I am 53 years old. When I went to school things were different than they are now. I was one of those children who struggled to learn. We also moved a lot, and the schools in different cities and states have different requirements at different stages of development. One of these schools grouped children by grades, so you were in class rooms with children with the same low scores that you had. How do you learn from that?
Teachers? Getting a degree from a college just isn’t enough to be a teacher.
I have two sons whom I raised mostly by my self, but had some help from my parents. Both had some difficulty in general or certain subjects which may have been attributed to moving several times, and changing schools.
My oldest was labeled “handicapped” after he failed 1st grade. He struggled through every grade, but I think he may have had a level of HDAD. There was one year when he was in 8th grade that I though he might have had a chance. He came out of his shell that year and I think it was the teacher who did it. However the next year he started high school and it all went down hill again. He quit school at 17, at which time he went to live with his father. Living with his father he learned that he wasn’t going to have it easy. Eventually he moved back to the town we were living in when he quit, and moved in with friends. He worked a multitude of jobs over the years and realized that he needed to get his high school GED or diploma. My son is an artist whom I think was talented from a young age; however the world requires everyone to get an education. He tried the online GED course but he just couldn’t comprehend. His best friends girlfriend who also quit high school, found a local high school that had Adult evening education for free. They both enrolled and attended for 2 yrs, this past May, both of them graduated at the ages of 30 and 31. There was also a grandmother graduating at the age of 72.
In any event I was extremely proud of my son for doing this. It is difficult enough for some of us when we are teens, it is more difficult when we have to work days and attend school at night. My son recently went to work at a new place that builds helicopters and he is very excited to be there.
My younger son was left back in Kindergarten and he actually attended day care prior to starting public school, but the school felt he was too immature. One of the schools he attended had a different approach where the student advanced at their pace, He was in 4th grade but had jumped to 5th grade level in most of his subjects, so the following year, he was allowed to advance to 6th grade and was now in with students his own age. But again we moved around a couple more times. We ended up moving several states away in high school and the school did not have the same type of help for a student that struggles. This son was great at math, but pretty much struggled with everything else. He failed English 2 times in high school, after having difficulty with the English teacher the first time, I asked why he couldn’t have a different teacher, and they gave me a bunch of bull. He then quite and went to a local Technical Community College, and received his GED at age 21.
This is where I feel our country is failing at education. There is some National level of education that schools desire to be at the top of so much that they fudge there test scores or label children that are on the low side of the scores so that they can be falsely be identified as one of the “best schools” in the country. These children who are now falsely labeled will now be accepted as stupid and will not be pushed to be put back into the mainstream.
There are the schools where the teachers are intimidated by parents who don’t care enough about the actual education, they just want their kids to be promoted to the next grade and eventually graduate, and it doesn’t mean they’ve learned anything.
I recently met a new teacher, who is living in my neighborhood. We talked about how she teaches. She goes out of her way to help her students, and she has a lot of “Labeled” students in her class room. She told me that some of the older teachers at her school basically told her she is living in a dream world and some day she will give up too. How sad that is.
I wrote to my senator this year about education. I read online about education in another country, where the money allocated for a students education, is attached to the student and not the city/town that their school is in. This way a parent can transfer there child to a school best suited to them, that may be in the next town. The schools have to compete for students, so they have to be on their best. This is a test on the teachers. If they do not do well, they should not be teaching.
I think the US should be able to do this. Attach the money for each student to the student. Not the school district or City. Make the teachers and the schools be more responsible. Get rid of Teachers Unions that support bad teachers and pedophiles.
Protect the students who are there to learn. Who come to school and want to be safe. Expel those that bring weapons and drugs to school.
Do I think home schooling is good? Only if the parent responsible is well educated and is easily self educated. Not all people can self educate.
Non schooling hmmmm, as Dr Phil said, these children have not had the school experience and can not make an educated decision on whether or not to go to school.
If we are required to pay the taxes to pay for school, we do need to change our education in these United States. I hope that if/when I have grandchildren that public schools will have gotten better.
Put our pledge of allegiance back into the morning rituals at schools. Those that don’t believe don’t have to recite it, just be respectful of those who do. Take a moment of silence.
Parents want the best for their children, but what’s the best way to educate them? Dr. Phil’s guests face off in a debate about whether to school, homeschool or unschool. Dana and her husband, Joe, call themselves radical unschoolers. They say education happens as a side effect of life, and they don’t believe in tests, curriculums or grades. Are their three kids learning what they need to know? Then, RaeAnn says public schools are death traps and wants to homeschool her children. Her husband, Steve, says their kids are safer at school than they are at home. Can this couple reach a compromise? Plus, Nicole feels like an outcast at 26. She says she hated being homeschooled, and couldn’t relate to other kids. Share your thoughts here.
