Parents of School-Age Kids: What Kind of School do Your Kids Attend?

Parents of School-Age Kids: What Kind of School do Your Kids Attend?

public schools. Despite what the government is trying to do, all schools are not run by christian fundamentalists. Some of us are fighting hard to keep schools secular and the teaching of critical thought at the forefront. As a teacher and administrator in a public school, I greatly appreciate the support. It is not as bad as it seems in public schools. In fact, children are doing things now that ten years ago were unheard of.

doesn't mean I have to sacrifice my child's well-being.

I support the local public school with my tax dollars.

I support my children by giving them a far superior education at home.

with disparaging comments like that. The "Public Schools are failing" meme is largely a RW lie to help them to destroy the PS System and fund their voucher scams.

Well over 80% of PS parents are very satisfied with THEIR CHILD's school, while almost the same proportion believe the conventional wisdom that the public schools are failing.

My son's public school here in San Francisco does an EXCELLENT job, and most of the parents are HIGHLY involved. It may not be the average school, but my son has attended three PS's in different cities and all have been good.

If you prefer homeschooling, great. but please don't spread the falsehood that public schools are failing.

You don't know anything about my experience or my children's experience with local public schools. You didn't bother to ask questions before accusing me of disparaging.

Nice discourse.

My sister, step-mother, and mother-in-law are all career public school teachers (all with at least 20 years experience each). They agree with me.

Are they disparaging public schools too?

But your post seems to imply that public schools IN GENERAL are bad, and they simply aren't.

Supporting public schools doesn't mean I have to sacrifice my child's well-being.
I support the local public school with my tax dollars.

How magnanimous. I support bombing Iraq with my tax dollars too - that's the breaks.

I support my children by giving them a far superior education at home.

That's wonderful if you're able to do that, but by saying you are able to give your kids a "far superior" education at home, you're implying that the public schools are "far inferior".

I'm just tired of public schools and teachers being slammed when they are doing their damnedest. Hell, in many of the communities where the schools ARE troubled, a major factor is lack of parental involvement. Parents have become so protective of their perfect little angels that they actually object to them being held up to any standards.

example:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/2561083.htm?1c

To teacher Christine Pelton, the issue seemed clear: The 28 high school sophomores whom she viewed as plagiarizing a project deserved no credit for their work, and therefore should flunk her class.

But the board that runs the Piper School District in western Wyandotte County saw things differently. After several parents complained, the board decided the students deserved partial credit on the biology project. The effect? Many of the students passed.

Pelton resigned the next day.

My parents would've kicked my ass if I had cheated in such a way, and I'm only 35. BTW, the behavior these parents are exhibiting is 100% republican, IMO. My hats are off to all public school teachers who deal with cretinous parents like that, your relatives included.

There are MANY MANY GREAT public schools. If you had at least acknowledged that fact, I would have had no gripe with your post.

in this state and one 2 states away reveal the same issues with public schooling:

1. Grossly underfunded

2. Not ALL teachers are "doing their damnedest." Many, maybe even most, are. But not all.

3. It's too easy to always blame the parents or the kids rather than seriously examine what is going on.

4. Learning is not the first priority of public schools. Order is. Then test scores. Then teaching to the test. Real learning, critical thinking, and creativity are not only low on the list, they are actually punished sometimes.


I didn't infer anything. You brought a lot of your own issues to my original post and read what you wanted to read. I can't stop that. But I don't have to defend inferences I did not make either.

This hostility toward homeschooling alienates people who are on your side. By asking questions, rather than making assumptions, you might learn something about a growing movement that you obviously do not understand.

Talk about wild inferences.

I'm hostile to people who make ad hominem attacks on the public schools.

I think homeschooling can be good, if it's coordinated with organized social activities, but it is a solution that only really works for wealthy couples who can afford for one spouse to stay home and coordinate the schooling. It is not a realistic solution for the vast majority of people, nor are expensive private schools. But I have never said that homeschoolers couldn't provide their kids with a top-notch education.

I agree with your comments about the priorities of the schools, but many schools do their best to meet the targets while still teaching kids to think. I had a very good experience in the public schools in EL Paso, TX, BTW.

I don't know why the defensiveness about homeschooling. Homeschooling as an institution is becoming very trendy. It's not under constant attack like the public schools are.

You really think public schools are under constant attack but homeschooling is not? LOL

Homeschooling is ridiculed and attacked right here on DU quite often. That's where the "defensiveness" comes from.

Although do not paint a broad brush. There are many public schools that do an excellent job at educating all types of children. The RW rethuglican party starting with Bill Bennett's, A Nation At Risk, has force-fed the idea that public schools are failing children. The problem I see is when big government tries to imply that teachers don't know what is the best way to teach children. We are the ones who studied education. We know better not them. Secondly, when far too conservative members are elected to school boards; especially state boards, trouble begins.

and I don't think you are implying all public schools are bad. It depends a lot on where you live. The public schools that I attended as a child were great. I have also had the experience of working as a teacher in a public urban high school. This school was far worse than I could have ever imagined a school to be before working there. I don't really want to get into any details about my experiences at this school because it just depresses me to think of it. Needless to say, I would never allow my son to attend a school like that.

