Do you home school, public school or private school?

[andrews]

I used to be in favor of every teacher raise proposal I heard of, but I am a lot more skeptical today.

 

You would need to remove the power of the teachers' unions first, and reduce some of the false barriers to being a teacher. Then those you mentioned might be able to teach. You would also have to restore the ability to remove a poor teacher.

 

The parent-teacher relationship is a two way street, and many teachers' ed ongoing course focus on keeping parents from being involved, especially when it comes to some of the more controversial elements they are pushing in the education system today.

 

Many teachers are doing an outstanding job in spite of the system and the environment.

 

Brad

[OldGreyEagle]

Brad,

 

I may be so immersed in the system that I dont see the whole picture, but can you give me an example of where teachers keep parents from being involved?

 

Since my son is in Special Education, we have an IEP every year (Individual Education Plan where his educational goals are reviwed and discussed and as Special Ed parents we are intensely close to his teachers.

 

This may not be the norm in mainstream classes so this could be going on and I would never know it, but what do I look for?

[sctmom]

My son also is under an IEP (Individual Education Program) -- in other words in "special ed" to some extent. I have AT LEAST one meeting a year. I'm about to have my second one of this school year next week. A few years ago when my son was having multiple behavioral problems I was on a first name basis with the Assistant Principal. My son spends most of his day in mainstream classes. He is now at 1 hour per day in Special Ed (poor kid just can't spell).

 

The last 2 and 1/2 years things have been much better for him, but still some problems. This year we have found that email is a wonderful way to communicate. The teacher and I don't have to play phone tag, my son doesn't know that notes are going back and forth, and we keep in touch.

 

I've had the school staff ask what they can do for ME, including recommendations of family support groups, family counselors and books to read.

 

True, there does need to be a way to report, correct or dismiss ineffective teachers. My son's first grade teacher could not deal with students who were not "average". I really felt sorry for the exceptionally gifted students in her class as well as those like my son with behavioral problems. She told me my son was "not average" -- well Thank Goodness! Most people say he is ABOVE average intelligence. The reading book she was taking 6 weeks to cover, he read in ONE night (out loud, so we know he really read it). I've heard from other parents similiar problems with this teacher. All his other teachers have been wonderful. They are strict on him but caring. He needs strict, he needs to know very quickly where the line in the sand is.

 

Again, I'm blessed with an overall good school and I've only dealt with the elementary school. Up until a couple of years ago much of the credit was due to the principal -- this guy was at EVERY event. Things are going down hill with the new principal -- nice person but just not as involved. I also know we had some strange ones in our private school --- including a teacher that threw chairs when mad, a coach who cussed and spit tobacco during P.E. classes, and a female who flirted with the teenage boys.

 

[slontwovvy]

In Wisconsin, Brad is correct. Our teacher's union has sucked away funds supposed to be spent on salary increases, then complained to the state and the cities that teachers are not being paid enough. Recently, some teachers in a nearby town went on half-strike--in order to get more pay, they refused to run extracurriculars, and will not right letters of recommendation for college, basically screwing their students over. Is this just?

 

[andrews]

OGE,

 

Most of what I am referring to centers around parents who disagree with much of the "lifestyle training" they are pushing these days, like that embracing homosexuality as a valid choice, or passing out condoms at the school. Related to this would be those who dare raise issues about evolution, whether it is one of Intelligent Design or "even worse" a young-earth creation focus.

 

They have put out guide books of how to discount such parents, marginalize them, and basically push them out of the system.

 

Of course there are exceptions, as was noted.

 

It is a messed up system overall. Good teachers have to fight the system just as much as many parents. I say that we should separate school from state and let people choose the education for their own children. Monopolies are never good for choice, and until alternatives are freely available the monopoly will get away with very poor service, or worse.

 

Brad

[sctmom]

Actually people do have a choice as many of you pointed out earlier in this thread -- home school or private school. Let me tell you about one other "choice" that is happening in our county --- just use somebody else's address to get your kid in another school. Our county is growing by leaps and bounds, they can't build the schools quick enough, now it is coming to light that residents of nearby counties (my house is within 10 minutes of 3 other counties) are sending their kids to our schools. No one checks the addresses, the city addresses often cover more than one county, or people just use the address of a friend or relative.

