Posted on 04/01/2012 8:42:49 AM PDT by wintertime
Regarding: So-called "good" government schools
This “good schools” idea should be closely and critically examined. Why? Because the afterschooling, private tutoring, and preschooling, done by good parents, and the hard work of the child, is never considered when government school districts, ( or real estate agents), proudly proclaim that their schools are "good" schools.
How do we know that these schools are “good” or not, if the contributions of the parent's afterschooling, private tutoring, or the massive amount of work done by the parents in the preschool years, is **never** studied and formally measured?
Perhaps these so-called “good” schools are merely ordinarily bad, but it is the parents in the preschool years, and the child diligently doing homework and projects, and their hard work **IN THE HOME**, ( AKA "afterschooling"), that is the real reason these students have high standardized test scores.
Afterschooling has **never** been studied by education professionals. In more than a decade of posting on forums on the Internet, no teacher or education professor has ever provided me with a link to a study that evaluates the contributions of afterschooling, private tutoring, the efforts by parents with their preschoolers, and the hard work done by students with homework. A Stanford professor of education e-mailed me and told me that none of this has **ever** been specifically studied or carefully measured and evaluated!
Why is this important?
We in the U.S. are literally crushed by government school taxes. Really, we are! In some of our states, the amount spent on government schooling is nearly a quarter of million dollars per child for 13 years of schooling. Essentially, no one ever truly owns their home or business. We are renters. The government is our landlord and property taxes are our rent. And....Please remember that business property taxes (passed on to the customer) raises the price of everything that we buy and use, makes our products less competitive abroad, and encourages businesses to move jobs off-shore.
Look at the serious economic and sad social consequences of single-payer and socialist-entitlement schooling, ..yet... **no one** really knows if our schools are teaching anything. It could be that they are merely sending home a curriculum for the parents and child to follow in the home, serving as testing centers, and providing grading on projects.
Anecdotally, I see the hard work of my own children with my grandchildren. I talk with good parents in my church. They work with their preschoolers every day with Internet programs that teach phonics and beginning arithmetic. In the early years they are supervising homework at the kitchen table. They check regularly to see that their children are not falling behind in reading skills and with basic arithmetic and algebra. They insist on regular study times and habits. They get private tutoring help when needed. (They are essentially doing everything that good homeschooling parents are doing! ) Who will take the credit for the high standardized test scores of these children? Yes, the government school, of course!
Also, ( anecdotal observation), after working with the cub scouts and youth of our church, I have concluded that the **only** children who are learning to read and do basic arithmetic are those children whose parents are, and have done, **tons** of afterschooling and preschooling in the preschool years. ( We live in one of the "reddest" counties in the U.S. and our population is vanilla ice cream white!)
Finally,... ( another anecdotal observation).... I have found that there is little to no difference between academically successful homeschoolers and successful institutionalized children in the amount of formal study done **IN THE HOME**. Both sets of academically successful children ( home or institutionally schooled) have parents with similar home habits and values, and the amount of time spent at the kitchen table or child's desk IN THE HOME is about the same. So?...Isn't it worth taking a good look at whether or not the success of an institutionalized child is due to the so-called "good" government school or due to the efforts of the parents and child **in the home**?
Yeah, my younger daughter, who will be attending Emory Medical in Atlanta this fall is an example of the failure of public schools.
Here’s the thing — put a child with a supportive parent with a teacher who cares about their job and an outstanding student will result. And the best part is that the parent and the teacher can certainly be the same. Doesn’t have to be, but it can be.
Screw up one of those parts of the equation, and something wrong will happen.
Are there great students who are homeschooled? You bet!
Are there great students who are publically schooled? You bet!
Just because one exists, it doesn’t mean the other cannot.
>>Are there great students who are homeschooled? You bet!
Are there great students who are publically schooled? You bet!
Just because one exists, it doesn’t mean the other cannot.<<
Absolutely!!!!
However, I’m paying for both. I want what works. When we get back to the world ranking for education that we had in the 60’s, we can talk about how great the education is in Public Schools.
