In another life I sat on a school board for several years - oddly enough in the very county where I had been a grade-school and high-school pupil.
It was the most demoralizing experience of my life. I'd always wondered what was the secret sauce that had allowed a pretty good school system to decay so severely in such a short amount of …
In another life I sat on a school board for several years - oddly enough in the very county where I had been a grade-school and high-school pupil.
It was the most demoralizing experience of my life. I'd always wondered what was the secret sauce that had allowed a pretty good school system to decay so severely in such a short amount of time, and the answer was surprising: the entire system had been transformed from an enterprise dedicated to the instruction of children to one whose entire operation was for the benefit of the adults.
A great many of the career educators of my youth were still in the system and I sought their counsel. Most telling was an assistant superintendent, Mr. H. "When you were a student here sixteen years ago, our entire administration consisted of four people: the superintendent, assistant superintendent, secretary, and truant officer. We rented space in the May Office Building in town. Now we have just moved nearly one-hundred employees into our own building, which cost over $5 million dollars to build at taxpayer expense. Of those hundred employees, at least half are engaged in making sure we are in "compliance" with federal, state, and county regulations. Another quarter are "supervisors," whose job is to make work for those under them, and of course it all dribbles down to the poor teachers. Our first-grade teachers, instead of teaching during the day and enjoying their families at night are producing lesson plans, which must be written, and which nobody ever reads. Lesson plans for first-graders. And by the way, when you were a student, this county had nearly thirty-thousand other students like you; now that the mines have shut down and people moved away, all this infrastructure goes to educate about nine-thousand students - about a third of the old total."
My grade school had one janitor. Now there were three. One principal. Now a principal and an assistant principal, a nurse, and a "guidance counselor." For eight-year olds. Right. The bus run in the "holler" where I lived had comprised one run in the morning and one after school - with the bus filled to the gills. Now three nearly-empty buses morning and evening, "so the big kids can be separated from the little kids." Yeah.
The greatest eye-opener was how the Board itself had been, like Gulliver, tied down by a thousand threads, each designed to maintain the system's stability. Grievances or problems had been handled previously by individual action; problem solved. Now any employee who got his/her panties in a twist invoked the "grievance" system, tying the system in knots - specifically the school board itself. That was us. We spent 80-90% of our time in grievance adjudication, and if the employee didn't like the outcome, they simply went over our heads, lawyer in tow. A local newspaperman phrased it perfectly: the school system is a giant school bus carrying a plethora of passengers: the students, the parents, the teachers' union, the service employees and their union, and of course the lawyers for all the above. The bus driver has an accelerator and brake. Everyone else has at his seat a giant brake pedal. Should anyone get annoyed, he simply stands on his brake with both feet and the system grinds to a halt. We were reduced to figureheads only; we could make NO substantive changes because whoever's ox was gored would immediately tie us up in a "grievance." We were reduced to lobbying the public to raise its own taxes so we could build new schools with our names on bronze plaques at the door. I became the first Board member in history to actively lobby in the local newspaper against a school bond. I wasn't popular in the Board office. When the head of the teachers' union railed in a public meeting that the buildings were too old to use for teaching, I simply asked her how old were the buildings at Oxford?
I can tell you from reading reports - and from personal experience - the products of this Government School System are for the most part innocent of the most basic facts needed for a successful life.
Tweaks, adjustments, "reforms," et al are not going to make our students in any way competitive in the global arena. Sometimes revolution is needed, and I believe this is the perfect example. The only way to "reform" the education system is with Universal School Choice. It will cause the Democrats and their union masters to shriek like broke-dick dogs, but the very best reform for any system is pure competition.
You spelled it out, really well. My school has 900 students. We have a Principal, a Director of Student Services, 3 Assistant Principals, and a Dean of Students. Most of these folks have their own Admin Assistant. Then there's someone in charge of finances and supplies, a School Psychologist, a School Social Worker, a Family Liaison, 4 School Counselors, Multiple Department Chairs....and then they had to rehire a retired Administrator just to handle virus paperwork. None of these people are teachers...and it is very hard to get a direct answer about anything. Most of what they are engrossed in: policy.
