The other thread spurred this topic on Education. Do you think the Public Education that children receive is a good one??? Do you feel children get "your" money's worth (taxes) in their education??

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I voted yes.

I believe it is a teacher's job to present the information, and to challenge a child. However, I strongly believe the parents should be deeply involved as well, and I don't mean lip service. Sit down with your child each night, go over the day's happenings and lessons. Communicate with your child's teacher and be sure they are doing the best they are capable of.

I don't believe all the blame can be laid at the feet of our school system. Yes, many changes have been made, not all for the best, but, I think the educational opportunities in this country are boundless.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Amen sister!
Seriously, though--I'm sure there are bad teachers and bad school systems, but for the most part, I believe the same thing that AIA does.

We have been so very fortunate w/ our kids! They have had superb teachers, excellent school system, wonderful opportunities within the school system. Our school actual has a Montessori program within the school all the way up to and I believe including middle school that is FREE of charge. It's a lottery system to choose the kids that get in. We tried it, and that type of teaching method wasn't effective for our child--but others do so well in a Montessori classroom.

Anyway-the resources are out there, it's up to the parents, the children combined with the school system and teachers to make the most of the resources.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I agree with both of you. We have been very fortunate to have mostly wonderful teachers and a good program. I was very hands-on with my kids and oversaw their homework for the most part...I felt that education was a partnership with the school. When the teachers weren't the best, we worked on our own and dealt with it. Was everything perfect? no, but my kids are grown and doing very well with the education they have received. Both kids graduated with honors, scholarships and awards and continued that way through college.

It was a combination of good education with encouragement from home to take education (not just what was learned in the classroom, but everything) seriously. Reading, educational and fun trips, lots of discussion of ethical, moral, religious and artistic issues to strengthen the mind, hobbies, etc., is important too. And yet not such a compulsion either...being a good person was top on the list.

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It deserves an F. I believe that money is misappropriated by the people who administer things. This happens everywhere in govt, in schools, in jails, in supremarkets, etc. It is a matter of greed and priority. It's a matter of ignorance in that we waste the money now and it costs more to deal with the problems in the future.

What can we do? I don't know. People fight for justice and to revamp systems all the time. I believe that the failures in the education system are partially due to the fact that there's no profit in it. If there were a profit in it some coproration would have taken over long ago and reworked the system.

And like the rest of you say it's also up to the families. But where families are broken there is not much hope at home. My son went to the same schools others around here went to and they are not as educated as he is.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

I feel that the jobs that teachers have to do has been shifted so significantly in the past decade (or more) that it is almost impossible to reach the standards set forth that define "success".

I went from teaching 4th grade math to "teaching to the test" (letting go of very relevant 4th grade math skill-teaching).

Interestingly enough, I also found it necessary to take time out to teach 4th graders (YES, 4th GRADERS) to read face clocks, because their parents didn't teach them at home. (and for some reason - completely unrelated to math, we were learning to tie shoes - not taught in the home, either). There are endless skills that I always felt were parents' jobs to address with their children, and now instructional time was being used to attend to these life lessons, instead. And teachers are still often harshly judged for not getting kids to certain levels of competence in their subjects, and we wonder why...Sad.

But I absolutely give public school educators and the public school system A++++ - The teachers and administrators continue to do the best they can with the support and resources they have, from what I've seen.

Our schools are great. We live in one of the top school districts in the country (on purpose). We specifically bought our current and last house in this district. Our taxes are higher, but my kids are getting an excellent education. I think the college bound rate out of high school is something like 92%.

I do think the No Child Left Behind is well-meaning, but ill-run. Our teachers teach to the test, but most of it is the curriculum anyway. We love our school district.

Oh, and we are both highly involved parents. We've always read to/with our girls, helped with homework, I've been highly involved with the classroom, we attend conferences, field trips, etc. DH can't do most of the daytime stuff because of work, but he attends/helps with everything else. He does usually takes a day off and goes on a field trip each year.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

We live in a great school area HOWEVER....I would not say "it is fine". There was no middle ground option so I didn't vote. I think our particular school is TRYING to do as well as they can but that said, I think public school as a whole is not very good. It really depends on where you live. My MIL taught school in the mountains of Vail and unless you spoke english and spanish...you weren't going to be a good teacher. She got fed up with the no child left behind because how can one be expected to have non english speaking children pass all the stuff they were supposed to? She subs in another state now. I know some schools in my town I wouldn't send my kids to and an entire district you couldn't PAY me to send my kids too. So, I am VERY happy with our current school but I feel most schools are lacking seriously and "teaching to the test" which isn't something I like very much. We moved schools initially because of our unhappiness with the system and school we were in. Luckily, we are in an area with "school of choice". If the school has room and you provide transport, you can go anywhere.

