Quote From: manda7I graduated last year from public school. I had excellent grades and am now doing well in college where I am studying to be a nurse. I think that people are making excuses by blaming public school when students don't do well. With any type of school, you get what you take out of it. Most kids today are lazy. Why don't we call it what it is! I do not think it is the school's fault. I was raised by a single, disabled mother, and I was able to take advanced classes while working and doing internships. So when I hear public schools being blamed for students not passing even the most basic classes, I think maybe we should look at how much effort the student is putting in. I went to school, payed attention, studied, and passed the classes. There were also students who cut school, did not pay attention, did not study, and (surprise surprise) did not pass. It seems very simple to me, each person is responsible for their own success. We just don't like to take responsibility for our own actions (laziness), so we blame the school (laziness). Life is not like private school or home school. You get what you are given in life and you choose to either work hard for success, or be lazy and blame something else for your failure.
As for the people who are choosing not to educate their children at all, I hope they feel good about crippling them for life. Regardless of their opinion about education, it is necessary in our society. The best job you can get without some kind of higher education is at McDonald's. They are sentencing their children to a life of almost certain poverty. They should be ashamed of themselves.
But not everyone does. I, too, am the product of the public school system. I also graduated from college with a 4.0 GPA in Business Management. But I graduated from high school in the lower half of my class. Why? One reason: I spent most of my time and energy there avoiding harrassment and bullies. I went to school sick to my stomach most days. I could not concentrate and focus on the things that I should have. Instead, I had to avoid certain hallways where the "jocks" hung out and rated every girl that walked by. I avoided going to my locker, or the bathrooms at other times, because of who I knew would be there. I spent so much time just trying to be invisible, or being afraid, that there was no time, nor energy, to spend in active learning.
When I got to college, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven! I LOVE to learn. And I didn't get harrassed by anyone there. And I excelled. My college years were some of the best in my life. I have many good friends even now, who were made in college. That was over half my life ago! It made me wonder if I wouldn't have excelled in high school, had the environment been friendlier to those of us who didn't fit into any cliques or groups.
It would break my heart to have no choice but to subject my two little ones to that kind of harrassment, 5 days a week, day in and day out, for 12 straight years. It changes you, and not for the better. Thank God for other options now! I'm a homeschooler and we love it.