One of the real eye-openers in my experience was the relationship between the Administration and the teachers' union. I'd always assumed that as natural enemies they would keep each other in check. Not so. Their job is to obscure any problems and keep them from public view.
We had a problem with racial violence at our county's largest school. One local doctor got so tired of treating beaten-up - and sometimes knifed - kids that he launched a local lobbying group that gave the Board and Administration a really hard time (This was before I was elected.). He was a colleague, and in watching his group, I realized that the Admin's job was what I called, "diffusing directed energy." I'll illustrate.
Suppose your daughter is assaulted by several "mean girls." This is a real problem, and has been happening over and over to other girls, with no resolution by the system. You go to the superintendent. He says, "Yes, Mrs. Jones, that is an outrage and it won't be tolerated. I am going to take that problem to the Committee on Racial Violence (I made that up.) and they will address it at their next meeting."
So far, so good. What he does NOT tell you is that said committee only meets quarterly. Three months pass. He brings it to their attention. They decide to investigate. When you check over the next year, they tell you they can't comment on an ongoing investigation. In the meantime, you have transferred your girl to another school. Or you have moved to another county. Or you have moved out of state.
The Super has done his job. He kept you from contacting the newspaper or organizing other parents. What he had not done is his REAL job. This is not a bug; it's a feature - part and parcel of the "system." Get your kids out of Government Schools. Now.
My 3 sons are grown and very happily out of our school system. On the other hand, I am a newer Special Education Teacher. I have a front row seat to everything that makes your blood boil and leaves one searching for sanity. I worked extremely hard to get into my position and I am using it to make a difference, behind the scenes. I still advocate for necessary changes. We do not have a bargaining teacher's union in our district. I'm a member of a Professional Association, mostly for legal protection, because I deal with some extreme behavioral challenges.
My niece is trained as a special-ed teacher. She had been assaulted - yes assaulted - so many time by her retarded students, with absolutely NOTHING done by the local system, that she quit and is now a receptionist at an apartment building. She said that nothing would ever bring her back into a schoolhouse.
Thanks, Jim. Well put and so true. I left public for private and while the education is better in some ways, the people are repugnant. I live in a wealthy suburb outside of Boston, though and dream about a regular life in a regular town with schools like the one’s you described 16 years ago. Sad sad sad.
I live in such a place now - on a small piece of property my stepdaughter describes as "like a park," but it's an illusion. Yes, it's a park. For me. But I'm 69 years old, retired, with good retirement income. I spend my days working on old airplanes and keeping my "park" in good repair.
For everybody else, that is out of reach. I have two near-thirty-year-old sons, neither of whom has a job, neither with a wife - or even a girlfriend. Neither with a family. Both educated in Government Schools, with occasional breaks for private education, tutoring, camps. Maybe I should have homeschooled them both. I don't know. What I do know is that there is a tremendous gap between them and Asian kids, but unlike some, I don't fault the Asians; they have done well because they have worked like draft horses. Local kids are working in fast food, in timbering - brutal, dangerous work - and in retail sales. Stories like those of the Asian kids are rare. I sure wish I knew what the hell went wrong.
"the very best reform for any system is pure competition." That is why we need school vouchers. The left fights school vouchers tooth and nail as do the teachers' unions. They are not interested in student educational welfare. Unions are big business and depend on union dues for fat salaries and that is all they care about. Greed drives them.
The left loves to hold up the Scandinavian countries as an example because of the large social programs they have. Well these paragons of social programs all have school vouchers so the parents can decide which educational institution is best for the children not the government. If we have vouchers, you will see a change in public schools in order to compete with private schools.
The left lies about being the party of compassionate welfare and the party that looks out for us but it is all about money. The Teachers' unions contribute large sums to the Democrat Party. They in effect bribe the Democrats to put students' education aside for money. It disgusts me.
That's a great point, smits3, that most people don't know. It was JFK - via executive order, not legislation - that allowed Federal government workers to organize.
As soon as any organization takes its eye off of the customer (the children, in this case) it’s all over. Time to close up shop. The same bloated structure that has been put in place for K-12 is also prevalent in higher education too. Both should be eliminated.
