Education Discussions

I agree that the many teachers and schools don't care anymore.  I have had three sons in High School, all with ADHD.  The first two I did not know about till they joined the military and it was identified there.,  With the third I had to jump through so many hoops to have my youngest son in special ed and then in high school his English teacher would not listen to me about his problem.  I actually had to take him out of high school and home school him to get him through 4 years of English.  I did this and then in 1 1/2 years and he was able to go back his senior year and graduate with his class.

Even though the counselors knew why I took him out they gave me a hassle when I re-enrolled him because he would not have an English his senior year but that was  fight I won.

I agree that the net and texting has really caused some issues with teens and spelling. In fact, when my son was in school (graduated last year), he was allowed to use a spell checker on essays in school and encouraged and even demanded to use the net - with its spelling and grammar checking abilities - to write his papers.

I didn't have that luxury. I am old. We were excited when we got electric typewriters in our schools. I had to learn how to write and and spell myself. I had to look things up in real dictionaries and do my research from books, not google searches. That is NOT to say I had a better education than today's kids because they really are learning some amazing stuff. But allowing kids to spell wrong or to take shortcuts isn't helping them at all.

One teacher told me that all my son REALLY needed to know was how to write his name to sign things when I was concerned at how sloppy and misspelled his writing was. Maybe that is all he REALLY had to know to get by on the lowest level but I wanted my son to learn how to form sentences and be able to write things that didn't require an interpreter to understand. He got better as he aged but he never really was encouraged to at school.

Parents have the ultimate responsibility to make sure their kids are learning. That's the bottom line. Teachers really can only do so much and then it's up to the parent to talk to the teachers and their kids and plan out what to do. I had to do that with my youngest son and he ended up doing very well but, for a while, he was coasting and doing the bare minimum if that. And he tested at college level in 7th grade!

Thank you! Someone finaly see's what I am saying.I am so glad that you fought for the right to have your son properly educated.This is so true reguardless of what everyone else thinks and I am glad to see I am not the only one who see's this.

I took the time to educate my kids.The problem was I was teaching them one thing and when they were at school no one really cared or tried to enforce any kind of  grammer or any sense of anything too much for that matter in their kids.Kids took reading test with open books even though they were not suppose to be because the schools reading tests reflected low ratings and I always made my kids do their homework and still do.The principals thing was the grades for the school were low so she had them do it that way for reference,yeah right her job was on the line.One teacher was honest with me and told me the state has decided kids dont need to know any kind fo grammer o anything else now until high school so there is no need to teach it and who cares if the kids can't spell anything as long as they turn something in! She taught it anyways because she thought just like I did.It is to late once someone gets into high school to teach them how to do something that thye only learne at home or the school never enforced.Kids who need EC with disabilites had to fight for my sons education and the help he needed.The school was only intrested in passing himwith F's adn low D's just to push him through to the next grade and I have eyt to figure out how htey done it.I had to fight for his educational needs and ot me that bs.The kids are not assigned books so forget taking one home to study they are no going to be able too.So how can kids be helped with disibilites or who may have a harder time.The answer is they cant unless you fight for it and something has got to change.I too am new to the net and I too did paper and book work not work on a computer but schools no longer adopt thoae policies and it is sad.The kids suffer.

vivasuzi said…

The internet has a lot to do with this English problem that you mention.  I did not get the net until 1997 so I must have learned how to write before the net had a chance to teach me wrong.  However, many teens now grow up online, texting and writing short versions of every word.  I do write differently online and often use sentences that are incomplete - but I know better when it comes to professional things.  However, I can see how a kid growing up online could learn the wrong way and not be bothered learning the correct way.  That's why I hope to keep my kids out of all this social networking stuff for as long as I can!  

BTW - Spell check has totally killed my spelling skills.  Why bother spelling anything correctly when this little red line tells me what I spelled wrong?

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If only people would actually USE the spell check now. :)

SpokaneMan said…

vivasuzi said…

The internet has a lot to do with this English problem that you mention.  I did not get the net until 1997 so I must have learned how to write before the net had a chance to teach me wrong.  However, many teens now grow up online, texting and writing short versions of every word.  I do write differently online and often use sentences that are incomplete - but I know better when it comes to professional things.  However, I can see how a kid growing up online could learn the wrong way and not be bothered learning the correct way.  That's why I hope to keep my kids out of all this social networking stuff for as long as I can!  

BTW - Spell check has totally killed my spelling skills.  Why bother spelling anything correctly when this little red line tells me what I spelled wrong?

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If only people would actually USE the spell check now. :)

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Yes please! Even here, if this one isn't good (and it isn't), use ie spell.

