Cal: Ruling Against The School

[♦ nivek ♦]

One has to wonder why and where with generally miserable results we allow our compelled tax dollars to continue to be spent for such poor results.

 

My rural area SkuLLe distriCT produces more than its share of "functional illiterates", shoveling them out the doors when their tax money gathering power is at an end err, their education is completed.. The Big However is that we've about 2-4% o r so that can't read well, some at slightly better, and even a few that are as dumb as stones..

 

Thankfully every budget increase has to be approved by taxpayers, and reviewed in public by the ratepaying public.

 

I'd not willingly live in a City and pay for what is happening in California as in article below.

 

kFL

*************

 

 

Ruling against the school

National Review

by Liam Julian

 

"A. J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, tells us that

California's Second District Court of Appeal was correct to rule last

week that parents without teaching credentials cannot educate their

children at home -- i.e., that most of the 166,000-odd homeschooled

students in the Golden State could be truants and their parents may be

violating the law. Duffy missed a fine opportunity to keep quiet when

he said, 'What's best for a child is to be taught by a credentialed

teacher.' This echoes other union honchos and even former California

Superintendent for Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, who wrote in

2002 that all schooling in her state needed to be supervised by

professionally trained teachers. Furthermore, Eastin noted, 'Home

schools are not even subject to competition from private schools,

where the marketplace would presumably ensure some level of quality

and innovation.' Such statements are risible. Los Angeles Unified

School District enrolls some 700,000 students taught by the

credentialed teachers that Duffy represents, and a mere 33 percent of

those pupils are proficient in reading, only 38 make the grade in

math, and only 44 percent ever graduate. What's best for a child, it

seems, has little or nothing to do with the credentials Duffy

cherishes." (03/12/08)

 

http://lilurl.com/?bbm

[AlexyLady]

It's disturbing how many "credentialed teachers" don't make the cut when it comes to how well they really teach our kids. The school systems need to start stepping up and stop acting like they own the world, because pretty soon those statistics are going to rise above 50% and we're not going to be able to stop it.

 

As a person who has dedicated my life to children and their education, this infuriates me.

[Ro-bear]

If a kid can't read, what does that say about the parents? I have had kids at school I couldn't teach, but my kids knew how to read before they started school.

 

You can lead a horse to water...

[AlexyLady]

If a kid can't read, what does that say about the parents? I have had kids at school I couldn't teach, but my kids knew how to read before they started school.

 

You can lead a horse to water...

 

And yet schools these days are more afraid to say something to their parents than ever, for fear of reprisal or legal action.

 

 

At my school, we aren't even allowed to suggest that something might be wrong with a child (unless it's something obvious like a fever), because the parents could get upset. I had a parent freak out and pull her kid out because I mentioned that she knew how to eat table food, but was choosing not to. (she was a toddler who's mom was still feeding baby food, despite the fact that she was perfectly capable of eating real food.) She tried to claim that I told her that her daughter had a, and I quote: "problem with her mouth where she cannot chew."

 

I wasn't even given the chance to ask the mom where that statement came from, as it never came from my mouth. I was told to act as if the mother never said anything to my director, and just act as if things were normal until the girl's last day.

 

The fear of parents these days is ridiculous, if something is wrong you should be allowed to say so. If a child is behind in classes, you should be allowed to point it out to the parents so that you can work together to get the child caught up. Instead, we are forced to sweep it under the rug in order to maintain the illusion that everything is well.

 

It makes me so angry.

[WCrystal]

That scares the hell out of me. I came from a family that doesn't read much, if at all.

I'm the first person in my family to go to college, and only second generation born here in the U.S.

 

My parents never read. They never encouraged me to read.

 

Although I've sucked at math and don't care to edit my grammar and spelling much unless I have the energy to pay attention, I still have to say this: The Southern California education system didn't teach me shit.

 

As for my little sister, I have to give her something she considers "wild" (such as A Clockwork Orange or Naked Lunch) to get her interested in a book -- the education system here doesn't encourage reading.

 

I can even recall one time when I was in kindergarten and it was recess. We had a wall of children's books that we could read during free time, and during recess I picked up a book. I was scolded and got into trouble because I picked up a book and didn't play with the other children during recess.

 

Regarding the future, all I have to say is this: If this is what the Superintendent desperately wants, we're fucked in So-Cal.

[Knitterman]

Although I've sucked at math and don't care to edit my grammar and spelling much unless I have the energy to pay attention, I still have to say this: The Southern California education system didn't teach me shit.

Regarding the future, all I have to say is this: If this is what the Superintendent desperately wants, we're fucked in So-Cal.

 

Wow. I grew up in the Santa Barbara School District (Santa Barbara, CA) in the 60s/70s. Reading was a major big deal and nearly all the kids got excited when the Scholastic Book Club flyers came out about every 6 weeks. Most kids I knew would order all sorts of books from the Scholastic folks. (Christine Huffman's parents seemed to order EVERY available book EVERY time!) My parents also had their own books in the house, which probably influenced me and my brother to read.

 

Unfortunately my exwife (raised in rural Oregon by functional illiterates, except for the Bible), didn't care for books at all. My kids grew up with her, attending schools in Texas. I don't think any of them actually have books in their homes. Makes me sad.

 

It might have been the times, or maybe the school district, but I'm surprised parts of SoCal have gone downhill.