How do you feel about the way our children are being taught in Public Schools?

Question

Last year at school, one of the things that was on the list to bring with the 3rd graders to their first day of school was a calculator!! Now my stepdaughter is having trouble in math... how do you think your children are being taught?

My daughter is being taught by me.. I am home schooling. I don't want someone else to teach my child. I don't trust them because of the way I was taught in public schools.

What do you think?

Answer 1

So are you one of those people that don't believe in calculators, or any other devices meant to make life easier? When i was in 3rd grade we started doing long division. And we used calculators. Or were you just taught before calculators were invented, and are just mad because she is using them and you didnt use them when you were her age? What are you gonna do when she has to do algebra? I almost failed that and i had a calculator!

Oh and believe me homeschooling children is like cutting them off from their life, although they hate school, it is were they meet new friends it is were they get to see friends everyday, and imagine she will never have a graduation or a prom or any thing, also has lesser chances of getting scholorships. Also you need to ask yourself if you have the ability to teach her, I'm sure you don't remember everything you ever learned in Highschool, and the standards raise almost every year. Some of them math i did in 6th grade my dad said he didnt do until 9th

Answer 2

It really, really depends on the teacher. Some public school teachers are fabulous and follow the curriculum while still requiring high standards from the kids. For example, we have a calculator requirement in the schools here, but it's very basic and many teachers will only allow the kids to use the calculator for demonstration purposes here and there. Others let the kids use the calculators all the time. It really depends.

I frankly don't like the structure required by the government. I didn't like it when I was teaching in the schools, either. I, too, have opted to homeschool so my children can go more to their pace and interests.

Answer 3

Well it all depends on where you live and that type of thing. Personally my 2 daughters go to a great public school who have a great curriculum and my daughter just started third grade and was not required to bring one. My 5 y/o started k-5 and they are being assigned homework where as when my 8 y/o was in k-5 they did not have homework so I think that the public education system is strengthening and is great in teaching kids how to deal with the real world. However I lived in a different county a few years back and there curriculum wasn't good at all so like I said before it really depends on where you live. In a poorer area the school system isn't going to be as good as one in a richer area. I have seen it from both sides and It is actually very disturbing and I believe that that is one area that the government needs to make some changes in..

Answer 4

We also homeschool (in addition to Virtual School), but stay involved in the local public school because not everyone understands the politics and games that are played by the corporate-owned systems we deal with (and because we are paying for it). The Teachers' Union is really a functionary of the Teachers' Insurance , TIAA-CREF or whichever local Teachers' Insurance provides the lawyers for the 'poor defenseless teachers'. School districts are usually only defended and locally monitored by the school board (some a lot worse than others), while the administrators and supers are (guess what?) ex-teachers (usually who grew up somewhere else).
The public school system can be a great thing, but usually ends up as a factory model that only works for kids who want to 'fit' into a system someplace, and it encourages local kids to leave the community to 'make it' in the outside world, thus helping the WalMarts and McDonalds and NASAs of the world to steal intellectual capital from small towns, never to give anything back.
Statistical decision making forces everyone to behave within certain parameters before they can graduate, which only does more to homogenize our culture so that true progress only happens for the banks and corporatists who cash in on our 'averageness' and our fears. More testing simply makes this worse.
Kids don't go to school to learn. They go to conform. Learning can be anywhere and probably better without our help, as long as they are fed and cared for, their natural desires will produce better results. (I'm a big fan of UNschooling.)

Answer 5

I think teachers such as myself are doing a great job teaching children in public school. However, parents don't always do their job by assisting with homework, volunteering to help with special projects and field trips, etc. Just what exactly is your problem with buying your stepdaughter a calculator - the expense? Children from Kindergarten on up have access to all types of technology that you and I weren't able to use (some of it didn't exist when I was in school - like pocket calculators). Is that a detriment? Home-schooled children historically have social problems caused by not interacting with peers in the educational setting. You may be doing your daughter more of a disservice than anything else. Don't judge all of us by your past experiences. You may have been part of the problem. Be a part of the solution now.

jbpammy: It's the TAKS test - TAAS hasn't been around in a few years. We don't teach "to it." We have no idea what will be on it until the day it's handed out.

Answer 6

I have mixed feelings about the school system...my daughter is in the 6th grade and has had one bad teacher after another--she had a teacher in 1st grade tell her if she wrote the way she did in second grade that the teacher would have a fit...I know in my heart that the teacher said other negative things and has broken her spirit...my prayer is that she will have just one teacher that will be able to mend all the damage all the horrid teachers she has.

So far my son has had pretty good luck with teachers, he's in the 1st grade and from the few discussions I've had with his teacher she's gonna be a good teacher.

It is sad that it seems the teachers have lost the love for the job, lost the love for the kids and why they are there...it seems that some teachers are there just to get a check, at least everyone my daughter has had.

I feel they are cramming way too much at them, I don't ever remember when I was in the 5th grade starting algebra..they are wanting the kids to grow up too fast, we're not letting them be kids. The system is not seeing that kids do not learn the same way or pace...

Answer 7

Back home and years ago when I was in grade school and high school we didn't use calculators in our math subjects .... and I know that because of that I'm better off now. I've seen a lot of people out there that's having a hard time making simple computations in their mind. Children should not use calculators for learning simple arithmetic.

It could also be that that specific teacher is also dependent on calculators :(

Answer 8

Simple answer...some are good and some aren't so good. I teach in a public school and I do the best I can for my students. I worked really hard and paid a lot for my degrees in education. I think it's really hasty (and wrong) to make an assumption that your step daughter is not doing well just becuase of the issue with the calculator.

Answer 9

It takes a special type parent to home school children..I know you think you're doing what you think is best for your kids but....will the stepdaughter have friends while being home schooled..I certianly hope so.

Answer 10

Sorry but I believe less in homeschooling then I do public school.

I think people need to get more involved in their kids schooling, also participating in the school voting-for the school boards and taxes. Also the people need to get their elected officials to up their interest in education.