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#11
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Yes, that is ridiculous. And I am a teacher type (well, child of teachers-turned-administrators, very pro-public education, all my mom's siblings are teachers, my brother's a teacher, etc, etc). Relatives of mine pulled their son out of grade 2 three weeks before x-mas, because they felt the school system had failed him/them. Apparently, his kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2 teachers, and principal, all had insurmountable shortcomings (no two the same, though) - IIRC, the grade 1 teacher "did not command his respect." Clearly it was the school's fault that he was frequently in trouble and getting unsatisfactory reports. So now they're homeschooling. Scarily, this kid was socially a nightmare before starting public school, and just at the end of grade 1 and beginning of grade 2, I had started thinking, "wow, the boy's really made progress. He's actually pretty functional these days." I'm not against homeschooling, at all, just against this couple in particular doing it. Especially since the only normalizing social arena he's encountered appears to be public school. I shudder to think what's going to happen to him over the next few years, if they keep him at home. OTOH, I bet there are a bunch of teachers and a principal who are only too happy to see his parents' out the door. . . Melania Mom to Joffre (Jan 11, 2003) and #2 (edd May 21, 2005) That I think is all too true. I'm fed up with my dd's school. I do like the principal and the teachers she has had so far are good people. I just really have an issue with the lameness of their attitudes towards parents. And over all these folks lack insight big time. I don't want to be too critical because I am not a teacher nor a principal type and wouldn't want their job persay along with all the antics they have to put up with. My BIL is a school principal and he is an excellent teacher and principal but he is really struggling with alot of the parental issues that have come up. I don't know the answers. (Interesting that my BIL's wife homeschools their kids??!!!!!) We don't have a large posse of homeschooling parents here but we do have some and we do have parents who have taken their kids out of the school here and placed them farther away in a school that is actually worse because of issues with teachers and the poor handling of students with disabilities. So they are opting for an inferior (I'm not talking about the homeschoolers btw) education just to have them in a school that will give them more attention and better visibility as a student with special needs. The school I'm talking about has lost funding and is at risk of being shut down yearly for problems therein. We live rural and I know we will not be here in 5 years and mostly because of the issues with these schools. We have only three schools within 2 hours of us and the best one is the one my dd is in. Anni |
#12
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wrote in message ups.com... The Ranger wrote: toto wrote in message news Any anecdotes? "Yeah? My child's not going to Harvard and is doing an hour in each subject per day. He has six classes and three electives; you do the math." Okay, I don't want to say that it's legitimate to do your kid's homework, but if you have six subjects, an hour of homework in each is going to leave no time for anything in the child's life but schoolwork and sleep. Beth Then obviously something has to give - usually a class. Rarely (or has things really changed that much) do schools require six classes and three electives. Drop an elective or two. But even if this is the case, I don't think heavy coursework is a legitimate reason for parents to do their children's homework. Jeanne |
#13
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BTW, I was a teacher before becoming a SAHM last year, and welcomed parents in my classroom anytime. -kim I think it is so important. I actually took a class dealing with learning and teaching preschool thru 1st grade children about a year ago. I wanted to know how my kids will be learning and what to do with them at home since we don't acutally have pre-school here before age 4. I was looking to be involved in the school and I was so disappointed when I got a cold shoulder. The class I took had parents being drawn into the classsroom and teachers working well with parents. Anni |
#14
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Mermaid wrote: Yes, that is ridiculous. And I am a teacher type (well, child of teachers-turned-administrators, very pro-public education, all my mom's siblings are teachers, my brother's a teacher, etc, etc). Relatives of mine pulled their son out of grade 2 three weeks before x-mas, because they felt the school system had failed him/them. Apparently, his kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2 teachers, and principal, all had insurmountable shortcomings (no two the same, though) - IIRC, the grade 1 teacher "did not command his respect." Clearly it was the school's fault that he was frequently in trouble and getting unsatisfactory reports. So now they're homeschooling. Scarily, this kid was socially a nightmare before starting public school, and just at the end of grade 1 and beginning of grade 2, I had started thinking, "wow, the boy's really made progress. He's actually pretty functional these days." I'm not against homeschooling, at all, just against this couple in particular doing it. Especially since the only normalizing social arena he's encountered appears to be public school. I shudder to think what's going to happen to him over the next few years, if they keep him at home. OTOH, I bet there are a bunch of teachers and a principal who are only too happy to see his parents' out the door. . . Melania Mom to Joffre (Jan 11, 2003) and #2 (edd May 21, 2005) That I think is all too true. I'm fed up with my dd's school. I do like the principal and the teachers she has had so far are good people. I just really have an issue with the lameness of their attitudes towards parents. And over all these folks lack insight big time. I don't want to be too critical because I am not a teacher nor a principal type and wouldn't want their job persay along with all the antics they have to put up with. My BIL is a school principal and he is an excellent teacher and principal but he is really struggling with alot of the parental issues that have come up. I don't know the answers. (Interesting that my BIL's wife homeschools their kids??!!!!!) I think you're right - the school sounds dreadful ITO this whole parent issue. We don't have a large posse of homeschooling parents here but we do have some and we do have parents who have taken their kids out of the school here and placed them farther away in a school that is actually worse because of issues with teachers and the poor handling of students with disabilities. So they are opting for an inferior (I'm not talking about the homeschoolers btw) education just to have them in a school that will give them more attention and better visibility as a student with special needs. That is terrible. It's unconscionable (sp?) that a child's quality of education should suffer like this. Incidentally, that business with the student teacher was ludicrous. The school I'm talking about has lost funding and is at risk of being shut down yearly for problems therein. We live rural and I know we will not be here in 5 years and mostly because of the issues with these