Mrs. Hoppes wrote:
Allow me to rephrase then.
The public school system here which encourages "social promotion," is on academic watch, is seeped in drugs, violence, sex, poor blue collar workers, farmers, and meth makers push adhd drugs on any student who fidgits.
There are also lots of people who do evaluations on students to label them on the autism spectrum to get more funding regardless of whether or not the diagnosis is accurate. Buildings are old. Some don't meet code anymore. And the extra money? $980,000?
Astro-turf.
http://mywabashvalley.com/content/fulltext/?cid=4105http://mywabashvalley.com/content/fulltext/?cid=3614http://www.tribstar.com/archivesearch/l ... 22409.htmlhttp://www.tribstar.com/archivesearch/l ... 35411.htmlSo while there are some wonderful schools out there where teachers are dedicated, they do not exist in Vigo County, Indiana.
I read these articles and didn't see much at all to suggest that the statements you make are accurate at all. Where do these articles show that "public school system here which encourages "social promotion," is on academic watch, is seeped in drugs, violence, sex, poor blue collar workers, farmers, and meth makers push adhd drugs on any student who fidgits" is anywhere near accurate.
I think that homeschooling children, if you are capable and have enough personal knowledge and education to do so correctly and to the extent the children deserve, is a great thing. I've considered homeschooling my son several times, but haven't committed to the idea myself. BUT if I were to do so, I wouldn't justify it by completely blasting the schools here. They aren't perfect, I work in them everyday, but they aren't hell holes and I promise you, we DO NOT push parents to medicate their children. In fact, every time I find out one of my kids is on meds, it makes me sad and I've even cried over it when the kids aren't around because it hurts me to see the changes the drugs cause.
I guess my point is if you don't want your children to go to public schools, fine. BUT don't make it out to say that public schools are so horrible that you have no choice. The schools aren't that bad, believe me. I looked at the demographic data for some of the schools listed in that last article and the 2 great schools are in predominately white, upper middle class towns with TINY populations...which would equate to (I'm making an educated guess here) small classes, plenty of tax money to pay for top of the line everything, and involved parents. Whereas the "poor" schools are in poorer areas, aren't predominately white upper middle class areas and aren't rich areas. It makes a big difference. Another thing you really should consider is that GEORGE BUSH created the rules on what is considered passing and what is considered failing and he certainly isn't anywhere near a role model for what is an acceptable education. NCLB is a stupid law. It puts kids into cookie cutter ideals that they will never fit into. Kids are different from person to person. Some kids learn quickly, some learn slowly. Some will take a LOT longer to learn, and some won't. Doesn't mean the kids are stupid, doesn't mean the teachers have failed, just means that the kids are NORMAL and can't be classified like rocks. So the failures that you are pointing out are failures according to a stupid law that doesn't take any environmental factors into account. Arg.