This is the state of our educational system

Don't get me wrong, I have some great students. It is rewarding when a graduate comes back and tells you all the things they've accomplished and even thanks you. At the same time it's tough on a day like this when all the BS crashes down on you because you're just trying to do your job. In the end it's the kid who suffers because he or she wasn't prepared for real life.

It is definitely about appearances as well. My school officially report only a single incident of bullying last year. It's a large school, over 1400 students but if you look at the official records we all get along and nobody is picked on or bullied. Funny.

 

if you get an A, you have to share it with a kid who got an F, so you both get a C
& the school gets paid/funded/paychecks

 

I remember a teacher apologizing to my mom once for not being able to challenge me. Said she was required to teach at the rate of the slowest student. So i was constantly bored and didn't want to be there.

 

My cousin is a school psychologist in Jim Thorpe. The school district in which she lives (NOT where she works) is known for good grades, but unfortunately they are part of the Hazleton school district, which absolutely sucks. An adjacent school district has offered to absorb my cousin's district, but Hazleton is fighting tooth and nail. Why...?

If Hazleton loses my cousin's school district, they lose all of their good grades, which means their funding will be cut. My cousin and her husband just bought a brand new house, and their property values will skyrocket if they are redistricted.

 

My wife has been retired from teaching for 17 years. A couple years ago I told her she ought to do a little subbing for extra money. She shot me the "why don't you go be the catcher in a gay porn movie" look. She loved teaching back then, but wouldn't go into teaching now if she was just out of college. Our utmost respect for teachers now.

 

Definitely very good points. Being a science teacher, I try to educate kids on the actual physiology that you're describing. And like you said, there are kids who think beyond much of that nonsense. They are the ones that have parents who teach and demonstrate those values to them. Much of what happens in a classroom and school setting depends so greatly on what happens at home. The OP gave a perfect example of this with the parent who wants to sue his school over a simple email reply.

On the school end of it, though, I feel that so many schools are focused so heavily on the lower performing students in order to improve graduation rates, test scores, etc. It's to the point that many of the higher achieving students get neglected, bored and don't continue to excel and advance. We see this now with our own daughter. It can be very frustrating. So I completely understand the frustrations from both the educator side and the parenting side.

 

Very well put!

 

I fully agree with parents being a big part of it.

I've noticed that if I show a little extra interest in a subject my kids are working on, it boosts their effort.

Also, my kids don't get much junk food so i can give them extra challenges with a box of cookies or something being the reward (aka bribe). If they miss the achievement, no reward. There is no "your teacher sucks, so here's the reward anyway" BS. They get the old fashion "it was a good try, maybe you can get the next one".

 

I just want to also say, I don't know how teachers do it. Seeing the differences in my own 4 kids and how they learn, I can't imagine having to contain a room full of kids from different backgrounds and abilities all day.

Plus having no authority to punish or correct poor behavior. Yeah, I most certainly couldn't do it.

Saw a mom getting angry at her kid at a nature center the other day. It's normal, it happens, I know.
Girl was excited, going along the animal pens filling out some papers for a program. The mom couldn't keep up and obviously didn't care at all to be there. I wanted to get mom's face and suggest she could lose her phone, lose 400 lb, and read a few books. To have a daughter interested in nature is a good thing and we don't need that mom's attitude affecting the innocent bystanders.

 

Other than a few “new to the Country” students by the grace of God my teachers were fabulous. Edit: and the best Parents on the Planet. When you were told you’re going to bed at 8:00pm you went to bed at 8:00pm

 

So far so good. I'm one of those involved parents though - and not afraid to make sure the kid does the right thing. Or vice versa.

 

We are simply fed with with trying to parent other people's kids. My wife volunteered every year for the past 3 years running the student store, the book fair, and the best part the reward store.... which we implementented from a crappy chuck e cheese under the glass toy counter to a full fledged toy store /gift shop. (Toy store was volunteer funded aka me and like 2 other parents). All the kids know and respect my wife more than the teachers and principal in this title 1 school. We closed the store after last year due to lack of funding and the rules and stipulations administration was implementing.
Fast forward to today.... stuff went down last week on a field trip with my sons class. A sign is up stating "no visitors beyond this point" with office staff securing entry. At the intake gate valet is the same sign and a staff member guarding the gate to make sure no parents enter.
I think I just sent my son off to prison.
Some one mentioned home school.... that's all fine, but I find that the lack of physical socialization they will never figure out what reality is vs their own bubble.

 

There are opportunities for socialization. You just have to find ones you like. Often a facebook group with a name like "<your city name> homeschool moms" is a place to start.

Other stuff like scouts, church, etc.

 

And college is no different these days.

 

I understand what it is, but that isnt real world when you get to pick and choose though. Reality is being faced with all kinds of shit nobody wants to deal with, but that's not how it works.

 

Lol.
Oh, that reality.
You can still get that too. It just may be a lower dosage.

 

I don't keep or hide stuff from him. I just try to teach him how to deal with it. Definitely not easy.... he is struggling with school work and the constant threat of bullies and feeling different. Mostly be cause he is with ADHD and borderline autistic. Doesnt quite meet all the standards, but some of the symptoms/ quirks are present at certain times. Mainly it has to do with his teacher this year.

 

Don't like it? Change it. I mean, I volunteered for scouts (omg other people's kids) becuase we didn't have someone for my troop in that position. I'm helping out with PTA. Etc.

 

It all starts at home..... when you have parents that don’t teach discipline and accountability it’s all downhill from there.
my kids know better not to talk back. When they were smaller they were well behaved. They didn’t run around screaming or grabbing everything. I don’t buy the “they are kids” thing. I only had to spank then once, after that it was just the look. My kids are perfectly normal.
I tell my 6th grade daughter to respect all her teachers and peers. To stand up to bullying and not encourage it (as simple as laughing). She doesn’t have a smart phone, she doesn’t have social media. She has an iPad at home she can use.

A lot has to do with social media encouraging popularity regardless the method. The things they can see and read on Snapchat and everywhere else is disgusting. No morals what’s so ever. There’s no good and bad anymore. Everything is “Do what makes you happy”. everything revolves around “Order” but everyone wants to be “different”.

 

This is the current state of the country in general, it's not just the educational system. No one wants to accept responsibility to their actions and because of it, the people who are doing wrong and have malintentions are getting away with murder (quite literally).

This sort of reminds me of the woman who went to McDonalds, ordered her coffee, spilled it on herself, got burnt, sued under the premise that the coffee was too hot, and WON.

I mean seriously... no wonder we are turning into third world country with these upstanding citizens we have and all. Lol.