Parents, take your children back!

Originally posted by knoledgeispower


Do colleges/universities accept home schooled kids?

Yes, if you pass the standardized tests. I was home schooled, and always tested out 4 years ahead of some of my public schooled peers. I scored high on the SAT's and I am currently in college with a 3.8 GPA. I have been on the Dean's list twice for carrying a 4.0 GPA for a year.

If parents do not adhere to the testing then going into a good college will be difficult, but it has been done with many families including mine.

this is so sad.


i hate the school system.


i tried so hard for them, but i wasn't good enough for them.

i tried to please them, and please my parents. i tried to get an A+ every time, and i tried so.. so... hard.


all i got was an F for failure, was i not good enough? just because im not good at a subject or another?

do i deserve a lower quality of life because i didn't meet their standards?

im not smart anymore? i got an F so im dumb....

i can't get a good job now? because i didn't pass? what did i do wrong?

why am i being punished?

i thought everyone was supposed to grow up, and be happy and rich, and have a job, with a slightly annoying but acceptable boss,

and then you get old, and your a grandma or grandpa, and one day you go to sleep and you don't wake up.

why? why everything.



forget it! the school system failed me!

i want to be happy!

im going to have fun now!

Originally posted by Thunder heart woman

Originally posted by BulletShogun
I agree this is an issue

Problem is the culture has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. one of fear

The last time I lived in suburbia, I didn't know my neighbor's names, because they kept to the inside of their house, and would not allow their children to play with other kids on the block. My daughter wanted to play with their daughter, and they said they didn't allow their children to do that. I invited my neighbors over for a barbeque and they would tell me they were too busy, every single time. They all hovered in their big house, with their satellite dish and just never.... came out in their yard.

Oh man. When I lived in the city it was just like this. At our apartment building, I got into trouble for putting up a name plate of my last name at the mailbox, simply because it was considered dangerous for anyone to know your last name. I remember coming home in the evening, and seeing a neighbor out in the breeze way. I would say hello to them, and they'd give me the suspicious side eye, then creep back into their apartment. Not everyone was like that, but the majority of people seemed too wrapped up in their lives or their privacy to want to engage with anyone outside of their social circle.

It's a different world now. My mom tries to say that times haven't changed, people have changed. I think it's both. We live in a computer age now where everyone feels safer behind a screen on their facebooks and blogs.

I think the public school system is antiquated and needs a complete overhaul. For it to continue however, you may as well count on the fact that any religious type of holiday celebrations will be a big no no for now on. We live in a more "politically correct" world where some parents would go ballistic if their child sang "Silent Night".

How did the children of the 80's become so PC and scared now? We were the MTV generation, we were more open minded, and most of us were free thinkers. We have become a more fearful generation, wrapping our children in cotton wool as you put it.

reply to post by SoymilkAlaska


I hear you and I understand. The school system failed you, but don't let that stop you from becoming educated. You are not a failure.

Originally posted by Starchildren
reply to post by SoymilkAlaska

 

I hear you and I understand. The school system failed you, but don't let that stop you from becoming educated. You are not a failure.

that was a metaphorical, theoretical example that came directly from my heart, and isn't based on my life in any way.


i just wanted to get into your mind, and make you feel the same way someone in that situation would feel.

i want to help everyone understand.

peace ^_^

I agree with the sentiment of the OP, if not the details. I actually think taking holidays out of school isn't a bad thing, but recess? Kids need breaks and to run around like crazy people to use up some of their energy.

I feel sorry for people who have kids in the public school system today and I know for a fact that if I did have kids, they'd never see the inside of a public school. Don't even get me started on the "food" they feed in public school!

And I agree that parents should "take back their children". If you MUST have your kids in Public school, be involved. Know what's going on. Stand up for your kids. Don't let the school system walk over you as parents.

A school doesn't need a Christmas tree or Valentines punch to be effective. Their purpose is to educate, not entertain or indoctrinate with pledges. Kids get PLENTY of entertainment and indoctrination these days, without having the schools confuse the issue.

They are getting more obvious about this every day. People with eyes to see knew what was coming years ago, if only we had been wise enough to listen...

reply to post by Thunder heart woman



Schools need MORE recess time, not less.

Kids are physiologically unable to maintain focus without movement...and this really goes for adults, too. Have you ever noticed how much you fidget throughout the day? Its because your body needs to engage in physical activity.

