Documentary on US School Systems

[Melensdad]

Just saw a trailer for a new documentary, "Waiting For Superman".

I'm not usually one for most documentaries, but this one looks like it'll be worth a watch. The so-called educational system in this country has been broken for years and continues to get worse, and even the 'good' schools have some issues. If Indiana were to open up the market for education and attach the dollars to the kids, rather than to the schools we'd jump ahead like nothing we've ever seen. Good private schools would proliferate and bad government schools would fall by the wayside and die. It's time to separate the state and schools. Let parents have their money back so they can see to it that their kids get the education they deserve.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTfaro96dg&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube - Waiting for Superman Official Trailer[/ame]

My wife and I had no desire to send our daughter to private schools but we went to visit our local public school kindergarten when my daughter was starting school. The building was beautiful, the grounds amazing, they had music rooms, choir rooms, language rooms, etc. But the teacher was focusing on things that should have been taught at home or in pre-school.

We are thrilled with the choices we've made sending our daughter to private schools, despite the costs. Honestly its gratifying to go into a store and have a clerk at the store say something to my daughter like "you obviously don't go to public schools because you are polite." That says something!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566648/

 

[thcri]

My wife and I are very happy our children were able to go private most of their years in school.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

I now live in an aera where there are no private schools so i have to work extra hard with my 3 kids here one was 8 when i entered her life the other one was 4 and those t have been a challenge to turn around but the get compliments from all the town folk now and timmy is growing oup on the right track now.It is so important to teach your kids manners and responceability so they can get the most out of school. mykids do make me proud

 

[tommu56]

I think it sucks that you have to pay taxes for school and again for private school. There was some talk about vouchers but I think that didn't pan out too well.

We have home schooled our grand daughter so far to second grade and I feel other than the social interaction she is missing she is doing good.
She gets on line tests with a teacher periodically and there are field trips available which we parcipiate in.

We home schooled my son 15 years ago because he wasen't making progress in middle school but that was bc (before computers) he went back in high school to go to vocational technical school .

tom

 

[joec]

Well as an outside observer that worked for the Miami Dade County School Board for about 9 years, offices at the high school I graduated from I've seen it change. The public school system was pretty good there even when my kids went. Now, however what I saw, how it had changed it changed my mind completely on the current schools system. I saw a lack of discipline in the system where teachers hands where tied, as well as locked them into teaching tests and nothing more. I don't blame the teachers either as I saw good teacher's trying to teach but kids out of control. I sure can't blame the teachers for it either as I blame the administrators as they set the rules for them all.

 

[Melensdad]

There was some talk about vouchers but I think that didn't pan out too well.

Teachers union crushed that as it would yield a competitive situation as children tried to get into the better schools and teachers at the low performing schools would be terminated.

... I don't blame the teachers either as I saw good teacher's trying to teach but kids out of control. I sure can't blame the teachers for it either as I blame the administrators as they set the rules for them all.

Ahh but they also have to deal with IDIOTIC parents.

My wife left a successful career in banking to give something back to the community and is now a teacher. While some in the administration do some idiotic things she has had other teachers act like thugs against her when she does the right thing, she has had parents refuse to accept ANY responsibility for their children, and generally has some amazing kids who make putting up with everything worthwhile.

• When assigned to "bus duty" where she is responsible for getting the kids on the bus she has been berated, belittled and verbally threatened by other teachers for staying until the last kid was on the but instead of walking off as soon as the 'contract time' has passed on the clock.
• While trying to teach class she's had to fight cell phones, texting and MP3 players when administrators loosened the rules.
• Parents have verbally assaulted her for flunking their little angles when the child has refused to turn in homework, take tests, or show up for class.
• She has resisted the pressures from other teachers who demand that she pass along the failing students.
• She has resisted the pressures from the administration who have demanded that she not fail students.
• Lowered standards to meet the lower expectations, nobody seems to expect much of the kids and the kids then deliver little since there is no need to achieve.
• Sooooooooooo many stories, so little time, so much blame to spread around and it goes to teachers, administrators, parents and students.

One funny thing is that money doesn't seem to be any sort of a real issue. Our child had far LESS opportunity to take diverse classes in languages, music, extra activities and is in the top 2% of her private high school class now. The 2 private schools she had attended (grade school and later middle school) both had tuition levels that were BENEATH the amount spend per student in public schools. Her private school is expensive (near college level tuition) and draws students from over 40 different zip codes, is known for exceedingly high academic standards and, as a freshman, she was doing work that would be senior level in my wife's public school.

 

[joec]

I'm not sure it isn't about money, when a starting teacher in the third largest school district in the US makes about 30K a year and the average administrator makes 100K per year then sets the rules.

Parents are also a major problem and that I know first hand. Today with both parents working just to make ends meet they have abdicated there role to the school systems. Larger class rooms compared to my day about 20 per class to now more like 35 to even 40 in some cases. Little to no physical education, band, chorus etc. The system to day has become nothing more than a large expensive day care center or warehousing system as it sure no longer educates. Now this is based on what I saw when I worked for them for almost a decade. Part of my job was repairing computers they trashed so spent time in classrooms while teaching was going on. Couldn't believe how disrespectful that generation of kids are and sure they haven't gotten any better.

 

[Melensdad]

Joe, just a couple observations, not sure why you'd compare a "starting teachers" pay versus an "average administrators" pay since typically an administrator has years of experience before getting that job.