Many don’t really get the “in the service of others” that is so at the core of being human (and successful). Those who avoid such service, really never rise to much - as they are always concerned about self.
I really appreciate Jim writing this and it enlightened me.
smits3 wrote about this quote:
"We spent 80-90% of our time in grievance adjudication, and if the employee didn't like the outcome, they simply went over our heads, lawyer in tow."
I've been in and observed plenty of bad situations that were caused by one or both of the parties involved. Looking at the extreme negative of both sides: Management assumes that since they are management they must always be right and thus don't admit their wrongs, compromise or really listen to the grievances. Employees affected by management often place their rights well before their responsibilities (which often come last).
That being said, these situations are created by both parties especially when people feel entitled to everything. Making smaller organizations thus limiting the number of people often helps, but what is better is creating a culture of listening and teamwork is what helps most. Dialogue without vilifying others allows people to disagree and then compromise.
As demonstrated here, it becomes about the adults: massive bureaucracies, strong entitlement to "my rights", and the complete lack ability to get along.
The children who want to learn really suffer.
Clearly, these adults (and many many more on both the extreme left and right) never learned the basics of kindergarten: use the resources you have, do your tasks first, and play well with others.
Thanks for writing, Jim. Agreed. The only way to affect change is to cut funding like the government is currently doing to you with inflation caused by shutting down energy development. Are you adjusting your lives right now? Damn straight you are. With all the education resources like Khan Academy et al. you have choices.
This situation is one of the primary reasons why we chose to pull our kids out of the (supposedly great) local school district and enrolled them in Catholic schools. While the Catholic schools weren't perfect, we always believed that a much greater emphasis was placed on traditional education and less on bureaucratic BS and the gamesmanship dance between the school board, administration, and the teachers union. Also, when student discipline was necessary - it was taken.
I also like the comment about old vs. new school buildings. In our area, the mantra seems to be "the only good school is a new school". Beautiful historic buildings are being torn down in favor of new cinderblock, cookie-cutter, education factories. Little effort is spent maintaining existing school buildings, knowing that by letting the old buildings get run-down, the chances are better to get state funding and build shiny new buildings in their place.
On a trip past a few large school complexes yesterday in rural Washington and Oregon, I remarked to my husband that we spend millions on school buildings/playgrounds/athletic fields that sit empty for like 4 months plus every year. So wasteful. School should be year round because no kid needs to help with the potato harvest anymore.
In Florida, the school buildings are fenced off and locked during vacations and summers.
I am a big proponent of year round school. This is purely speculative but I suspect year round school may adjust the motivations of who goes into teaching as well. I’ve known a few teachers that shared they went into teaching to have summers off.
Maybe some, but the teachers I know all teach summer school to make extra $$.
Plus, summer is a time to BE A KID--not sit in a classroom. When else in life are you going to end a school year with a seemingly infinite summer stretching out in front of you for you and your friends to have adventures?
The infinite summer adventures of my childhood no longer exist. Children are not allowed to play in their own yards unsupervised, let alone roaming the neighborhood as we used to do. All summer means today is infinite time to spend shooting things in the latest video game.
The Australian system of around 8-10 weeks of school with 1- 2 weeks vacation, with 4 terms spread across the year works much better. Summers are around 5- 6 weeks through Xmas time and new year, being the southern hemisphere.
You're both right about school during summer. The other bad thing about it is that kids simply *forget* half-a what they learned over the long break. Gotta be done over in the Fall.
I don't think most countries do that to their kids. No reason to, now, like You "said," M. Unwoke.
Same here. Our oldest son (who has ADHD) started middle school right after we moved from Kansas to Iowa. His elementary school in "backward" Kansas had all special education services integrated in the classrooms, with students going in and out at various points of the day for whatever services they needed, so no one was singled out or made to feel "stupid."
His new middle school in "famed for education" Iowa had only two options for him: normal classes with no accommodations for his ADHD or the special ed class, which was mostly mentally retarded students. He couldn't cope with the former (especially since the school had a "rotating" schedule, which meant you didn't have the same classes at the same times each day), but the latter had nothing whatsoever to challenge his (not-impaired) intellect.