At my school, teachers are now required to take "brain breaks" throughout the day. These are usually five minutes of intense physical activity (something fun, like kid's zumba or dancing) about every forty-five minutes. This has improved the children's focus and retention of learning greatly.

Recess is more than just physical activity, however. You are right, schools are very rigid and structured. Teachers are telling students when to sit, when to work, when to go to the restroom. Recess is the one time students have to interact and work out problems with their peers. They NEED this time for social education....and play is learning. To take our recess takes our a very important developmental area.

Personally, (I teach first grade, 6 year olds), when its raining or too cold to play outside, we play in the room. Twenty-five first graders without recess...I shudder to think about it.

Another major problem with the public school system is that in many states teachers are forced to "teach the controversy" between the not-even-pseudoscience Creationism and the scientific fact of Evolution.

Started making chicken noodle soup from scratch and was cutting my carrots diagonally. I had a flashback to my days of cooking in the cafeteria in high school. I thought how lucky I was to have basic Home Ec courses in high school. In Grade 8 everyone had to take Cook, Sewing and metalwork/woodwork classes. Every grade had to do Career And Personal Planning courses each year they got less funding and had to cut back. CAPP was where you learned basic computer skills, how to make a resume and cover letter, fill out a cheque & keep proper records, balance a budget & volunteer hours at a local organization/business.

Even with the basics in all that I still did not feel at all prepared for the real world. CAPP & Sex Ed has almost become obsolete at the same high school.

Here in my part of Georgia, we still have Christmas parties and Christmas trees in our schools. We're still "allowed" to celebrate Halloween. I guess here in the south, we're not as "politically correct" as other parts of the country. Our kids also still get recess every day.

I'm so glad to live in this part of the country, if other places really are like everyone is saying in this thread.

Good post, OP.

I grew up in a rural area too. The public school was a joke. I think of the stuff that I struggled with unnecessarily for so many years that is now useless. One of the funniest things I remember was in the 3rd grade we were beginning to learn cursive. We'd practice all year because "In the 4th grade you need to know this." We'd practice all year in 4th grade too, because "You need to know this for 5th grade." Fifth grade "You guys will need to know this for middle school." My first day of middle school I asked the English teacher if we needed to write in cursive, her answer, "I don't care as long as I can read it." Whhhhhhhaaaat? There was an audible sound of disgust from every person in the class. All those hours could have been devoted to grammar, vocabulary, or spelling. Instead they were devoted to learning something many of us would never use for the rest of our lives. To this day, I still can hardly read cursive handwriting unless the letters are defined and clear like they are taught in textbooks, everyone has their own "style" that just runs together.

Anyone who went to a public school probably had a similar experience, here's a few gems that I remember:

-Doing word searches and crossword puzzles for a grade in classes like history and science. What does that teach me?

-7th grade English teacher constantly lost our assignments or forgot to enter grades. It got to the point where I would photocopy my papers before I handed them in, and file the graded paper after I got it back.

-Once we became used to the above teachers antics, every student in my advanced placement English class cheated their way through in the 7th grade. I rarely did any homework in the class because we would "grade our own papers", during which we were supposed to put away our pencils and get out our red pens. We'd just fill in the papers as she read the answers. She saw what we were doing, we'd look her in the eye while we were doing it.

-Same 7th grade english teacher made a kid lick the chalk board, after which he had an allergic reaction. Wasn't fired.

-All the math teachers failed to teach me anything, but my dad could teach it to me when I got home.

-No time to shower after gym class.

-Expected to be adults, but force us to walk in lines, and assign seating.

-"Learning Lab" students receive the same, if not higher grades than students doing real assignments, and getting on the honor role.

-Home Ec was changed to "life skills" and involved more book work than useful things like cooking, sewing, laundry, etc.

-Learned about Christopher Columbus and the Pilgrims and Native Americans Every. Single. Year.

I'll stop there. Bottom line, the public school system is getting worse all the time. I self studied in high school and was able to finish the work of ALL SUBJECTS, Math, English, History, Science, in a few hours each day. The rest of that time would be filled with filler work and useless classes in a public school. You go there to be babysat and taught what others think you should know.

