What's happened to public schools in America?

[nt250]

Also, children's expressions can tell a lot about a child. If she looks sad all the time, she may be...at least regarding her peer environment in school. No kid really likes to be a "loner" all the time. Kids need opportunities to develop their social skills. Perhaps getting her into some organized activity that she'd like outside of school might help her develop positive relationships on her own terms.

This is something that a lot of people just don't understand. She's not sad. She's just got one of those faces. When she first started at this school she was doing fine. Her only complaint was "I just wish people would stop asking me why I'm so sad all the time."

I knew exactly how she felt because I got the same thing when I was a kid. I still get it now except people think I'm pissed off. I was out having a cigarette one day. I literally did not have a thought in my head. I was just standing there, smoking and daydreaming, when a co-worker came out and took one look at me and asked "What are you so pissed about?".

If they had just left her alone. She was 11 years old, we moved in the middle of the school year, after all the trouble she had at the last school she just wanted to fly under the radar. So she kept to herself. She would have adjusted eventually if they had just left her alone. But they couldn't because from what I've read on this thread, teachers today do not have the patience or the desire to get to know kids anymore.

I'm burnt out because there is nothing I can do about it. I can't do anything about the look on her face. I can't do anything about teachers who are too lazy to deal with a kid who's a little different. I can't do anything about teachers who take a kids personality personally and allow their dislike of her to color their judgment in how they treat her. And I can't do anything about teachers who lie.

 

[Cynic-American]

What happened to public schools in this country when teachers decided that they couldn't control their own classrooms? That every little thing had to be referred to the social worker?

When did every child have to a Stepford Child?

its your own damn fault. You should be a liberal, that way you would have all the answers.

Whats wrong with public schools?
Maybe its your child. If they aren't open minded to gays, or if they stand by a strong work ethic, they need to change.

 

[Unkotare]

Two words: Teachers' Unions.

Right now, government school teachers (they aren't 'public' as you can see by trying to walk in without a damn good reason) are practically the holy clergy of the left. They've been pampered for so long that nobody is allowed to see problem teachers, only problem students. And despite their claim that teachers are 'underpaid,' government school teachers are only beaten out by lawyers on pay per hour, even if you take their word for it on how many hours they work outside the classroom, and they make a mint compared to private school teachers. There's also the issue that schools teach 'self esteem' more than anything else. Since they seemed to have trouble teaching your daughter how to be arrogant, they deemed her a 'problem child.'

My parents racked up unbelievable debt sending my sister and I to private schools until we finished the first and sixth grades, respectively. I still thank my mom for keeping me in for that long, but she couldn't keep it up, as my dad had lost his job and their credit cards were maxed (they're still paying them off, over a decade later). When she asked that our records be transferred to the government school, she went back to the car and cried for half an hour. Having seen and remembered both government and private schools, I can easily see why. I would rather sell every bodily organ I can live without than ever let my kids set one foot inside a government school. I barely escaped there with my brain intact (having been docked several points on a test because I had too much respect for facts to agree with the teacher that a light year was a unit of time) and that PC hell-hole they called a middle school (that I attended for only one, miserable year) nearly stupified by poor little sister, whose grades continued to drop after that until her freshman year in college.

And this isn't a new problem, either. When my dad was in the first grade, he and his twin brother were an enigma. They were hyper, yes, but they were quite literate and incredibly well spoken, as their parents taught them proper English and how to converse properly with adults. The funny point came during a meeting in which my grandmother was being told they needed to be sent to special ed. During that meeting, their standardized test scores came back, placing the two of them tied (identical twins) for the smartest first graders in the entire county, and in the 99th percentile for the entire state.

Let me also put this to you. Fourth grade is the first time international standards are available from 36 industrialized countries. At that time, the United States has science literacy test scores in the 92nd percentile, beating all comers except for South Korea and Japan. The worst score at that point is math, in the 58th percentile, which still beats out France, Germany, and Italy. This is after, at most, 5 years of damage from the government school system (while the above three countries have a couple years of preschool, too). By the twelfth grade, when our monumentally successful and well run school system has had its full effect on our kids, what kind of results do you think we have? Math falls to the 14th percentile, while science falls a whopping 63 points to the 29th percentile. That pathetic score is only enough to beat three of the countries tested: Lithuania, South Africa, and Cyprus. If those were the only countries our Olympic teams were beating, there'd be congressional investigations. The longer your kid is in government schools, the dumber she will get. Get her out, the sooner, the better.

I could rant for hours, but I'll save you the pain. Trust me, getting this kid out of government schools, especially Massachussetts government schools, is the best decision you'll ever make. Your child is too important to trust to a government monopoly.

MA public schools are the best in the nation.

 

[Unkotare]

....


I don't know what math she's taking now. I haven't looked at her math since 4th grade. ....

Gee, what is the problem?