 

Also, some people say that sending their child to a different school in the same district is more "convenient" based on their work location. Example is a teacher can have their child attend the school he/she teaches at even if it is not their "home" school. Or I can go say that for whatever reason my son can't ride the bus to school, and but I can drop him off at School XYZ on my way to work so I want him to attend School XYZ. Some of this I do agree with, but not the "let's just lie and send our kid to the next county because their schools have gone completely down the drain."

 

Also, there are some "charter" schools in some areas where the parents have more control over what is taught and how the school is run. I think they require the parents to sign a "contract" saying they WILL be involved to some extent and they understand the policies and procedures.

 

[OldGreyEagle]

Thanks Brad,

 

Sounds awful, I havent seen any evidence in my son's school but I will know what to look for. I guess our area is pretty conservative as well

[andrews]

Sctmom,

 

I would agree that just about anyone could homeschool, but for many (most?) private schooling is too expensive, or at least they aren't willing/able to sacrifice for it.

 

Those people who "make their own choice" are still working outside the law, and liable for major trouble if caught. We need to open the system up to true, and open, competition.

 

Brad

[andrews]

An interesting commentary on "government schools."

 

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/m-davis1.html

 

Brad

[Dedicated Dad]

Now that this thread has run its course, I think its very interesting that there is an extremely high percentage of Scouters that dont public school.

[scoutmom]

Hey Dad, check your numbers again. It looks to me like the majority does use the Public School system.

 

 

Results -- 23 total votes:

 

home school? 6 / 26.1%

 

public school? 13 / 56.5%

 

private school? 4 / 17.4%

 

 

 

 

 

 

[andrews]

It is still a high percentage. In most places I would guess that more than 80% of the people use the government schools.

 

It would be interesting to see if Scouting parents are really different. I would guess they would be slightly different since they tend to be more active in their children's lives. (No guarantees on that of course.) And it is likely that the more active you are in a child's life, the more likely you are to seriously consider homeschooling.

 

Of course that doesn't mean a majority of anything will homeschool, but the numbers are certainly growing in the overall population, and most likely in Scouts as well. You don't have to have a majority to be growing or even a sizeable number.

 

Brad

[Dedicated Dad]

Hey Brad, Hey Scoutmom, I checked some statistics and the most recent I could find are from 1996, but I would suspect they are not much different than today. Home School 2.7%Private School 11.1%Publik School 86.2%Now if those who dont publik school are 43.5% here at Scouter.com and the national average is 13.8% that would be an increase of 215.2% of Scouters over the national average. In contrast, if those who publik school are 56.5% and the national average is 86.2% that would be a decrease of 34.5% of Scouters under the national average. Yes the majority of Scouters still use the Publik School System but at an alarming decrease for those who post on this board. Very interesting statistics indeed.

[NJCubScouter]

DedicatedDad, I notice that four times in a fairly short post, you spell "public" with a "k" instead of a "c" at the end. Now, I learned many years ago that it is poor online etiquette to point out typos and spelling errors in other peoples' posts, so if that is what it is, please excuse the interruption. However, since you never once spell it with a "c" (at least not in that particular post), I have to wonder whether it is intentional, and if so, why you do that. Maybe your computer keyboard is starting to short out. I have seen ultra-left-wing-radicals spell "America" with a "k" instead of a "c", maybe their keyboards have the same problem.

 

Or maybe whoever made their keyboard thought that changing a "hard c" to a "k" imparts a Nazi connotation to whatever word is being altered. I would never, of course, attribute such an intention to someone unless they admitted to it.

 

If you need a replacement ceyboard, er, keyboard, Walmart sells a good basic one for about $13, but don't let your kids drink Coke near it because it doesn't really resist spills like they claim on the box.

[Dedicated Dad]

Sorry NJ, I went to publik public school. I dint lern to sel to gude.