No one is prepared for the "real world" these days because we don't have -any- skills when we leave highschool. Our education should allow us to immediately go out and start doing what we want. College shouldn't even be necessary unless you are going to be a doctor, lawyer, scientist, etc etc. It is absurd to me that there are degrees in subjects like graphic design or web design. I've been learning it for free and I have the hang of it after about two weeks.

The early years need to be devoted purely to reading, writing, math, and learning about the world around us. Middleschool should allow you to refine that knowledge and begin exploring what you may want to do as an adult, and learning the skills necessary to go in at least two or three different directions career wise. Highschool should be where you finally start putting the knowledge to use and start getting certifications and whatnot so that once you are out you can put your skills to use.

The system is broken. Teachers are chosen based not on intelligence or skill but whether or not they can coach girls volley ball after school. Bad teachers should be fired. 20 years ago, if your kid was doing badly, you would blame the kid, it's harder and harder to blame the kid when their peers are having the same problems with the same teachers.

Anway, I could rant on and on with this subject. Needless to say, if I ever have children, they are never setting foot in a public school.

In the 18th Century there was an age known as the Age of Enlightenment, or thanks to Thomas Paine, in America it was largely known as The Age of Reason. By the time Paine had published The Age of Reason he was all ready known for his earlier work Common Sense a book that sold more than 100,000 copies within the first two months of its release. Consider that, a book that sold more than 100,000 within the first two months of its publication, in 1776. Consider this:

In the second half of the 17th century, the literacy rate for adult men in New England is estimated to have been as high as 95%, more than twice the estimated literacy rate for men in England. American women had literacy rates higher than 60%. Nowhere in the world was literacy greater.

In Colonial America, reading was not regarded as an elitist activity; it was regarded as an essential and popular activity. Reading was, as one historian put it, "the product of a busy, mobile society" and its spread is easily linked with the increasing interest in self-determination.

"Almost every man is a reader," wrote the Reverend Jacob Duche in 1772. Duche didn't have to go far from his church at 3rd and Pine Streets, to find evidence to support this observation. "The poorest laborer upon the shores of the Delaware thinks himself entitled to deliver his sentiment in matters of religion or politics with as much freedom as the gentlemen or scholar... such is the prevailing taste for books of every kind..."

Compulsory education in America during this time was non existent:

When our passion for liberty burned brightest, there were no compulsory education laws in our country. Between the pre-Revolutionary period and the mid-1800s, the power to decide whether, when, and how to educate one’s children lay entirely in the hands of the parents. The first compulsory attendance law was adopted in Massachusetts in 1852. During the next 15 years, no other state followed Massachusetts. But, beginning in 1867, a steady stream of states began adopting compulsory attendance laws and, by 1918, all states had enacted them.

For a century or so the embrace of compulsory education seemed to only advance American's educational skills, and for a time America was the envy of the world in terms of education. However, the decline and fall of American education has been evident for some time now:

Despite the high expenditures on education in the United States—and the large numbers of students enrolled in colleges and universities—the United States ranked 12th on the test.

The United States is living on its past. Among the oldest group in the study (those aged 56–65), U.S. prose skills rose to second place. For those attending school in the 1950s, SAT scores reached an all-time high.

U.S. education continues to decline:

The latest results of this test show that only one third of American students exhibited proficiency in science and technology. Only three percent of students are classified as “advanced.” According to the Wall Street Journal, “[t]hirty-four percent of fourth-graders scored at or above proficient. Describing the life cycle of an organism is an example of a skill demonstrated by fourth graders at the proficient level. Thirty percent of eighth graders met the mark, by demonstrating, for example, that they could recognize plants produce their own food.” As students progress in age, it seems their knowledge declines, as only 21 percent of 12th grade students met the criteria sufficient to be considered proficient.

Parents, take your children back, indeed! Whether you send them to the best private schools, home school them, or out of necessity send them to public schools, parents teach your children well. "Teach your children well/Their father's hell/Will slowly go by/And feed them on your dreams/The one they pick
The one you'll know by./Don't you ever ask them why/If they told you, you would cry/So just look at them and sigh/And know they love you/And know they love you."

Really, its just our hope that some kids wake up and dont let themselves be a part of the system mentally. What is "The norm"? What makes a person "fit in"?

Schools dont necessarily have to indoctrinate children in order to get a political point across ~ Just make the curriculum dumber, and people wont be smart enough to even understand basic politics.