If you have a lower than average or higher than average kid...you are screwed at most schools. Teachers end up spending lots of extra time with the kids who in my day were in "special ed" (I don't know what the new term is). I'm sure that is well intended but IMO, it looks as if it's holding the majority of the rest of the class back. I don't understand that. I volunteer a lot in our school so I see this stuff happen

Add a middle ground option and I'll vote

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Ironically, though, this is because of the government monopoly on schooling.

If there were vouchers and people could vote with those vouchers, there'd be an incentive for a private entity to come up with something competitive. As things stand, your average family can't afford to foot the bill for a private school tuition that's high enough to make a private school turn a tidy profit. Most families, given the choice of a free public school or a pricey private one will go for the free one.

I didn't vote because I do have an opinion, but it's neither of the extremes presented. In our district, the biggest expenses are teacher salaries and benefits. They have the best benefits in the county - they're actually pretty spoiled. They pay nothing at all towards their health care plans and have very small deductibles and co-pays.

I think the reason that our schools are failing is because as a nation, we're too diverse. Not racially diverse - but we have a huge value gap from family to family to family. Some families place an extremely high value on their child and spoil him rotten and then he's not very motivated to perform. Some families don't care about education at all and school is the place they can send their kid to all day, free of charge, that'll feed them for free and keep them out of their hair. Kids are coming from homes with only one parent who works many hours just to pay the bills. And some are coming from places of stability. Truly, the backgrounds of the kids are all over the map, and there isn't necessarily a convergence of the minds about the importance of education between all of them.

In past years, even when people came from different socio-economic classes, it seemed most everyone thought school was important, thought teachers should behave respectably and should be respected, and they were willing to back that up at home if their child was reported to have been misbehaving.

Good behavior at school was a shared value in times past. It's not now. People's views of those expectations run the gamut - and our expectations for what the school is supposed to provide have risen drastically. It's no longer just the 3 R's. Our schools now provide every kind of occupational therapy under the sun, birth control, and psychological counseling.

An unintended consequence of the school stepping in to fill all the "parental holes" our government sees is that then even the formerly-involved parents develop a mindset that "the school will take care of that for us", and the role of the school increases exponentially.

Where the school fails, IMHO, is that it thinks it can solve all social ills by arming kids with information. Unfortunately, bad habits are formed at home and more often than not, all the information in the world won't overcome them. And yet our teachers are subdividing their time between trying to cure the social ills and teach academics.

And the cycle of this is that we now have a generation of parents who expects the school to raise their children because the school is claiming it can... so the parents slack back.... when in reality, it was the parents the kids needed all along.

Stick a teacher in a room with a bunch of kids who have been haphazardly parented and have her try to teach them something. It's a difficult job at best.

Totally agree with you, wowitsdark! Public schools have such a tough job given the state of parenting these days. Parents need to wake up and support their children and their school systems and not be so quick to defend Johnny no matter what he's done. He is your child, not your friend. (IMNSHO )

Unfortunately, public schools have to bend and stoop to the lowest common denominator. As such, I have chosen to send my kids to private high school. At least there, I believe that most parents share similar views to my own on the value of education, discipline, and behavior.

Can't vote on the poll, as others have mentioned it's not so black and white.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

50/50 I give it a C, will that work for ya?

ETA: I tried to add that, and can't figure out how to edit the poll portion of the post. Anyone know?

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Yeah, I'd go with you on 50/50 Although I don't know how to edit a poll...

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

I see an "Edit Poll" link on the upper right hand corner of it. I don't know if it's a moderator function or if you all can see it too.

If it is just mods, let me know if you'd like me to add an option for you and I'll try it.

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No, I don't see that on my screen. Can you add the 50/50 poll option, as stated in my post above? thanks.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I would have to say 50/50 also

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Brenda

GO #24 JEFF GORDON

I think the school my DD is at is fantastic but we moved to an area with a good school. Many of the Atlanta Public schools are beyond bad. It all depends on the individual school and parent participation. The APS system as a whole is a corrupt mess but at DD's school the parents and PTA do not let them get away with anything and fund what actually needs to be funded. Its a well to do area with lots of stay at home moms that used to hold high power jobs and now use their talents to raise the best kids possible. Also having quite a few lawyers in the area really helps. Our school would be terrible if APS could get away with it. It is a constant battle.

Is it good now??