I'm in a rural red state setting with a high poverty rate. Teachers here are overwhelmed first with the task of getting some breakfast and lunch into these kids bellies and then trying to teach them something. In many instances, school meals are the best/only meals the kids get.

Besides the obvious problems that spiral from that situation...schools here are heavy on the Gods, Guns, and Gays nonsense. A lot of people mistakenly believe that prayer and God have been removed from the public schools. They have not. Not in this state anyway. There are no formal prayers in public school classrooms here, don't get me wrong. But God (and I do mean the Xtian God) is everywhere.

Further, this is a white, protestant community. We are the only Jews, and honestly most people don't know that (our choice to keep it silent for fear of taunting and harrassment). There is one small Catholic church. The closest UU church is 45 miles away. There are 12 protestant Xtian churches within city limits (1-2 mile square).

The graduation rate is ok...midrange for the state...but many who graduate cannot read above what I like to call "stop sign level." As an employer I can see first hand that even the graduates have the most basic level of competence. I screen potential employees by requiring a resume rather than an application. Most honestly ask me what that is.

I have two teens with genius IQs. There is nothing for them in those public schools. Nothing.

My kids have only attended public schools, and despite the meme that public schools are "failing", their schools have ranged from good to great.

Is it fear of crime , drugs, etc.? Or is it academic underperformance?

our lovely school board is made up of the wealthy landowners in town, including the biggest apartment owner, and they have hijacked the board into not agreeing to even negotiate a contract with the teachers. (To be fair, the teachers' union is insisting on NO copays for premiums or prescriptions, which is a bit unreasonable.)

So, we are going on five years without a contract. We have annual strikes and a lot of the good teachers are leaving and the kids aren't being taught and it is very frustrating.

nt

was beaten and had his toys stolen at the closest park in New Orleans. If he went to public school, he would be a white dot in a pool of black. Maybe I'm a racist here....I've lived in Louisiana, Alabama and Northern and Southern California. The ONLY place I've seen which lacked racial tension was southern California.

I WON'T let my son be beaten. He's a gentle kid with a good mind. So, we home school. Fuck shrub's No Child Left Behind and vouchers. MY son, at the age of 11, is learning how to perform surgery on rabbits, rats and mice. Fuck repuke education.

...but if he were to go to such a public school, he would probably toughen up a lot and pick up a lot of "black" cultural traits. Not that that is a good or bad thing, but I've seen it happen. Kids are survivors.

BTW, doesn't your school district let you pick your child's school? Most of them do...

I've occasionally thought that public school in New Orleans might "toughen" him up. The fact of the matter is public school down here is just that bad. Twenty+ years ago, I was made to eat dirt, literally, for being what, at that time, was called a "honky." Teachers didn't see, so it didn't happen.

My kid came home crying and the thing that was freaking him out the most is he didn't understand why people would be so mean to him without ever having met him.

Yes, our school district leaves us some leeway. The only school we'd feel safe with is Lusher, and that requires IQ testing.

Screw it. My kids don't need to "toughen" up, they don't need to lose their caring natures, they don't need to be beaten and abused until they fit the cultural framework. They will learn facts in every field, they will learn critical thinking, they will learn to think for themselves, and they won't be hurt in the process.

My kids will learn, and they won't be punished for it. Yes, we homeschool, and religion doesn't EVER come into the equation.

And it's not really a judgment against the kids in the "black school".

Unfortunately, a white kid does stick out like a sore thumb in some schools and is an instant target for bullying.

I know N'awlins is a rough town. My big qualm about homeschooling is the lack of socialization and exposure to diverse kinds of people.

I'm very fortunate my son goes to a school that's about 1/3 Japanese, 1/3 white and 1/3 everything else...

It doesn't hurt that my wife has a fantastic job as a 3rd grade teacher at the same school.

:thumbsup:

Happy with the private school, but so-so with the public school (though I am sympathetic and always vote for new bond issues). - K

I'm homeschooling one child for academic/other reasons.

My other child is in public school and I'm unhappy.

I was only able to vote for the latter.

disappointed with it. My kids are intentionally in schools in which they are the minority and for the first couple of years things were great! More repukes are being elected to the school board, county commission, General Assembly, congress and now Dimson*, the educashun president. Funding keeps dropping and the demands on the teachers, students, parents are all increasing. The teachers are feeling it and over the past 3 yrs. I've heard and seen more of them yelling at the kids, and just being meaner to them in general.

Music cut, PE cut, athletics cut, reading tutors cut, roofs leaking, faucets leaking inside the bldgs., and on and on. I can't imagine being a kid and having to be in there everyday...it's a downer to me when I go to visit.

But no one here wants to pay taxes at the local, state, nor federal level and THIS STATE WAS RED on the map so I don't anticipate improvements anytime soon.

This is Abby's first year so I'm still at the "wait and see" phase. She's in an International school which is important to me...I didn't want to put her in a school that lacked diversity. She has kids in her class from all over the world and she's learning French and Spanish.