Don't Send Kids To Public School!

[Mman2000]

The whole damn system sucks, it's that simple. Schools nowadays are nothing more than an assembly line. You go to class, get a little bit of stuff, memorize it, pass the class, and forget nearly everything. My mind is more active when I'm playing Fire Emblem on my gameboy than it is when I'm in most of my classes.

 

The system needs to be seriously revamped, and the bar needs to take several shots up.

[pandora]

I'm not saying that there's nothing wrong with public schools, but I think public schools are wonderful. They ARE part of what made this country great. Our inner city schools are in trouble in my area, but I went to public schools in the same city (just in wealthier areas). AND I got an excellent education, better than many at my university that went to prestigious private schools. I was in the gifted program, and I do think that those programs get more money and better teachers, but many public school graduates are successful. I think it's awful to refuse to support them... your child's education is what you make it as a parent. 90% of public school's problems can be attributed to the socioeconomic status of the areas they are in, IMO.

 

If I ever have children, I will proudly send them to public schools. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't!

 

Vouchers are a horrible idea, and the No Child Left Behind thing is just an awfully short-sighted and misguided program.

[Unknowing1]

I've read a lot of the comments on this thread. The majority reflecting negatively on public schools. I have to agree that you have some good schools and you have bad schools, good teachers and bad teachers, and good kids and those that have disciplinary problems.

 

Where I live we have three major/large school systems. Two of the school systems are considered top notch. Year after year both surpass state and federal standards. The other school system doesn't. The elementary, middle and high schools within my boundry lines are all fully accredited. Our high school is a Presidents Blue Ribbon School and has been since it opened nine years ago.

 

Our school district will allow students from other counties/cities to attend our schools; however the parent must provide transporation, the school must have room to accept the student and a fee may be charged (our district doesn't get those tax dollars, the other district gets to keep them).

 

Within our own county if we have a school that falls below set standards, the student attending that school has the option of moving to another school within the district and bus transportation is provided. This past fall that happened. The students were given the option of attending another school within the district. Two weeks before the start of school the middle school within my boundry lines accepted over 200 students from the other school. The administration had to scramble to make room, hire a few other teachers and adjust over 800 schedules but they did it. There were a few glitches during the first week of school, mainly dealing with schedules. Things have quited down now and all children are doing well, even those students that transfered in. This is No Child Left Behind at work and I for one am proud of my school district for the way they handled it, it ensures that students are provided access to equal education. In addition it identifies those schools that need additional focus and the county then works to bring it up to standards.

 

Now I realize that I am going to tick some folks off but have you ever read the requirements in your State Code (laws) for standardized testing for both Public and home schooling? You'll be surprised. Our state law requires the public school students to score much higher than the home schooled students.

 

Not only do our public school students need to test well on Stanford 9 and other such tests but we also are required to take Standards of Learning (SOL) tests through grade 12. A student who does not pass the SOL in that grade is worked with and retested. If a student does not pass then they cannot move to the next grade. In some cases they will not be allowed to graduate. Private and home schooled students are not required to take the SOL? Why not? Why should my child be held to standardized testing and SOL testing and a home schooler or private school student not be. And why should our grades have to be higher? Who then is required to provide the better education? At least in our state it is the public schools.

 

As for hours, our public school students are not only required by law to be in attendance for a set number of days each year but they must be in attendance for a set number of hours per day. It is also in our state Code that homeschooled students must be schooled during those same hours, guess what, my fundy co-workers wife who home schools spends 2 hours max per day home schooling. Our schools only had off two days for Thanksgiving, they took a whole week. Our school district has a stricter standard than the state, you may only miss 15 days per year (regardless of the reason) or you will not pass and will be required to attend summer school, that rule does not apply to home schoolers. My son suffers from and is being treated for chronic migraines that sideline him for a day at a time, he missed 14 days last year, came close to being held back eventhough his standardised testing surpassed the requirements as did his SOL testing, his grades were A's and B's. If I home schooled that wouldn't even be an issue, so easy to lie and say he was schooled during the times he actually was in bed suffering from a migraine.

 

My point in all this is that if the standard for public school students is higher than the standard for home schooled and private schooled students how can anyone say that those students whose standards are lower and only working to those standards are receiving a better education?

[08 hawk]

This shit sounds like it was written by my old pastor

 

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42704

 

What the article really says hidden away in typical Christian "paranoid the world is evil and should be avoided at every turn" dialogue is:

 

1. If you send your kids to pubic school they will get a different point of view and it may make more sense than yours so don't do it.

 

2. If you send your kids to public school they might associate with people of divergent view points which will cause arguments and the development of critical thinking skills which are evil because critical thinking is not compatible with blind unsubstantiated faith which is the entire foundation of your belief system.

 

3. If you send your kids to public school they may end up meeting people that are "evil" (that means different for the rest of us) and they may even end up making friends with them which will make it hard to get them to hate them, you don't want your kids associating with a homosexual or a secularist, or someone that uses "bad language", or someone that doesn't go to church, or someone that believes in evolution, or someone that listens to *gasp* rock music and watches rated R movies do you?!

 

4. Instead of sending your kids to public school we should start indoctrinating them at church so that everyone they meet and associate with will be a fundy Christian, then they will be just as delusional as the rest of us and we won't have to argue with them cuz they won't know any better, and they will forever be trapped in Christian culture by their social ineptness won't it just be awesome!

 

did I miss anything?

 

Ah, this reminds me of these people who use to live a few houses up from me who told other neighbors of mine that they wern't good enough because they did not go to a private school.

[Naughtyhamster]

I started homeschooling from my last semester of seventh grade onto my senior year of highschool. The junior high I was going to was riddled with crime, and most of the teachers ( some of them even coming to school stoned or drunk) were foul mouthed and cussed the kids out for almost everything. The textbooks were the worse, especially my world history book which only had one page about WW2 but five pages about Marilyn Monroe. It was nice when I was homeschooled as I could study a subject at my own pace and not have to put up with peer pressure from immature classmates.

 

The only problem I have had with being homeschooled is that it was hard for me to get a good paying job for a couple of years after I earned my G.E.D. This was back in the 1990's, and many people thought homeschooling meant dropping out of school and staying home playing videogames all day. So I was stuck for a while doing minimum wage stuff like working in a warehouse and supplimenting my income with odd jobs like babysitting, product testing, and taking care of a disabled relative. One day when I went in to have my foot checked at a medical clinic a doctor had heard I was homeschooled and said "That means you will have to pay your way through college because the state won't give grants to homeschoolers.My sister homeschooled her daughter and now the girl can't get grants and loans from the government." It wasn't until I talked to my oldest xtian cousin, who had just dropped out of a private xtian college so he could attend community college, that he got grants and loans though he was homeschooled most of his life. From then on I decided to give college a try, and I've won a couple of scholarships as well as getting other financial aid. I also discovered that homeschoolers are more likely to get more financial aid and scholarships than public schooled students as test scores for homeschooling usually exceed those of thier public schooled peers.

 

By the way I'm planning to homeschool my childen as the public chools these days are becoming more like prisons under the rule of the Republican party. I go to this one website and theres stories about kids getting arrested at school for doing such innocent things as putting sand in plastic bags or pretending a stick is a gun. Some kids in the upper grades have even been in trouble with school officials for talking crap about the president or other political leaders. I would rather teach my children in an enviroment which they can freely express themselves ( just as long as they do not harm themselves or others in any way) without worrying about being punished. Homeschooling I think is a good way to teach kids to be individualists as the public schools these days are making our kids in dumb, scared little drones who are afraid to step out of the mold the system has made for them.