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Thinking about education and having children where I live now scares me. I went to public schools and I think I got a decent education (my difficulty with spelling/writing/language is my personal logic along with dyslexia jumbling things.) However, where I live now, I keep hearing horror stories about the public schools and how bad they are. Then again, if the fall of civilization happens in the next few years, we will all be home schooling. "Ok, today we will be plumbing the new grow beds and wiring up the solar panels."

Actually My kids go to a public school and I reckon that it is terrific. They have heaps of new technology and even the prep kids get 2 dedicated computers for their use (about 10 kids) The school also has really good playground equipment, new sports uniforms, really good proactive teachers and the bus drops them there free. A lot of the stuff at the school has been purchased via grants and our P&C has been very effective at gaining grants for equip. etc.
It may be that some schools in other places could do with a bit more support from the local area, and find if parents help the school help itself by joining the P&C they might find the school getting better, or it could just be easier to say that public schools are crap and just fork out for a private education.
my 2c
Alex

Yep I'd have to agree Axl.... can't speak for the US system... but here in OZ the public school system, despite serious neglect and underfunding for the past decade...

Consistantly produces high academic outcomes.. and often out performs the results from supposedly high ranking private schools...

Over the last decade IMO... there has developed a purely snobbish attitude to public schooling... with many parents placing their children in "private" schools for reasons related more to social appearance... than to any real academic results...

P.S... with harder times upon us.... the local high school has had a 15% rise in senior year enrollments... all coming out of the private schools...

I have no doubt that there are many private schools with very compotent teachers... and great facilites...

But IMO.... the public school system has been lamb-basted for reasons more akin to bling & bullshit than reality.

My kids go to public school and we are having trouble getting our next enrolled for next year. If it wasn't for the fact that we have a child already there and my wife is involved in the P and C we probably would not have got in. Global recession has forced many private school kids into the public system.
Sign of the times.
Time to educate more people about AP!

Hi

I thought if you were in the schools zoned area they arent allowed to refuse your enrolment, you could contact the local district office and ask what school your address falls into

Bree

Hey Rupe, you go to a private school, to say that is where you went
Tis a big thing to have come from Scotch or MLC,
more akin to the first steps on the corporate ladder
Not that, that makes Private schools any better...

It is not so much do do with the schools and more the socio economics. In some areas many children enter school without any social skills and limited verbal skills so they are two years behind the eight ball before they start their schooling. The gap does not stay the same, it gets larger.

Problem is the parents of these kids (many of whom sit at home on their arse doing nothing except spending their dole cheque - but still have no time for their kids - this is my pet hate) have four or five kids, because then they get more handouts. Most hard working people who want to do well by their kids and help them through their education only have two kids. The cycle is repeated and as the human race is in the most part without any form of natural selection to weed out those adults that need to have a train line fenced, the gene pool is being dumbed down.

I assume everyone looked at the members occupation and the fact that the atavar has changed since the initial post?

So that's how the banking meltdown happened....

and Baton Rouge Bill...you should be ashamed of yourself for exposing the Dummycrat voter base. Yes, fellow citizens of the free world, these people are in fact allowed to vote. Luckily some of them can't find the polling place (I'm guessing some can barely find their way home at the end of the day).

I wouldn't put it on one party or the other. We're still going down the same road and in the same direction. Only thing's different is who's driving the Bus.

I think there are several factors in the quality of public/private schools. Yes there are some that prefer whining to doing something about their schools, and there are places where if the parents get involved, it can lift a school from lousy to great. There is also a lot depending on the quality of the teacher.

No, Axl & Roz, I'm not a snob that's too good for the public schools.

I have children of varying abilities and disabilities, and have made the change from public to charter (semi-private) to home schools dependent on the school, the teachers, and the student.

