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Public schools are to education what McDonald's is to food. They gear themselves to the common denominator. They don't bother providing a quality product. They just try to create a cheap product that is adequate for the most amount of people.
Statistics: Posted by ScottHughes — Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:04 pm
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This next school year, I FINALLY convinced my parents to let me try independent schooling with Keystone. They're making me sign a contract with loads of rules, but they said the only reason they're letting me try this is because I've always been on top of my school/homework. Gosh, like it was actually hard.
I'm so glad I got out of my public high school; the kids are so negative there that it kind of drags you down. Also, they have the perfect example of a "one size fits all" curriculum there. It was a very disappointing experience, and I lost all interest in getting A's and keeping up in school. I got all A's the first semester, but the next one, I only managed to come out with three A's. I was mad at myself, but I didn't get those bad grades because of my lack of understanding, it was because I lacked the motivation to keep going. My friends were slackers, and they taunted me for working so hard. Gosh, and people wonder why I slacked off a bit? I'm hoping this "school year" will be better than last year; however, I can't imagine it being worse.
Statistics: Posted by ottbluver — Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:47 am
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Although it is up to the parent and child to decide whether or not to be homeschooled, pretty soon it should be the choice for every family the way our schools are headed.
Statistics: Posted by Morgan — Sat Aug 11, 2007 1:03 pm
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College is more a measure of whether you can stick to one thing for four years without getting bored or giving up. In that sense, a college degree is a useful indicator for corporations looking for new hires.
Statistics: Posted by Theodore — Sat Aug 11, 2007 1:02 pm
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When I finally pulled my son he was in the 4th grade and was doing 2nd grade work. He was getting in trouble for talking because he would finish his work before the teacher had finished the directions. He would come home and be so upset because he already knew the information and wanted to do something new. Now he works at his own pace and is much happier. He is ahead by anywhere from 1 to 4 years depending on the subject. Once he gets his core requirements done for the day he can work on whatever he wants. Today it is the space program and not just the US he wants to know about Russia's program too. As long as he is learning something I just let him go at it.
Statistics: Posted by ncmom — Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:14 am
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When I was growing up going to public schools 25-35 years ago, I was miserable. Our school district started a gifted program when I entered 9th grade but my parents opted not to have me tested to see whether I qualified for it, because they thought it would be better for me to "stay in the mainstream."
Partway through 10th grade, my English teacher informed the guidance counselors that she didn't have time to teach me at my level because she had a whole class of honors students who weren't up to the things I was interested in and capable of. They finally tested me and moved me into gifted English for the rest of that year. I took more gifted classes in 11th grade and was fully in the gifted program for 12th grade. That was the only year in school that I was happy. The things they were teaching kept me interested and the kids I had classes with were people I could click with socially.
My husband lived across the country then and I didn't know him. In his state, there were no gifted programs then. But they did skip kids over grades who were ahead of their classmates. He skipped first grade, and later fourth grade.
Fast forward to when my own first two kids were about 6 and 7 years old. A public school teacher I knew told me she thought I should stop homeschooling and put my kids in the schools because she thought they would "motivate their peers" and "help the teachers." I told her our experience is that kids who are talented and have plenty of support from home aren't allowed to stay in school with the kids who need to be motivated: they either get put into a gifted program or skipped to the next grade.
It certainly has been my observation that the public schools have no idea what to do with gifted students, and I think that if you accept what John Taylor Gatto says about the real purpose of public schooling, those schools were always designed for average kids and the expectation was that gifted kids should go to private schools or be squashed by public schooling.
Ramona
Statistics: Posted by Ramona — Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:13 am
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I was in the 7th grade and taking all accelerated classes. My grades were all A's, and by the time I was nearing the end of my first marking period, I knew I was bored and felt as though I could be learning so much more than they were teaching me. My Algebra course consisted of slow lessons which were review to me. Ancient History, well, was ancient history; I had been there, learned that! Science was simple, and I had to go through the long hours of explanations that were unnecessary for me. Language Arts was all review from last year, and although it has been my favorite subject for years, I wasn't enjoying it at all. And overall, we had watched over three movies within the first marking period that were made for little children and had nothing whatsoever to do with our education. These were my thoughts: We could be learning things right now! If I wanted to have fun and watch movies all morning, I'd stay home! This frustrated me so much that it was not surprising when my older 9th grade brother came home complaining about the movies they were viewing during school hours.
My mom, for many weeks, had been doing research about home schooling, just looking into it and seeing what kind of requirements it would have, the regulations in our state, etc. She confronted us about it after we talked to her about the problems with our education. Both of us being A+ students, we wanted a better education than the one we were receiving.
First, we went to my school to talk to the counselor and principals about advancing me to the 8th grade. But they refused, saying "we have only ever advanced one child before, and we do not foresee doing it again". I knew that I had the brains to be a grade ahead, but apparently they didn't.
We each decided that home schooling would be the best choice. We could go at our own separate paces, help in the choosing of our courses, and self-teach ourselves so long, boring explanations, kid's movies, and easy lessons were cut out of our lives, which made it a much better education!
Now I am one year into homeschooling, and I am doing 10th grade subjects at 13 years of age. I am proud of myself, and so is my mother. I believe I made the right choice, and I encourage mothers out there who's children attend public schools that homeschooling is the best choice.
Statistics: Posted by Morgan — Wed Aug 08, 2007 9:35 am
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