Priorities In Education

[Heidi]

There have been several discussions here about Universal Preschool and the QRIS's many states have in place or are implementing.

Here is WI, the Governor Walker is trying to expand a school choice program that give vouchers to some students to go to private schools vs. public schools. It's pretty controversial, because it takes money away from public schools, essentially.

Does anyone care to share their feelings?

How about No Child Left Behind?

http://www.nea.org/home/NoChildLeftBehindAct.html

This is the perspective of the NEA, which I believe is the public school teacher equivalent of NAEYC..

[Blackcat31]

I have some REALLY strong feelings about our public school systems.

If I had to do any of it over again with my own kids, I would ONLY homeschool them.

The NCLB act did NOTHING to improve our schools IMHO.

[Willow]

Does anyone care to share their feelings?

WE NEED TO CEASE THE HEMORRHAGE OF SPENDING IN THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!


The government obviously has lost sight of the fact that there is a difference between needs and wants.

The idea of using tax payer money as incentive to send kids to private schools is ludicrous.....absolute insanity.................

[Country Kids]

The radio the other day was saying Detroit has closed 132 schools in recent years and is the most violent city for 3 years in a row. Once a thriving, respected city now gone.

I wonder where all these children go now or that many people have just left?


We homeschooled for years but when I started childcare totally fulltime again we made the choice to put them in school. They are an honor roll student and get extremely high regards from all the staff and was hand chosen for several of the classes they do. I put the foundation into them and they are now old enough to take it from there.

When we homeschooled though, I still had to pay property taxes and part of it funded the schools. So it really is no different then taking tax payers money for kids going to private schools. Every homeschooling is supporting public schools whether they want to or not through taxes. I received no write off for homeschooling but could for sending them to school. It came down to really incorporating my childcare into my homeschooling also and writing things off.

I'm not a radical homeschooler though because we had some homeschooling and some in public schools. I know there are definetly things I couldn't teach my kids as they got older and feel that God let us know the correct time for them to go to school.

[Meyou]

My dd just told me their were cutting cursive from the schools next year.
That's just the thing to do....leave out an important part of learning to write, replace it with nothing and then say they're better off.

I homeschool one of my kids and my step dd and one of my dd's goes to public school. Homeschooled dd does 4 times the work as the other two in less than 4 hours per day.

[Country Kids]

My dd just told me their were cutting cursive from the schools next year.
That's just the thing to do....leave out an important part of learning to write, replace it with nothing and then say they're better off.

I homeschool one of my kids and my step dd and one of my dd's goes to public school. Homeschooled dd does 4 times the work as the other two in less than 4 hours per day.

I think the cursive is pretty much going in all schools. With so much being done on computors, phones, etc. the figure the kids won't be writing on paper much longer.

[Heidi]

WE NEED TO CEASE THE HEMORRHAGE OF SPENDING IN THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!


The government obviously has lost sight of the fact that there is a difference between needs and wants.

The idea of using tax payer money as incentive to send kids to private schools is ludicrous.....absolute insanity.................

Want to hear the "funny" part? He's a republican... ok, not so funny...

[Meyou]

I think the cursive is pretty much going in all schools. With so much being done on computors, phones, etc. the figure the kids won't be writing on paper much longer.

I'm sorry but overuse of computers doesn't change the fact that kids need basic skills to build on. I won't even get started with spelling and grammar, times tables, long division, reading books which they also don't "need" because of computers.

When do we reach a point where we realize that they do need these skills because it's still their brain that needs to do the thinking rather than letting a computer do it for them?

[Willow]

Want to hear the "funny" part? He's a republican... ok, not so funny...

I don't think it's all the fault of one side or the other, they're all morons. It does reek of the right though . If the government is taking all rich's money why not give some of it back to what they want in life via programs for THEM. Can't say I've heard many from the left demanding private education for their kids ::

The political system in general is broken. Otherwise normal people have to schmooze like crazy to get in and then forget what they're there for. It all becomes about appeasing a choice few instead of making actual improvements and that's where these ridiculous ideas come from.

[Starburst]

What they need to do is stop teaching kids for test and teach them for life. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher but I heard all of the things teachers have to do to become accreddited and all the budget cuts and state hiring freezes; and then of cause you have deadlines that you have to teach them certain things just to pass stupid meaningless tests. When will the state learn some kids are just not good at taking written test! That doesn't mean there is something wrong with the kids or even the teachers- It means there is something wrong with the system.

The way the country is going there is going to be no more public school everyone is either going to have to have one parent stay home to homeschool, send them to a daycare or community center where they can homeschool, or try to budget their money to send their kids to private school- They possibly may be able to save some charter schools. Some parents are just 'unschooling' all together where they take their kids out of school and don't even give them a planned curriculum they just take them on field trips and do arts and crafts.

I have been thinking about just homeschooling my future kids since I plan on doing daycare long-term anyway and they will attend my preschool anyway- only down side is that it will affect my numbers if I have alot of kids (Ideally I want at least 2 but I am willing to go up to 4). My fiance said he wants our future kids to go to the same private school he went to and I said 'if you think you can afford it, then go right ahead.'

