It's hard to attack public education without teachers feeling like they are the ones being singled out for attack.

I believe the institution itself was corrupted long ago.

I'm trying to make it lucrative. One of mine was ADHD. It was a struggle educating that one.

I hear ya Posco. Constructive criticism is important in all facets of life, it's what makes improvements. As a teacher myself I try hard to not take things personally and to be able to use others opinions, perspectives, and criticisms to improve how I affect students. It's your taxes that are paying me so I sure as heck better be able to take what the public is saying and use it to give me direction in the classroom. But when you spend more time with some of these kids in the classroom than you do with your own kids and put your blood, sweat, and tears literally into their education, it's hard not to take some comments personal.

Dirt, my brother is ADHD. He's probably the reason I became a teacher. You know as well as any the dedication and patience it takes to bring a special needs student up the right way. Doesn't matter if it's home schooled or public education, it takes an angel of a parent to do these children justice. These kids absolutely are as and in many cases more talented than "normal" students, it's just that their avenue to understanding and delivery is unique.

My wife started out her working career as a public school teacher. Being fresh out of college, she found herself too close in age to those she was teaching and bailed on the profession.

Education became politicized somewhere along the line and it was used as a vehicle for political/ideological advancement. Unfortunately and from my point of view, it is dominated by liberals. That's why you see so many conservatives lashing out at it in the age of Trump.

No offense Posco but I'm assuming that you're a few years older than me. I'm 33. I see what you're saying. Education is dominated by liberals. My wife is a teacher too and she makes me look awfully conservative. I can only speak from my years on this earth and experiences in those years. I go to work and try to do my best to give my students what they need to success in life. I guess I'm still young and naive enough to think that our education system is working for our students and not a political party. At least I hope that's the truth. And if it isn't, then at this point I guess my best efforts are spent making change in those students that I teach directly in my classroom every day. And for those that don't like the way our public education system is moving, they should get into education and put their fingerprint on the future. If it's too late to cross the political isle and shake hands on a proper education system, maybe we need a grassroots effort to make thing right?

I don't think there is a political agenda so much in K through 12 education. In collage that might be a different story.

It would appear the NEA is not in our corner there atrapper.


"The National Education Association believes that home schooling programs based on parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience. When home schooling occurs, students enrolled must meet all state curricular requirements, including the taking and passing of assessments to ensure adequate academic progress. Home schooling should be limited to the children of the immediate family, with all expenses being borne by the parents/guardians. Instruction should be by persons who are licensed by the appropriate state education licensure agency, and a curriculum approved by the state department of education should be used.
The Association also believes that home-schooled students should not participate in any extracurricular activities in the public schools.
The Association further believes that local public school systems should have the authority to determine grade placement and/or credits earned toward graduation for students entering or re-entering the public school setting from a home school setting"

"Google" the name John Dewey, that's where the slide began. Undermining traditional American values starts in preschool.

In my school district in rural southeast PA the teachers do a pretty good job of educating our children. They make a decent wage and have better perks than most private sector jobs but I don't begrudge the that. My problem is with the powerful state teachers union and their ownership of our elected state officials. It has resulted in insanely high school property taxes in my area.

The game here is to hire an administrative superintendent with a track record of unnecessary spending. Ours was hired for a six-figure salary (in a fairly rural district). He lied to us about an approaching "population bubble" and used it as an excuse to ram a new, unneeded, $34,000,000.00 (thirty-four million) high school down our throats. The population bubble never materialized. The old high school now houses the middle school students but the entire upper floor is empty.


He also created an athletic director position (we don't even have a football team) and later an assistant athletic director position. Those two positions cost the district over $100,000.00 annually.

He stuck another feather in his cap and moved on to some other district where I'm sure he commanded an even higher salary to screw the local citizenry.

He left us with the highest school taxes in the County. An average 2,000-2,500 sq.ft new home will run the unlucky owners $9,000.00-$12,000.00 in annual school real estate taxes.

There is plenty. It doesnt take much digging to find it.

There are numerous liberal agendas, brain washed into K through 12, in many public schools.

Children are frequently taught to fear and hate firearms. Even pointing your finger like a gun and saying bang is grounds for punishment in some schools. Bringing toy guns to school is often grounds for suspension and expulsion. Teachers, police officers stationed in schools and school nurses have been asking children about firearms their parents own.

Little boys are severely punished for kissing little girls in some liberal schools now. Children are forbidden to hug and hold hands. Boys are taught that they are the cause of many of the world's problems.

Children are taught in many liberal, public schools that homosexuality, cross dressing, bisexualism and transgenderism are normal and to be accepted and even flaunted. Some liberal, public schools, as someone posted on here a few months ago, actually have drag queens come to schools, dress young children up, read them stories about their lifestyle and then the children perform in drag shows.

Many liberal public, grade schools have a strong anti-white curriculum. They teach false history, like that Egyptians were negroids. They teach that Native Americans were pacifists. They teach that whites are the cause of most of what is wrong with the world.

Some liberal public grade schools teach that Islam and other non-Christian religions are better than Christianity. They make children learn and recite passages from the Quaran.

Liberal grade schools frequently don't let sports teams keep score. They won't say who won. They give participation awards.

Keith

Even if you homeschool, your educational material and curriculums will have left wing crazy ideas, animal wacko crap, environmental nut job stuff, historical rewrites, etc. Those people have pretty good control of the textbook industry.

Agreed but at least with home school, you have a chance.

Teepee, I can't argue with your point, I agree. In my opinion the problem homes are the ones that look at public schools as a babysitter for five days a week.

I did it. It takes commitment and a lot of time. But I found that a lot of the elementary things can be taught on the actual trapline. Also, living in the woods gives enormous opportunities for science projects .....things that no school setting would have the time to do. Not only can kids get the "book learning" but in many instances they can apply that learning in hands-on projects that are required in that environment

It was more than forty years ago when my sophomore Social Studies teacher suggested the US Constitution was a "living, breathing document". That's how he phrased it, verbatim. I wasn't much of a political animal at that point in my life but my gut instinct was to challenge him and his ideas. That's just what I did.

I developed an acute eye and ear for parsing liberal jargon early on.

During Leonardo di Vinci's youth that's how he gained most of his knowledge.

He was dong ride-alongs with White during that time.

And it doesn't show at all.

You got kids that can't even get a bowl of cereal at home and you want them to get motivation.