re: #221 marjoriemoon

It’s a huge mistake, IMO to turn our backs on public education. We’ve done that and look where it gets us. The poor get less educated, crime goes up and general service goes down.

And I would not recommend turning our backs on public education.

But I think there are some features about the public schools that need to change.

Officials must be able to enforce appropriate decorum in the classroom (via penalties, “discipline” if you will) - that is what I see missing from many public schools, and it’s why any parent here who can afford it will send their kid to private school. I know of many kids in private school because their grandparents are even helping out. People paying that kind of money have an incentive to see to it their kids get the most possible bang for the buck.

Another is the lack of parental understanding as to what should be happening in school. We have here a test that students must pass, in the 4th grade, I believe, and then in the 7th or 8th grade, to “leap” to the next grade (test is called the LEAP test). It’s a test that tests at a basic level, to ensure kids know what they need to know to be able to succeed at the next level.

Every year, we have one parent or another (or several) whose kid did not pass the LEAP test, on TV screaming about the teachers who didn’t “pass” the kid on up the line, because the kid had been making “A’s” in all the coursework. I have yet to hear a parent upset because the teachers failed to teach what they were supposed to, or that the kid failed to learn. It’s all about getting passed on up the line to the next grade.

When the parents don’t even understand that the lack of progress in coursework means their kid will fall more and more behind as he/she moves up in school - then how are the kids to understand the importance of paying attention and doing the work?