You claim to have a medical degree, get a grant and do a study. Oh wait taht means actually doing something, I keep forgetting yu would rather sit in front of the computer and whine
And when we have parents that actually take the time to be parents instead of their kids friends like we had in the 60's maybe schools could go back to being institutions of education instead.
The vast majority 60-70 percent of my students are either in single parent homes or living with one step parent. Broken homes create broken kids.
And yes I do have access to the records on this and my numbers are valid.
As a consumer you have a right to have what you are paying for work.
I’ve said many times that the best thing for schools would be for all parents, those that homeschool, use private schools, or public schools to be active at the school board level.
It doesn’t take much ‘salt’ to make the whole loaf rise.
Ping.
Of possible interest to those on the ping lists.
1) How well is your other child doing?
2) It is impossible to do a double blind study on one child. While your daughter is, by today's standards is successful, we don't know how she might have done if you homeschooled her. Who knows? By now, if she had been homeschooled she might already have a Ph.D. and M.D. combined, and not be just entering medical school in the fall.
How about something like “Hey SMinV that’s great to hear! Congrats to your daughter” as opposed to the veiled insult to both?
Good grief.
My other child is graduating from college next month and is happily married to a wonderful member of the military. She has brought him to Christ through her testimony. They graduated together, from public school.
She is not pursuing graduate school, as she is leaving for Germany after graduation. But then I don’t think she every will go to graduate school. She’s not the student her sister is, just a great young adult who will be a great support to her husband.
Sorry, no ‘gotcha’s’ here, in case you were hoping for one
Yeah, I caught that.
Doesn’t matter, I’m proud of them both. In their own ways they will make their mark. I suspect that when the time comes, my older daughter will be a fabulous mother. She has a beautiful, clear spirit
Did you see the wedding photos? They are on my facebook.
You and your daughters have my sincerest congratulations. As a family you have done a great job.
You know I saw the wedding photos! I commented on many of them!
All kidding aside, the comment annoyed me. I know you’re proud of your girls and have every right to be. Even if we were friends of any type, I would never dream of making a post like that to someone deriding accomplishments of them, and especially not of their children. Sorry, but my mother raised me better than that.
Why? What's the rush? She had a wonderful high school experience playing in the band, softball, Academic team. She had a wonderful college experience with her music, sports, overseas travel, her volunteer work.
What's the rush to start life? I've never, ever understood that sentiment that you have. I LIKE that she took the time to discover her passion, enlarge her knowledge base, and experience what is out there.
To each his own I guess... Plus she doesn't want an MD/PHD. Probably IR - that will be a long enough road as it is what with the dual residencies.
I'm just now getting my head wrapped back around life. SO many changes in the last year.
Right now - 85 pounds lost, 7 pants sizes, 30 more pounds to go, plus I MIGHT start yoga teacher training this fall, maybe, maybe, might....
But honestly, the comment didn't anger or upset me. My ability to be angered has largely been worked out of me - thanks to yoga and just accepting that people are going to be what they are, no matter what I am, and I have no control over it.
loves....
now back to our regularly scheduled program...
Let's see could you possibly be any less Christian?
Try again how about something to the effect of: "WOW that is great you have every right to be proud!"
Go ahead try it I bet it won't hurt at all.
thank you....we were fortunate in many ways.
Demographics drive test results worldwide. US students rank on par with their peers globally when racial categories are compared. No, our schools don’t maximize the potential of too many students, but racial changes since the 60’s explain much of the US ranking globally.
What’s the rush to start life?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The point is that we do not know ( for your children or mine) what the outcome would have been if they had taken a different educational path.
LOL!!!
That actually is my favorite argument for Public Schools.
Get involved and you can change the system!
In the meantime, back in the real world, the Unions control the schools. The school board just fronts for them and plays politics. Sorry, you can fool some of the people, but I played that game when my kids attended Public Schools.
My sister is a Public School teacher. I’m not your average, Uber religious, scared of Harry Potter, Homeschooler. I attended School board meetings, worked to elect good conservatives AND did time working for the Michigan Association of Public School Academies. I’ve seen it all, and the biggest lesson I pulled from it is, Public Schools are controlled by unions and don’t care about kids at all.
No matter who is on the School Board.
And that we have dumbed down the standards for both teachers and students.
Don’t fool yourself.
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