I had been considering homeschooling since before the kids were born, and fortunately, the new school district had an excellent homeschool assistance program, so we made the leap. I was amazed that, working one on one, we could get through a full day's worth of material in about three hours, and my son was infinitely less stressed out.
The following year, when the school tested our younger son as "gifted" but then failed to do anything about it, he joined his older brother at home, where he quickly caught up to his brother's grade level. When we moved to the rural town where we now live, our oldest was able to go to public high school and *cope.* Our younger son skipped a grade and entered middle school, where he did very well.
I ended up homeschooling their younger sister a few years later (and at least one year later than I should have started). She was more challenging than her brothers, since she refused to remember any information that she did not see any immediate use for. Art was her passion. But she, too, eventually went to public high school and coped well there.
If I had kids today, I wouldn't let them anywhere near the indoctrination centers.
My young kids are in a tiny public school (less than 70 kids total in K-7) in an agricultural area. The building is a tiny little two room school house with a bell tower from the 1800’s and all of the classes were combo classes of different grades. The school has always been very traditional with no amenities besides great teachers - no gym, no lunch program, no after school activities - but I loved the scrappiness of it. The teachers traveled in the summer and incorporated things from their travels into the curriculum, some of the kids rode horses to school, every day starts with the pledge of allegiance still, and the “hot lunch program” was a volunteer sign up of moms who made a home cooked meal for the entire school once per week. I have no idea how this school was never shut down by some government agency in this state but it was/is a gem. Until two years ago when the superintendent retired and some woke one replaced him. Her first order was trying to implement a DEI plan which backfired with the parent body and had to be reversed. She eliminated the cool hot lunch program and tried to implement a new grading system (teachers went to the board against it). Most all of her efforts at “improving” the school failed and she was not trusted by teachers or parents. The school stayed open all during COVID otherwise I would have pulled my kids. I started going to every board meeting and became the school’s PTO president to keep an eye on things. Fortunately the board fired her this year and hired a new guy from rural Alaska.
My kids love their school and I’m still confident they’re getting a great education without the indoctrination but I have toyed with homeschooling all three of my kids. They are several grades ahead of their peers (one of the benefits of small classes is the teachers flex their instruction for the range of abilities) and still love learning. Both my husband and I work full time though. We have flexibility- I work from home a couple days per week and my husband works four 10s. We both love our jobs. If push came to shove and this new Alaskan superintendent doesn’t work out, I would do whatever I needed to do to pull them and homeschool as I will not put them in a different public school for all the reasons discussed here. I have heard other homeschool parents say getting through their lessons goes fairly quick. Is it feasible to work full time and still homeschool? I don’t want to feel like I’m short-changing my kids’ education but on the other hand it seems like they could get so much more out of just two hours of homeschool instruction than 6 hours of public school education. And a lot of learning just takes place in day to day interactions. I would love to hear if homeschooling was really a full time job or if it ended up adding more flexibility to your lives. I suspect it’s the latter but I have a lot of people insisting it’s crazy to even consider working and homeschooling.
We unschooled 4 of our 5 kids. Depending on what kind of homeschooling you choose, your role as a parent will be different. In unschooling, you aren't instructing so much as you are facilitating your kids in pursuing their own interests and passions, so a lot of their learning happens incidentally, in the course of following their individual trajectories. It means that different kids will have different educations, but I think that is the reality anyway given that kids respond to any given instructional experience according to their own personalities, strengths, and interests. (Hence the fact of kids moving through even the same school system yet coming out with different learning and abilities.) The biggest advantage of homeschooling, whether with curricula or not, is the flexibility to tailor the learning experience to the kid, to meet them where they are.
That said, from my experience and observation, the single most fundamental component for any child's successful life preparation is the strength and health of their family relationships. That is true whether a kid goes through a school system or learns at home. Loving, functional family bonds are what will go the furthest in setting kids up for a productive, stable life.
Homeschooling (I speak from experience) is not for sissies--it does require investments of time and money. Social isolation is a danger -- if not addressed creates real problems for children as they turn into adults. On the upside, there is no one standing over you scolding you with their regs and rules. I recommend books, lots of books--not e-books, actual ink-on-paper-in-binding books. Lots of great books available at great prices at Alibris/eBay and other outlets. Best wishes.
