A public-school faculty came up with the following at an Imagineering [sic] session recently. My mother-in-law pointed out that "most of these goals, even the more stupidly expressed ones, would be accomplished by closing down the government schools and getting parents to homeshool."
Somebody's tax money is paying for this, you people!
________________________________________________
I want my school to be a place where …
-Students exhibit shared responsibility to grow academically, emotionally, and
socially.
-We are safe.
-Classes are small (no more than 20).
-Learning is exciting and challenging.
-Testing does not take priority over learning.
-Everyone looks forward to coming every day.
The kind of school I would like my own child to attend would…
-Be one where all staff members are caring and dedicated role models who
incorporate children’s needs into class activities.
-Encourage a broad definition of success.
-Have all students leave feeling prepared for the next stage of life.
-Provide a wide range of opportunities to accommodate all students and
learning styles.
Something that we could accomplish in the next five years that would make us proud is….
-Remove negative community feelings about the school.
-Create a winning attitude for all school athletic programs.
-To enhance student responsibility through empowerment and freedom.
-Reduce class sizes, improve student teacher ratio, to lessen teacher stress and
enhance student success on the SOL.
-Develop an “every student is my student” philosophy.
-Offer a year long support group at all grade levels for minority students
enrolled in the AP program, in addition to the pre-AP summer institute.
__________________________________________________________________
Now, there's nothing wrong with having safe schools, and there's nothing wrong with wanting students to be excited by and about education, but those things should go without saying.
What needs to be said are the reasons a normal person would prefer the public school experience to that of the private school or the homeschool. Nothing written above would convince me to send my children to that school. This looks suspiciously like content-free education to me.
I can add some imagineering myself:
-- The kids in the school work really hard to master traditional adademic subjects.
-- Minority kids aren't treated like they have a genetic disease because of their ethnic background.
-- Low-performing students, whatever their ethnic background, get extra help from the school.
-- Kids who aren't going to go to college aren't treated like failures. Vocational training is encouraged for those who are inclined to it.
-- Citizens' tax money doesn't disappear into the wallets of "educators" who don't do any actual teaching.
-- The parents can remove their children from the school and deduct the expense from their taxes, since their kids aren't using public schools anymore.
But Bryan, public school gives you All Kinds Of Important Life Experiences!
Anyway, I don't think 100% homeschooling is a panacea, and public schools have worked okay in the past (lest we forget), but the system is broken right now.
Er, Eric.
I am a product of the public schools, I work in one now, but I absolutely wouldn't send my children to one in this area right now.
I also understand that homeschooling is not necessarily always the right answer, but assume normal cognitive development and intelligent parents are required to make that option work.
Don't forget: there are also private schools. (Yes, they're very expensive and shouldn't be necessary.)
For the record, my wife and I are going to send our three kids to our parish's school (none of them are old enough yet). I don't consider homeschooling to be an optimal choice for most families, though I support it as an option for parents.
If it were up to me, all schools would be privately operated and publicly funded through vouchers. I mean all schools, including universities, which have voucher-like programs for students already (GI Bill, student loans).
Public schools scare the hell out of me.
Public schools shouldn't scare you.
The kids who go to public schools and don't care about what they're doing, should.