Why Public Schools Suck...
Jammer
Join Date: 2002-06-03 Member: 728Members, Constellation
Join Date: 2002-06-03 Member: 728Members, Constellation
in Discussions
<div class="IPBDescription">Its not funding!</div> "This is a true reflection of how the public feels," said Shirley Igo, president of National Parent Teacher Association. "It says that our young people are looking for positive role models out there." <a href='http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/04/23/education.report.ap/index.html' target='_blank'>Report: Rude kids, lazy parents biggest school problem</a>
Well, thats a shocker. Of course, we need to keep in mind that...
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->"This is a true reflection of how the public feels," said Shirley Igo, president of National Parent Teacher Association. "It says that our young people are looking for positive role models out there." <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->.
Yeah, right. We have parents unwilling to parent, a legal system that equates discipline with child abuse, and a public school system that is designed to sterilize all justification for right and wrong out of the classroom.
Ahhhh.... The marvels of Social Engineering.
/sarcasm
Well, thats a shocker. Of course, we need to keep in mind that...
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->"This is a true reflection of how the public feels," said Shirley Igo, president of National Parent Teacher Association. "It says that our young people are looking for positive role models out there." <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->.
Yeah, right. We have parents unwilling to parent, a legal system that equates discipline with child abuse, and a public school system that is designed to sterilize all justification for right and wrong out of the classroom.
Ahhhh.... The marvels of Social Engineering.
/sarcasm
Comments
Like everything else in society, public schools are being steamrolled into a flat, dull, homogenous landscape due to oversensitivity and political correctness.
When I was in elementary and middle school, I was fortunate enough to be selected for a program (many schools in America had some incarnation of it) called 'TAG', which stood for 'Talented and Gifted'. It was a group of students (selected by exceptional standardized testing and problem solving skills) who would come into school an hour and a half early with a specially trained teacher to tinker with different learning projects. It was an incredibly valuable experience.
That program has vanished in my district, because too many parents complained-- first about the name-- if these kids are called 'Talented and Gifted', and my kid isn't in the program . . . then that must mean . . .
But even changing that didn't help-- having a program like that was considered demeaning and insulting to the other students, so it was canned.
AP classes also seem to be suffering from that-- every parent is <i>convinced</i> that their child is exceptional, and deserves placement in advanced classes-- which means that you either let them in, and slow down the legitimately placed students, or you exclude them, and deal with protests from angry parents.
Additionally, try giving a student with an 'involved parent' a bad grade and see what happens. When I used to live at home, I'd have to listen to my mother constantly fielding calls from irate parents, and she would calmly explain why she graded their child poorly. When they still persisted, she would have to sit them down and show them their child's paper, and then an A paper. That usually did the trick, but it was a ton of effort. (Side note-- though, there was one famously hilarious case where it turned out that the child's mother had written the paper for him, and that was why she was so incensed over receiving a c- . . . the teachers all had a good laugh over that one).
Uh . . . what was my point here . . . Oh, that, at least in my old school district, the fact that some parents can't accept the reality that their child isn't as academically capable as others leads to the more intelligent children being handicapped in some cases, and it's a Damn shame.
And I suppose that's the worse situation, because at least the crazy parents are involved and more likely to push their children.
Good teachers can help to offset the problems caused by incompetent parents. The problem, though (at least in my view) is that really good, dedicated teachers are so few and far between, because so many of them burn out early due to a general lack of support and respect from the very people that they're helping. At the very least, I think teachers should be paid a hell of a lot more. If nothing else, this'd get them more respect from the morons who judge a person's worth by their salary. And from what I hear, it's fairly common now for people to belittle teachers based on their low earnings. ("Those who can't do, teach," and BS like that.)
Obviously once you reach college, its your buck, you can switch teachers as many times as you want, but I remember in public school here in miami, if you tried to switch teachers for whatever reason, you were scorned, told "Any teacher can do the job as well as the next, you simply need to put your personal differences aside." To me, this really imposes a false ideology into children, the way things are are what you have to deal with, you don't have a say in the matter.
Just my 2 cents.
Exactly. Adding to that in my region is that the only thing the teacher's union has been successful at doing is keeping incompetent teachers from being fired. We had a treacher at my high school whose ineptitude warranted an apology from the administration to all of the students in her class, but they still couldn't fire her.
Some of the educational requirements for teaching seem a little skewed also. I'd say that if you want to teach a subject in highschool and have an advanced degree in your field, they should let you with or without a teaching certificate.
Rofl. Those people suck at life.
I'm studying to become a teacher, and people always B-S me with "Why don't you try to become a profession that is more respected?" ... etc
I also get "I just couldn't teach, kids are so undisciplined." Hah. Yeah, If I can survive the Ns.org forums and people like that, I don't think I'm gonna worry about the kids in person. (The little brats on the forums wouldn't dare talk like that if I was standing over their desk in a classroom!!!)
Let's hope, and pray, the 2004 Voucher system goes into effect. The quality of education will boost incredibly.
Except for the kids whose parents don't care. They're going to majorly get the shaft more than they already do. The reason inner city public schools started failing is that rich people fled to the suburbs to avoid forced integration. (That's how it happened in Cincinnati anyways) The voucher system is going to make it even worse. Failing schools won't improve, they'll just become a dumping ground for the untouchables.
Not to mention that public schools are poorly funded as it is. It would be a bit of a magic act if the money could materialize to send every kid to a private school. At my high school the city couldn't even afford to fix the roof. We got rained on.
Of course, direct funding is only part of it. Most Catholic schools actually have smaller budgets than most public schools, but they tend to do much better, partially through fundraising efforts that pull in extra support from the community, and partially from better management of the funds they do have.
With only 500 students the amount of 1on1 you can have with any teacher at almost any time is amazeing and I am good freinds with many of my teachers, a bond I am sure I could not have had at my areas public school. Many people at the public school have been to my school at one time or another but they always fail out or leave before they do, because they just can't get a 70. The idea that a 60 is passing has always been absurd to me and I think they should raise the standerd at public schools, I think they well work harder if they have no where else to run to. If not, hey not everyone was ment to go to school, and thats why we have Berger King managers.
Most of the budget difference has to do with the type of students that they have to teach. Private and catholic schools don't have to teach learning-disabled* or behavioral-problem kids. They just kick them out/send them to public schools. LD programs are enormously expensive and the public school system has to take care of all of it for the region.
Additionally, the busses that take everyone to school are funded publicly even if the school itself is private. That's right, the budget for public schools includes all of the bussing for private schools, in addition to its own bussing.
There's also quite a bit of legal red tape about how money from fund raisers in public schools is spent. I don't know the details, but it leads to some odd spending choices.
(Some of these oddities may not apply to your area, but this is how it's done in Cincinnati.)
*I'm not sure what the current euphemisms are, may not be LD anymore, but you know what I'm talking about.
Additionally, the busses that take everyone to school are funded publicly even if the school itself is private. That's right, the budget for public schools includes all of the bussing for private schools, in addition to its own bussing.
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All of the Catholic schools I've been to (two grade schools and one high school) have had learning-disabled programs. Secular private schools might be more inclined to just throw people out, though; I haven't been to any so I can't comment. I also haven't been to any schools that had school buses.