The only instances in which I've seen homeschooled children experiencing social isolation is when their parents are obsessively sheltering them from anything outside their own home. In most cases, homeschooled children are far better socially adjusted, since they spend time interacting with people of all ages (the way we all do in the real world) instead of being trapped in an artificial setting with kids of only their own age and (alas) maturity level.
Thanks. Money is not a problem nor are books. I never could get onboard with digital books so years ago I just built a makeshift library in our house to store the books. We have thousands and the collection is substantial including most of the classics. Cole’s book just got added to the pile. That’s actually one of the things that interests me about homeschooling- I love reading and especially love the classic stuff they don’t cover anymore. I want my kids to be exposed to topics and titles that will never make the reading list of a public school. The social aspect doesn’t concern me either - it’s purely the time.
Both my children received good educations from the public and for my daughter, Catholic, High schools, albeit less rigorous than what I remember having had.
However, if they were in school today, I’d home school them for sure.
I saw a short documentary on Catholic schools. They run on a much smaller budget than public schools and had a 90% plus graduation rate and a high rate of students going on to higher education.
I did a lot of research on that back in the 90's. As you say, Catholic schools did better with less, consistently. They don't indoctrinate Catholicism - they don't see that as their mission - but they do teach values, right vs. wrong. What a concept. They tend to give teachers more creative control, aren't unionized and, unbeknownst to many, are mostly located in poor neighborhoods. They also insist on uniforms as a "leveler" - the rich kids can't flout fancy clothes, no one is stealing tennis shoes, etc. Most public schools around the world use uniforms instead of free dress, by the way. Many lessons to learn from the Catholic model.
"We spent 80-90% of our time in grievance adjudication, and if the employee didn't like the outcome, they simply went over our heads, lawyer in tow."
Private businesses have owners and employees. Both are empowered to do one thing: serve customers. Without customers, there is no business, because customers can go elsewhere. Monopoly government ALWAYS AND EVERYWHERE turns this setup on its head. The system is run for the employees ONLY, and the "customer" be damned. The term "public servant" is the greatest euphemism in human history.
The two most frightening sentences anyone can hear, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help", and "I from Microsoft and you will love our new Upgrade".
When I went to grade school, we had a principal, a secretary and a janitor. We need laws that say schools teach the three Rs (The RS is a metaphor for core subjects) and no politics, no sexual "enlightenment" and no social justice. The only sex taught should be sex educate (straight biology nothing more). Teachers should leave their politics and social change philosophies at the door and those who don't comply are fired with prejudice.
Social justice, politics, sexual ambivalence are the parents' responsibility not the schools.
Children came out of one-room schoolhouses across this country with better educations than they get now. They could read, write, and do arithmetic--despite the fact that many of them never went to school after the 8th grade--better than the "high school graduates" than many of these Woke schools are pushing out, unprepared, into a harsh world.
My kids spent time going to school in a rural area in one of South America's poorest countries during their vacation. The school had dirt floors. My daughter's comment, when she was about 8 years old? "They're at least a year ahead of us in math, Dad".
The pity of it is that in marginalized communities, elementary schools are promoting kids who are two to three years behind on standardized tests. That ruins them (yes, it's not an overstatement). We spend way too much time and money on higher education, ignoring closing the gap in elementary school. How about instead of forgiving loans, we provide funding for additional teacher's aides in nonperforming schools? Or is that too radical a concept?
In the traditional one-room schoolhouse, students of all ages and abilities would be grouped by how far they had gotten through the textbook series. They would keep working on the material until they grasped it. The teacher would give each group individual attention at various points throughout the day, and students might tutor each other.
The point was to progress through understanding the material, not to be advanced by age. A student might be determined to catch up with their age-mates (for the sake of pride), but it was not required.
Celia, you are exactly correct! This age promotion nonsense simply pushes the problem to the next level and dumbs down classes. The one room schoolhouse would be a big improvement upon our public school system and I'm speaking as a public high school teacher for 25 years.
You have confirmed for me that changing school board members doesn’t solve the deep rooted issues in our education racket. Thank you for your honest efforts and sensible suggestions.