I don't use the spell check on VP but instead I use Google Chrome browser.  Let me tell you - it is AWESOME.  It underlines words just like word does, as you type, and let's you correct them, as you type.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  

So if you are forgetful about using the Spell Check button online, try switching to Google Chrome where it spell checks as you go.

Ok back to the topic of public schools.  I don't know if anyone answered this - but these tests you are talking about, are these the same "standardized tests" I took in private school?  Or do Public schools have specific tests they have to pass?

vivasuzi said…

Ok back to the topic of public schools.  I don't know if anyone answered this - but these tests you are talking about, are these the same "standardized tests" I took in private school?  Or do Public schools have specific tests they have to pass?

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Yes Suzi these are the same tests you took.  At the time you would have graduated there was a regulation that students had to pass the MEAP test in order to officially graduate.  I believe now it is the Michigan Merit Exam.  This is the same exam that determines (or did determine when the funding was there) who received a HOPE scholarship.  So really it's not just funding that is on the line (although that is a large piece of it) but student graduation and possible scholarship money is on the line with these tests.

I want teachers to get better pay and I dont think they are all currupt just a few and there are alot of underpaid educators who do deserve so much more and they do love their kids and I am so greatful for them but the ones out there that do wrong should just quit and go into another field.It should be about what you can give and not what you can get paid by a student for.

Thanks lilsquibb, I think the tests weren't considered as important at my school.  We never officially were taught many of the things on the test, but most of us still thought the tests were easy and I never remember people getting in trouble if they did poor.  Some people didn't even care and would make pretty patterns with the circles - but it was because the tests really didn't matter to our grades or anything.

jlowe do you actually know of students who paid off teachers?  Because I don't know of any.  I went to a school where sports were a big deal, but it didn't matter if the kid had bad grades he was off the team in 10 seconds flat.  If there really are students you know of that pay off teachers, you should schedule a meeting with the principal and tell them right away.

Oh I know for a fact the some schools are pushing kids along. I have a friend who went to the school demanding that her son not go on to the next grade because he hadn't mastered the one he was in!

We can all say we want teachers to get paid more and yes I agree completely.  But more pay doesn't make a better teacher.  Better leadership, training and expectations make better teachers.  True you have a few who need to retire or just not be in that field but that is a minority.  Most have very good intentions. 

As for the higher pay... at least here, there is NO way that is going to happen anytime soon.  Many of our local schools just took a HUGE budget cut that is going to devistate several of them.  I'm not talking a couple $100 or anything... Some were cut ~$1000 per pupil.  When you're talking a district of over 3000 students, that's a cut of over $3Million.  They will be lucky to turn the lights on if they don't budget right.

So when you hear of test scores being tied to funding, there are places that are already hurting and cannot loose another dollar.  Though as Vivasuzi shows if teachers would just teach to the student and not the test, then the students would learn and there would be no worries about failing tests and loosing money.

I agree more pay does not make a better teacher.  I know this because my private school teachers got paid WAY LESS than public school teachers yet they were wonderful.  It's all about caring, that is what matters.

It does sound like too many teachers are just making sure that their students pass "the test" but if they are good teachers, they don't even have to worry about "the test"

It probably also makes a huge difference that a private school is funded by the parents and therefore they have to prove themselves to the parents instead of the general public.  Parents would rip their kids out of a private school if they didn't feel their kid was getting their money's worth out of it.

I just wish the funding was more and more teachers who actaully teach ofr the love of education and children.They should be the ones that are commended and it is not on al of the teachers it lies on the parents too.We have to as Americans make a difference by speaking out about what we need as parents and what we are willing to give so that our children can have a brighter future.

jlowe308 said…

I just wish the funding was more and more teachers who actaully teach ofr the love of education and children.They should be the ones that are commended and it is not on al of the teachers it lies on the parents too.We have to as Americans make a difference by speaking out about what we need as parents and what we are willing to give so that our children can have a brighter future.

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I agree, and as a parent I will always report it if I find out students are paying teachers for grades.  I wish everyone cared as much as I do about the education of my kids, and wasn't just pretending in online forums.

I agree that they need to spend more time teaching and be more strict on students.  There are so many students in school that don't really care if they graduate or not.  It is as if some students feel that just because they go to class, the teachers should just let them pass whether they do their work or not.

However, teachers have a harder job than they did in years past.  They have to deal with alot of unruly kids that disrupt their classes.  They have to spend so much time trying to fill out paperwork to send them to the office or to write students up instead of doing the job they are there to do.

Schools tend to want to get rid of the trouble-maker kids that won't do their work and disrupt classes, it seems that those unruly students fly through high school much easier than those that truly want to learn.

I feel that this is a problem that requires parents, teachers, and other school officials to communicate and work together to reach a favorable conclusion.  In which the student learns to do their work without such disruptions to the class and teachers.