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Replies to '11/24 Great School Debate'
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November 26, 2006, 11:24 am PST
 Quote From: momofbrw Do you even know how curriculum is chosen for your school? Do you realize that it's just like politics and that money and favors have a lot to do with the curriculum choice a schoolboard makes? This is one of my biggest complaints with the system - that teachers are not the ones to choose curriculum and often it is picked by the board or by administrators that don't even teach or have little teaching experience. I know it's not that way in all states, but unless you are out there looking for the best curriculum, you don't really have a clue.
Many children struggle with phonics, it is not the best method for all learning styles. There is a proven method of teaching a child to read that does not require sounding-out words or learning phonics. Why does the public school pick the phonics method over a method that is proven to work for ALL learning styles? Because the phonics method is quicker and schools have to deal with parents who may demand that all kids must learn to read by age 6. The other method produces a better reader and a better speller at age 7 or 8 but it cannot even be considered because of those all-mighty guidelines.
I have used both methods and I can tell you this: Kid "A" who learned the phonics way will be reading choppy and still sounding-out words at age 9. Kid "B" who learns the other method may not be reading until he's 7 but when he does start reading, it's more fluid, less choppy. Kid B at age 9 can read the Bible, Shakespear and other great literature with ease. Kid A is still struggling with the phonics rules that only work 30% of the time and is still trying to sound-out words that are literally impossible to sound-out because the phonics rules no longer apply.
Why does the school pick the phonics method when it is proven to only work with a percentage of learning styles? To please the public, the parents and the guidelines set-forth by those who don't even teach.
And let's take math...is it really necessary to make a kid compute 3+4=7 and 4+3=7 and 7-3=4 and 7-4=3 over a hundred times within two years? Once the kid has got it, he's got it...why make him do it over and over and over as in Saxon Math. We use the very same program to teach Math as was used in the days of Thomas Edison - it works for all, not just the ones who are good at memorizing. The school would be bashed for using that same program. Why? Because the program makes the kid concentrate instead of memorizing. Why is memorizing better in the eyes of public school administrators? Well, because it's quicker that way and it insures that most of the kids will pass the almighty state test. The other kids who are of different learning styles just get left out in the cold. Forget a curriculum that works with all learning styles, it will only be considered if a publisher has a hand in the pockets of the people who make the decisions.
I could go on...I am currently researching History Curriculums and what I am learning makes me very sad. Kids in the system do not have a chance at a well-versed History curriculum because of political correctness.
If I have typo's (I'm sure I do), it's because I do consider this relaxed and I do not have time to worry about perfection on a message board. That does not mean that I don't expect perfection from a paper that my child produces. My teaching style does not allow us to move forward until the material is learned...that convenience is not offered to the public school teacher. In most states, the teacher has very little input regarding curriculum and I feel that it is a great disservice to the students.
Thank you,
We live in the same state as the teacher from San Antonio, and the state testing system here (TAKS) leaves a lot of kids shoved a side. If you have a child who can and they know can pass the test they are shoved a side during test preparing to work with the kids they think can not pass the test. They need to work with those kids so that the school rating is good. These kids (my oldest was one of them) are grouped together like cattle and watch movie or something like that so the other kids can get help one on one in hopes to increase there chances of passing the test. Now, explain to me why I would send my kid to school to watch movies instead of learning. In Texas, especially Harris County we pay really high taxes to our school district for this method of learning. What ever happen to teachers actually having to teach all kids. One class used to have all types of kids in them, smart, and not as smart, now classes are grouped. Like cattle, well this is Texas. We moved here from Louisiana and one of the discussion makers for me was education, sense Louisiana isn't ranked very high, but to our surprise things are not better. We have lived here 4 1/2 years, if my boys were in public school they would have attended 4 different schools, switching every year due to zoning. How many times have we read about the effects on moving kids around is not good for adjusting, and our district I guess does't care about anything other than TAKS scores. Children whose families are in the military stay put longer than kids here do. On the Curriculum issue, teachers here don't set there own curriculum, home work is not even decided by the teacher, it is a set page sent home to all kids in that grade, not by your child's teacher. So teaching here is not something I would brag too much on. Like I have said before, my kids home school but they do have curriculum's, and they are pretty advanced. When I took my oldest out of public school and started with ABEKA DVD program in the 4th grade we spent half a year having to play catch up because he was so far behind. Now he is caught up and sees how far advanced he is compared to his friends that are in public school. My 6 year old is in 1st grade, his best friend that attends the same school he would attend is behind compared to my 6 year old. Do I think we are better than other people, absolutely not, and I am not tooting my own horn, ABEKA, that is one horn I would toot! I know people in groups I have been involved in that do not home school with a set curriculum and don't home school every day, but we do. There is no choice, I do not want to raise iterate children, but I do think kids need curriculum's, I am not a teacher, I do not know how to set a curriculum, that is why I pay good money to ABEKA for them to supply me and my family with what we need every year.
I believe in the history problem you spoke of too, how can we teach and educated our children on religious wars when religion can not be covered at school. Schools worry more about offending people with holiday parties than education. Making sure no one brings Santa cookies for the "winter party", and don't say "Christmas party", oh and what about the "Spring party", not Easter party, that would be a religious holiday..... Where does it stop, what are we doing to this country................. It is scary!
My husband works overseas, and not one of the countries he works in bows down to his Christian, or moral beliefs. In fact he works in these countries in fear, not wanting to speak for people knowing he is American. But here, we are the "Land of the Free"......
I feel sorry for what lies ahead for our children and for there children....... |
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