa of her class. My son is two years ahead in pre calc and programs the teacher's TI. He also had the highest gpa of his class and likely will this year too.

[Dataman]

They usually cut bus service first, just to sock it to the parents

Here they cut bus service, proposed a 4-day school week (found to be illegal), cut sports and band, cut teachers and increased class sizes. What they didn't cut was administration, administration raises, administrative office remodeling, new administrative computers and office furniture and air conditioning.

You're right. It's a racket.

[Dataman]

My daughter attends a private school that I pay a whopping $200 a year for books

Wait till she gets to college $600-$800 a semester is typical.

[mathluv]

Chicago math was developed at the University of Chicago, and is the other end of the spectrum from Saxon. Saxon even bought full page ads in NCTM journals asking UC to go head to head in school tests on which way was better.

Saxon is based on a lot of review. UC is based on application. I prefer something in the middle. Application helps students see how math applies in everyday world, review reinforces what they need to learn.

[mathluv]

Forgot to address Singapore math. It has a website - don't know the url. It is used by homeschoolers, not regular schools that I know of. I think, from what I have read or been told, that it has a lot of drill.

[Thebaddog]

It's also a characteristic of centralized governments with no accountability. Hey, that sounds like a dictatorship, as well!

[luckystarmom]

He was in a private Christian school.

[quack]

I was being sarcastic.Funny these public schools complain about funding,but I pay less for my daughters education and books per year than the public school system does per year/per student.Even though the school she attends had the highest SAT's in the state last year.

[Aliska]

I think a lot of money is wasted on all these overly-expensive books. They don't need those fancy books and don't get their money's worth out of them unless they read them cover-to-cover and even then, they are not worth their high cost. Another scam imo.

[mrs tiggywinkle]

Oh. Thanks for clarifying. :o)