But I do agree about the lack of respect that the students have. I notice it every day when I am at my daughter's school. The children there will typically call me MR....... if they know my name or SIR if they do not. They will typically open the door for me if I am carrying things into/through the school, they will typically help me unload my car and carry gear into the school. These are polite children. Contrast that with the public school where my wife is a teacher and the kids run down the halls shouting the "F-bomb" at each other, running into anyone in their way, etc. Not saying there are not some respectful kids, there are plenty, but not nearly enough.

 

[joec]

Pretty much my experience with the students in public schools also. Now as for the administrators, yes they have a lot of time in the system however that is where it ends. Most I dealt with I had a teachers in school and they where for the most part burnt out. Their goal as near as I could tell was making money then leaving the system with a hell of a retirement package. Many received them for no other reason than early retirement.

Now they dump elective courses such as band, chorus, art etc due to lack of funds, the same with required physical ed. in most systems. Education is the art of teaching a child how to learn short of that you have taught them nothing of importance. Today it is all about memorizing the answers needed to pass a given test not what the answers mean. The higher the test score the more money they get and that is how it works today. In my opinion this is the problem today, parents that no longer really care or take responsibility, teachers who have given up trying due to working with children who have no respect and laws that protect the little darlings. If I had a choice we would have a new law revolving around retroactive birth control till they are adults. That includes some of my offspring as well, as I've got a couple that fill those problems as well.

 

[Melensdad]

And while I think the students learn a good deal of bad behavior at home, they also learn a lot of inappropriate things at school from the teachers.

Here 2 anti-military activist teachers protested during a graduation ceremony at a high school. WTF? There is a time and a place. These teachers need to be smacked down for not knowing when to protest. But I suspect they are voicing their objections all year long in their teaching too.

Teachers' anti-war message draws fire
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100615/NEWS/6150306
By Cynthia Mccormick
cmccormick@capecodonline.com
June 15, 2010

SOUTH YARMOUTH — Some students are calling for the firing of two Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School teachers who held an anti-war sign during a school assembly Friday.

History teacher Marybeth Verani and English teacher Adeline Koscher made their silent protest during the part of the assembly in which school officials recognized graduating seniors who are entering the military.

"They not only imposed their political will, they imposed it at the wrong time," said D-Y junior Andrew Bowles Jr., who organized an after-school protest yesterday that drew about 30 students.

Parents and other community members have flooded the high school principal's office with about 40 e-mails and phone calls criticizing the teachers' actions.

"I honestly feel (the protest) was misplaced," said D-Y parent Joanne Schuman of Yarmouth. "I think they should have been removed from that event."​

Some individuals have voiced support for the two teachers, who were put on paid leave until at least tomorrow, Verani said.

She said she and Koscher were not trying to undermine the students but "to address the expansion of military recruitment of children in our schools.

"I think we're supposed to open the door for differences of opinion," said Verani, a longtime peace activist. "We're not all in lock-step agreement on everything."

The protest unfolded during the senior last assembly, when the high school gathers to recognize graduates for a variety of achievements. For the last five years the recognition ceremony has included the awarding of plaques to students entering military service, said Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School principal Kenneth Jenks.

"Most schools don't recognize students who go into the military," he said.

When D-Y resource Officer Nicholas R. Pasquarosa Jr. addressed the crowd, comparing the volunteer enlistees to a sheepdog standing between the flock and a wolf, Verani and Koscher stood on the bleachers and held an "end war" sign while everyone else sat. What to many was a sign of respect for the students was to the protesting teachers a recruiting moment, said Verani, who noted that assistant principal George Morrison, a National Guardsman, attended in military fatigues.

"This was a captive audience," she said, adding that the plaques should have been given out at an after-school awards ceremony that was not compulsory attendance for all students.

Verani and Koscher tucked their sign away and sat while the names of the six students entering the U.S. Marine Corps, Army and National Guard were announced. They remained seated while the rest of those at the assembly gave the students a standing ovation.

"Standing and applauding is a sign of support for the decision these people have made," Verani said. "I want them to be home and alive and well and going to college and dating and having kids and coaching Little League."

The protest struck the wrong note with many attendees, Jenks said. "Large numbers of students and faculty were upset," he said. "This is a recognition ceremony, not a classroom debate." Heightening the reaction was the attendance of Yarmouth police Lt. Steven Xiarhos, who lost his son, U.S. Marine Cpl. Nicholas Xiarhos, to a roadside bombing in Afghanistan in July 2009.

Nicholas Xiarhos, a 2006 D-Y grad, was among the first group of students to receive a plaque recognizing their military service.

Jenks would not comment on what sort of discipline Verani and Koscher might face. "We're reviewing our options," he said. "The reality is we follow due process."

Bowles, who plans to join the Air Force ROTC when he graduates, said he wants the teachers fired. "I'm sick of seeing people tarnishing the memory of our troops," he said as fellow students waved the American flag and sang the national anthem on Station Avenue.

James Kinney of West Barnstable, who knows Verani and wrote a letter to the editor of the Cape Cod Times in her support, defended the teachers. "I think that it's important to show dissent," he said. "I think that's the highest form of patriotism."

Maureen Tuohy-Bedford, whose son Evan Tuohy-Bedford just graduated and has joined the U.S. Marine Corps, wouldn't let the protestors ruin Friday's assembly.

"The ceremony was beautiful," she said. "So many people did the right thing."​