In another life I sat on a school board for several years - oddly enough in the very county where I had been a grade-school and high-school pupil.
It was the most demoralizing experience of my life. I'd always wondered what was the secret sauce that had allowed a pretty good school system to decay so severely in such a short amount of time, and the answer was surprising: the entire system had been transformed from an enterprise dedicated to the instruction of children to one whose entire operation was for the benefit of the adults.
A great many of the career educators of my youth were still in the system and I sought their counsel. Most telling was an assistant superintendent, Mr. H. "When you were a student here sixteen years ago, our entire administration consisted of four people: the superintendent, assistant superintendent, secretary, and truant officer. We rented space in the May Office Building in town. Now we have just moved nearly one-hundred employees into our own building, which cost over $5 million dollars to build at taxpayer expense. Of those hundred employees, at least half are engaged in making sure we are in "compliance" with federal, state, and county regulations. Another quarter are "supervisors," whose job is to make work for those under them, and of course it all dribbles down to the poor teachers. Our first-grade teachers, instead of teaching during the day and enjoying their families at night are producing lesson plans, which must be written, and which nobody ever reads. Lesson plans for first-graders. And by the way, when you were a student, this county had nearly thirty-thousand other students like you; now that the mines have shut down and people moved away, all this infrastructure goes to educate about nine-thousand students - about a third of the old total."
My grade school had one janitor. Now there were three. One principal. Now a principal and an assistant principal, a nurse, and a "guidance counselor." For eight-year olds. Right. The bus run in the "holler" where I lived had comprised one run in the morning and one after school - with the bus filled to the gills. Now three nearly-empty buses morning and evening, "so the big kids can be separated from the little kids." Yeah.
The greatest eye-opener was how the Board itself had been, like Gulliver, tied down by a thousand threads, each designed to maintain the system's stability. Grievances or problems had been handled previously by individual action; problem solved. Now any employee who got his/her panties in a twist invoked the "grievance" system, tying the system in knots - specifically the school board itself. That was us. We spent 80-90% of our time in grievance adjudication, and if the employee didn't like the outcome, they simply went over our heads, lawyer in tow. A local newspaperman phrased it perfectly: the school system is a giant school bus carrying a plethora of passengers: the students, the parents, the teachers' union, the service employees and their union, and of course the lawyers for all the above. The bus driver has an accelerator and brake. Everyone else has at his seat a giant brake pedal. Should anyone get annoyed, he simply stands on his brake with both feet and the system grinds to a halt. We were reduced to figureheads only; we could make NO substantive changes because whoever's ox was gored would immediately tie us up in a "grievance." We were reduced to lobbying the public to raise its own taxes so we could build new schools with our names on bronze plaques at the door. I became the first Board member in history to actively lobby in the local newspaper against a school bond. I wasn't popular in the Board office. When the head of the teachers' union railed in a public meeting that the buildings were too old to use for teaching, I simply asked her how old were the buildings at Oxford?
I can tell you from reading reports - and from personal experience - the products of this Government School System are for the most part innocent of the most basic facts needed for a successful life.
Tweaks, adjustments, "reforms," et al are not going to make our students in any way competitive in the global arena. Sometimes revolution is needed, and I believe this is the perfect example. The only way to "reform" the education system is with Universal School Choice. It will cause the Democrats and their union masters to shriek like broke-dick dogs, but the very best reform for any system is pure competition.
Methinks that Bari should contact you for another guest post.
Thanks for the compliment, but I'd rather just watch and learn.
Preach, Jim preach!
On your knees, Sinner!
You spelled it out, really well. My school has 900 students. We have a Principal, a Director of Student Services, 3 Assistant Principals, and a Dean of Students. Most of these folks have their own Admin Assistant. Then there's someone in charge of finances and supplies, a School Psychologist, a School Social Worker, a Family Liaison, 4 School Counselors, Multiple Department Chairs....and then they had to rehire a retired Administrator just to handle virus paperwork. None of these people are teachers...and it is very hard to get a direct answer about anything. Most of what they are engrossed in: policy.
One of the real eye-openers in my experience was the relationship between the Administration and the teachers' union. I'd always assumed that as natural enemies they would keep each other in check. Not so. Their job is to obscure any problems and keep them from public view.