[Country Kids]

I'm sorry but overuse of computers doesn't change the fact that kids need basic skills to build on. I won't even get started with spelling and grammar, times tables, long division, reading books which they also don't "need" because of computers.

When do we reach a point where we realize that they do need these skills because it's still their brain that needs to do the thinking rather than letting a computer do it for them?

I haven't seen the movie but Michael talked about it and everyone I talked to about it said,yep thats they way the worlds going.

The movie was "Matrix" I believe.

[Willow]

I'm sorry but overuse of computers doesn't change the fact that kids need basic skills to build on. I won't even get started with spelling and grammar, times tables, long division, reading books which they also don't "need" because of computers.

When do we reach a point where we realize that they do need these skills because it's still their brain that needs to do the thinking rather than letting a computer do it for them?

One only needs to browse social networking sites to see proof of that in today's adults already. The whole your/you're, their/there/they're thing drives me absolutely INSANE!

[KnoxMom]

I feel like this is proof that we as a people don't believe in the potential of our public schools to be reformed. What we need is for all public schools to be on a level playing field where the poor schools aren't reduced to using decade-old textbooks. The teacher's unions should make room for more accountability and we all know it is unfair that public school teachers are over-worked and underpaid. It breaks my heart knowing that I may not be able to afford for my son to go to private school when the time comes but it still won't be an excuse for him not to succeed. There is work to be done in the classroom AND at home and parents have to be accountable as well. I'll stop rambling now.

BTW, has anyone seen the documentary "Waiting for Superman?" about our school system in America? An amazing, thought-provoking and inspiring film.

[Heidi]

What they need to do is stop teaching kids for test and teach them for life. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher but I heard all of the things teachers have to do to become accreddited and all the budget cuts and state hiring freezes; and then of cause you have deadlines that you have to teach them certain things just to pass stupid meaningless tests. When will the state learn some kids are just not good at taking written test! That doesn't mean there is something wrong with the kids or even the teachers- It means there is something wrong with the system.

The way the country is going there is going to be no more public school everyone is either going to have to have one parent stay home to homeschool, send them to a daycare or community center where they can homeschool, or try to budget their money to send their kids to private school- They possibly may be able to save some charter schools. Some parents are just 'unschooling' all together where they take their kids out of school and don't even give them a planned curriculum they just take them on field trips and do arts and crafts.

I have been thinking about just homeschooling my future kids since I plan on doing daycare long-term anyway and they will attend my preschool anyway- only down side is that it will affect my numbers if I have alot of kids (Ideally I want at least 2 but I am willing to go up to 4). My fiance said he wants our future kids to go to the same private school he went to and I said 'if you think you can afford it, then go right ahead.'

Proposal to Congress...May 2010:


In brief:
ESEA should promote innovation, high expectations, and encourage development of 21st century skills in public schools.
ESEA should end the obsession with high-stakes, poor-quality tests by developing high-quality assessment systems that provide multiple ways for students to show what they have learned.
ESEA should help provide great educators and school leaders for every student.
ESEA should promote public education as a shared responsibility of parents, communities, educators, and policymakers.
ESEA should provide increased funding to all states and school districts to meet the growing demand for globally-competitive education of U.S. students.
























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[Starburst]

I feel like this is proof that we as a people don't believe in the potential of our public schools to be reformed. What we need is for all public schools to be on a level playing field where the poor schools aren't reduced to using decade-old textbooks. The teacher's unions should make room for more accountability and we all know it is unfair that public school teachers are over-worked and underpaid. It breaks my heart knowing that I may not be able to afford for my son to go to private school when the time comes but it still won't be an excuse for him not to succeed. There is work to be done in the classroom AND at home and parents have to be accountable as well. I'll stop rambling now.

BTW, has anyone seen the documentary "Waiting for Superman?" about our school system in America? An amazing, thought-provoking and inspiring film.

Have you seen 'freedom writers' and 'Lean on me'- they were both based on true stories (though I heard that lean on me was very loosely based). I went to public school and I turned out fine (never drank, smoked, did drugs, didn't have a bf or anything until college). And many successful people went to public school and turned out fine too. One of my friends went to private school almost her whole life and got kicked out around 10th grade (a nun slapped her wrist for not holding the pen right; so she slapped her back). And once she got into public school she did start doing drinking, doing drugs, and smoking and having sex- but I think that had more to do with the fact that she was sheltered her whole life to only be tought about academics and not 'street smarts'. My fiance also said that he thinks he was sheltered in privates school because he did get scammed on the internet once and he said that most of the kids at his school were really spoiled and wild (sex, drinking, drugs, ect.). And I told him if he could afford it to go ahead because I aint paying for it because I think that public school can teach you things that private school can't like how life isn't fair and there will always be someone who is richer than you and worse off than you- not enough diversity as far as incomes when it comes to private school.

I think the problem is we are overloading and overestamating (and in some areas underestamating) what children are capable of for their age group when it comes to academics and putting so much pressure on them to do well on test that the schools are almost literally shoving the information down their throats and they are choking.