My eldest has Asberger's syndrome. She was doing really well in school, except she was very quiet (an affliction that did not follow her home, and was due to the ASD. When she began middle school (6th grade) her grades dropped precipitously, she was labeled "dumb" and would work on her homework from when she got home from school until 1am, then work on it again in the morning until she went to school. She was growing increasingly irritable, and frustrated with being behind, and working to try to catch up.
We took her for evaluation, and the school said that she was ADD - and unless we started drugging her up, they wouldn't do anything else for her. We pulled her out and home schooled her. She immediately became much easier to live with, and blossomed under the caring tutelage of her mother and grandparents. At 16, she started attending the community college, and will be graduated from a private University (on their largest scholarship) within a month of her 21st birthday.

My second eldest was constantly being harangued by her teacher and being told that she would probably not amount to much. The teacher's tune changed when she was tested and found to be HAG (highly academically gifted). But due to the HAG school being the same as the school for disruptive and mentally challenged children, and my daughter being assaulted on more than one occasion, we started homeschooling her in 6th grade. She also began attending the community college at age 16, and at 18, she will be going to the same private university as her sister with a similar scholarship assistance.

I also have an Autistic son, in 3rd grade, his teacher decided that since he was behind on his work, she would shut him in a room by himself (an old bathroom that had been converted to a closet) until he caught up on his work. As an autistic 3rd grader, he didn't have the verbal skills to explain to us what was happening. We did not figure it out until my wife went to a school function and saw that he wasn't with his class. When she asked, she was told that he was working on catching up on his work in the classroom. My wife went to the classroom and saw that he was shut in the closet.
months later, after trying to work with the school, and taking the problems to the district and to the school board, we saw that we weren't getting anywhere. We also saw that they had no intention of resolving the issue, and in talking to legal counsel, we were told that, yes, we could probably sue, but the litigation would take years, and in order to fully pursue the case, my son would have to stay in the situation until it was resolved. Since that was NOT an option, we pulled him out and home schooled him for the remainder of the year. We got him into a charter school the next year. He was with a wonderful teacher for two great years. Then we moved, and took him back to a public school (different district). The first year he had a wonderful teacher who did wonders with him. But she had a preemie baby, and had to leave mid-year to take care of him. The replacement teacher had a lousy attitude, and again, he regressed. He then had 2 more great years with a different teacher, and has made great progress. Next year he heads to middle school. We are going to be driving him across town to a school other than the one he is districted to, because the other school has a better program.

Our other kids have attended public or home school, depending on their needs, and the abilities of the schools we are allowed to attend.

My sister-in-law has her kids in an excellent public school in New Jersey. She thinks we're crazy for attempting to home school our children. But she has never found her children closed up in a closet either.

I'm glad that you have good schools there, Axl & Rup, but sometimes branding people as snobs because they put their kids in private schools is hasty judgment. Granted, there are many for which that shoe fits, but there are also many that will make whatever sacrifice is necessary to get their children educated.

Hey Greenedo, I wasn't trying to suggest that you were a snob, I have had friends who removed thier kids from their closest public school for similar reasons, the kids not getting the learning support they needed. But that was as much the problem with the teachers rather than the school. You can get really good, and bad, teachers in either system. Sadly though there seems to be a culture lately , over here at any rate- (I am in no position to comment on your schools), that State (public) schools are for lower class people.
Alex

Lots of factors affect the quality of the public and private schools. Just 25 miles north of me is a public high school that is in the top ten schools in the state. Residents of that district are going to love public schools. Real-estate in good school districts cost more too. But take Baton Rouge where they just settled a 44 year desegregation lawsuit from the 60's. They were bussing the kids to each others neighborhoods purchased all the latest greatest stuff and still lousy. This school board collects over $4200 per public school student in taxes and still bottom of the nation. It is improving now that the federal judge settled the lawsuit just before retiring. It was all about the power over the money. They could have sent each and every student to private schools and still saved money. A lot of it has to do with less pc and more discipline. responsibility and accountability. The schools in the US are mostly a function of local governments. So if you have the resources, modern teaching tools and a culture to learn in the schools you have it won. Also the primary teachers of the children are the parents. They have to stay involved. Teachers Unions also protect bad teachers who don’t teach just present the materials.

Ok lets get back on topic!
WTF was the topic?

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