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yes,thank you.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I pick 50/50. I think in some areas it is great - others lacking...

Sara

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saraedawson@yahoo.com

Mommy to Jake, Alexis, Abigail and Joshua, Wife to Matt

I think a school is only as good as the effort people put into it. I had only heard bad things about our school before we actually got there but now that we are there and involved it's a great caring place to send my children for the day.

We had a tough year last year with DS but it wasn't anything any other school would have done differntly, private or public. I think the parents in our school have a lot of time to invest, there is a record number on the PTA and we all work together to look out for each others kids. The teachers show up to the baseball games, they come to the functions and I think if you are all willing to work together the kids will get a good education.

I do think a lot of money gets wasted but that isn't the teachers fault, administration maybe but not the people I run into on a regular basis. I am very happy with our school even if it isn't the best, it's the best I can make it.

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

I agree with wowitsdark. Our school district has failed! I am so thankful that we can go out of district and put our kids in a good school. Those of you who have good public schools to go to be thankful!

My children are both in excellent schools. One of them was recognized with an A+ here in AZ! That is an accomplishment as there are very rigid guidelines used for a school to qualify, let alone earn that prestigious title.

Our teachers that we've personally dealt with, do an awesome job despite the fact that teacher's salaries have been frozen (lowball salaries at that), supply budgets frozen (teachers are buying supplies out of pocket), NCLB, and so on.

Arizona is an 'open enrollment' state so kids can go to schools that are out-of-district and the district loses money. When kids are homeschooled, the district loses money... this has lead to some pretty hefty budget concerns at the district level.

In their defense, our school district is thinking outside of the box in trying to get some of these kids (and MONEY) back. A big one right now is a college prep high school that is state funded (not private). It looks like it will go through...! YEA! Several years ago, MANY homeschooled kids were brought back in when the district opened up a 'traditional' K-8 school that touted that the school was 'back to basics'. It worked!

So, I give our school a high grade for doing the best that they can with what they have and not just sitting back but pushing ahead and really doing some unprecedented things as far as public education. Bottom line, they do a great job with what they are given and we feel blessed to have our kids attending the schools here.

I dont have anything good to say about my DS school now or hte school system due to continuing problems with a certain child and them not following my DS IEP and I am constantly advocating for DS and his IEP being followed but I get the whole we dont have the funds for it well if you dont have the funds for a Alphasmart then why did you put it in his IEP?

I am going to homeschool next year already checked into several different programs and found one that works with kids who had IEP's in public schools, unless oemthing drastically changes in the next 8 weeks to change my mind thats the plan homeschooling.

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~ Christine ~
Grammie to Trinity Lorayne Jean Keens Born June 9, 2011 Loving my awesome guitar picking 100% Country Boy boyfriend Kenny !
RIP Daddy~ 01/24/1930-06/01/2007 I miss you !
Dont Think you Can .. know you can ~ Jeff Hardy

Cuthie~~We are in Saddle Mountain School District in Arizona. I don't know if you have read about the districts troubles in the papers but it is really bad. My oldest dd goes out of district and my youngest dd is homeschooled. I am so thankful for open enrollment. I am so disgusted with our school district and my girls probably will never go to a school in our district until they can get their act together.

That's sad. Are you on the reservation?

I think that the MOST important thing that our district is doing is that they are trying to actively get the homeschooled and out-of-district kids back. It is an uphill battle with budget cuts! That tenacity to me is a huge part of what makes our schools as good as they are. They are thinking outside of the box for sure -- I LOVE that!

We are on the west side of town in a new development out in Buckeye. We have a brand new school 5 minutes from our house ready to open but they can't open it. The district is 5 million in debt so the state has taken it over. My kids are supposed to go to a school 15 miles away and 35-45 kids in each classroom. No Thanks.

I have always been a big fan of public education. I just think in most cases it is the way to go.

I have had my kids in private school all of their schooling until last November, I switched them.
I feel like there are positives and negatives to both.

We have been very happy with our public schools. We chose to move to this city based on their schools and then narrowed down where would live based on our particular pick on the elementary/middle/intermediate/HS. Our kids have been in both private & public (both my DH & I grew up in private schools). I feel the public schools in our city have more to offer our children. A huge part of the reason we moved was because the last city we lived in just had marginal public schools. Every year they seemed to be dropping things like art, spanish, etc. They didn't even offer some of those classes (pe, art, etc) until 4th or 5th grade. In our current district they have those classes every week beginning in kindergarten. The old district was riddled with so much crap, too...and we weren't happy with the elementary school and absolutely did not want our kids to go to the HS they would have been in.

peapie