schools. We have only three schools within 2 hours of us and the best one is the one my dd is in. I grew up in a small town, in a farming area. There are primary schools in most of the towns, at least the ones with more than a couple hundred residents, and I think two or three high schools. I was lucky to live in one of the towns with a high school. Most students were bussed to school. There were no options beyond either going to *the* local school, or homeschooling. Unfortunately, in that area the people who homeschooled were extremely religious, and were homeschooling for that reason rather than out of concern for the quality of their childrens' secular education. When they did send their kids to school at the junior high level, they often couldn't read, couldn't do basic math, didn't know what a map was, had never heard of the capital of Canada . .. . My parents homeschooled us for one year, while they were on a deferred salary leave and we were travelling. My youngest brother had been having loads of trouble with math and science, and my mom made it her priority to bring him up to speed. His grades when he entered the next year were much better. Melania Mom to Joffre (Jan 11, 2003) and #2 (edd May 21, 2005) |
#15
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Bruce Bridgman and Jeanne Yang wrote: wrote in message ups.com... The Ranger wrote: toto wrote in message news Any anecdotes? "Yeah? My child's not going to Harvard and is doing an hour in each subject per day. He has six classes and three electives; you do the math." Okay, I don't want to say that it's legitimate to do your kid's homework, but if you have six subjects, an hour of homework in each is going to leave no time for anything in the child's life but schoolwork and sleep. Then obviously something has to give - usually a class. Rarely (or has things really changed that much) do schools require six classes and three electives. Drop an elective or two. But even if this is the case, I don't think heavy coursework is a legitimate reason for parents to do their children's homework. No, I don't think so either, but notice I said "an hour of homework in six subjects" - I wasn't even counting the electives. If a kid was really doing six hours of homework a night, getting home 3ish from school, that means that with eating/washing/etc. it'd be 10 PM and time for bed with no time for anything else but homework. I am of course assuming the parent's claim was accurate, and even in that situation I wouldn't do my child's homework, but that doesn't seem like a workable situation. Beth |
#16
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toto wrote: Any anecdotes? Departmentalized exams came into our division when I was in high school. The following essay question was on the Biology exam: "Explain the theory of evolution." Half the kids failed the exam because they refused to answer the question on religious grounds. Only one boy had the sense to answer the question, and then write something along the lines of "this is a scientific theory, but many people including myself do not believe it, instead believing that God created the Earth." He got full marks (his mom was a TA). Ironically, the Biology teacher was born again, and happily taught all kinds of science with the caveat that people were welcome not to believe, but that they should know what they were disagreeing with. The parents of the kids who failed (and their fellows) went on the warpath against the school. They started accusing the teachers of being anti-Christian, unGodly, etc, and claimed they were warping and perverting young minds. This was probably the parents of about 20% of the school's students (200 kids total in the school). I'm not sure if they managed to get departmental exams axed, but as a measure of appeasement the school reinstated a "non-denominational" prayer at the beginning of the school day. Non-denominational Christian prayer, that is. The Lord's Prayer had only been removed from the school 6 or 7 years earlier, and the family of the kid who brought it about by claiming it violated his human rights eventually had to move because of death threats and vandalism to their house. Some friends and I wanted to protest the reinstatement of prayer, but since most of us were teachers' kids our parents talked us out of biting the hand that fed us, as it were. Melania Mom to Joffre (Jan 11, 2003) and #2 (edd May 21, 2005) |
#17
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"Bruce Bridgman and Jeanne Yang" wrote:
: wrote: : The Ranger wrote: : toto wrote: : Any anecdotes? : "Yeah? My child's not going to Harvard and is doing an hour in each : subject per day. He has six classes and three electives; you do the : math." : Okay, I don't want to say that it's legitimate to do your kid's : homework, but if you have six subjects, an hour of homework in each is : going to leave no time for anything in the child's life but schoolwork : and sleep. : Then obviously something has to give - usually a class. Rarely (or has : things really changed that much) do schools require six classes and three : electives. Drop an elective or two. But even if this is the case, I don't : think heavy coursework is a legitimate reason for parents to do their : children's homework. I have heard of this homework nightmare from others in my town, but my teenagers must be attending a different school, because I have *never* seen the amount of homework lamented about smile, and if I had, I definitely would have addressed it with the Superintendent and Principals. Many, many parents have vocalized to me that they have no life in the evenings as they sit with their children while they do/help them with their homework boggle! Here is my strategy: I provide a place for homework to be done and access to computers. I ask if it has been completed (sometimes). I stay in touch with the school (PTO, Conferences, Open Houses, School Committee) and teachers are aware that I am interested in knowing of any challenges or foibles. The end. I can comfortably say that I have *never* done my children's schoolwork or projects (and in this town it is obvious who is doing the work at functions such as the Science Fair). I am *always* available to answer questions, brainstorm ideas, help clear up confusing assignments, or attempt to point them in the right direction. I refuse to make excuses for them to their teachers, or cover for them when they have not prioritized or managed their time correctly. Hey, I already went through school and did all my own homework; I am *so* not interested in another round -- Ruth |
#18
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#19
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Ruth Baltopoulos wrote: Hey, I already went through school and did all my own homework; I am *so* not interested in another round In all honesty, I never even did *mine*, so the chance that I'm going to do someone else's homework is very, very small. Beth |
#20
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"toto" wrote in message news Any anecdotes? My favorite.... My wife had a parent come in for a conference. the parent spent ten minutes aggressively questioning each and every assignment that his daughter had been given since the beginning of the term. My wife was very upset. A week later my wife met an old friend who was the assistant principal in the school where this parent worked as an English teacher. He gave new assignments based on what he learned from my wife. |
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