We had a problem with racial violence at our county's largest school. One local doctor got so tired of treating beaten-up - and sometimes knifed - kids that he launched a local lobbying group that gave the Board and Administration a really hard time (This was before I was elected.). He was a colleague, and in watching his group, I realized that the Admin's job was what I called, "diffusing directed energy." I'll illustrate.
Suppose your daughter is assaulted by several "mean girls." This is a real problem, and has been happening over and over to other girls, with no resolution by the system. You go to the superintendent. He says, "Yes, Mrs. Jones, that is an outrage and it won't be tolerated. I am going to take that problem to the Committee on Racial Violence (I made that up.) and they will address it at their next meeting."
So far, so good. What he does NOT tell you is that said committee only meets quarterly. Three months pass. He brings it to their attention. They decide to investigate. When you check over the next year, they tell you they can't comment on an ongoing investigation. In the meantime, you have transferred your girl to another school. Or you have moved to another county. Or you have moved out of state.
The Super has done his job. He kept you from contacting the newspaper or organizing other parents. What he had not done is his REAL job. This is not a bug; it's a feature - part and parcel of the "system." Get your kids out of Government Schools. Now.
My 3 sons are grown and very happily out of our school system. On the other hand, I am a newer Special Education Teacher. I have a front row seat to everything that makes your blood boil and leaves one searching for sanity. I worked extremely hard to get into my position and I am using it to make a difference, behind the scenes. I still advocate for necessary changes. We do not have a bargaining teacher's union in our district. I'm a member of a Professional Association, mostly for legal protection, because I deal with some extreme behavioral challenges.
My niece is trained as a special-ed teacher. She had been assaulted - yes assaulted - so many time by her retarded students, with absolutely NOTHING done by the local system, that she quit and is now a receptionist at an apartment building. She said that nothing would ever bring her back into a schoolhouse.
Thanks, Jim. Well put and so true. I left public for private and while the education is better in some ways, the people are repugnant. I live in a wealthy suburb outside of Boston, though and dream about a regular life in a regular town with schools like the one’s you described 16 years ago. Sad sad sad.
I live in such a place now - on a small piece of property my stepdaughter describes as "like a park," but it's an illusion. Yes, it's a park. For me. But I'm 69 years old, retired, with good retirement income. I spend my days working on old airplanes and keeping my "park" in good repair.
For everybody else, that is out of reach. I have two near-thirty-year-old sons, neither of whom has a job, neither with a wife - or even a girlfriend. Neither with a family. Both educated in Government Schools, with occasional breaks for private education, tutoring, camps. Maybe I should have homeschooled them both. I don't know. What I do know is that there is a tremendous gap between them and Asian kids, but unlike some, I don't fault the Asians; they have done well because they have worked like draft horses. Local kids are working in fast food, in timbering - brutal, dangerous work - and in retail sales. Stories like those of the Asian kids are rare. I sure wish I knew what the hell went wrong.
One of Eric Hoffer's Laws: An enterprise begins as a passion, becomes a business, and eventually decays into a racket.
"the very best reform for any system is pure competition." That is why we need school vouchers. The left fights school vouchers tooth and nail as do the teachers' unions. They are not interested in student educational welfare. Unions are big business and depend on union dues for fat salaries and that is all they care about. Greed drives them.
The left loves to hold up the Scandinavian countries as an example because of the large social programs they have. Well these paragons of social programs all have school vouchers so the parents can decide which educational institution is best for the children not the government. If we have vouchers, you will see a change in public schools in order to compete with private schools.
The left lies about being the party of compassionate welfare and the party that looks out for us but it is all about money. The Teachers' unions contribute large sums to the Democrat Party. They in effect bribe the Democrats to put students' education aside for money. It disgusts me.
Exactly. When you combine government money with unions, you have a tried and true recipe for incompetence and self-interest.
Even FDR forbade public employee unions. He knew taxpayers have no one on their side in this arrangement.
That's a great point, smits3, that most people don't know. It was JFK - via executive order, not legislation - that allowed Federal government workers to organize.
As soon as any organization takes its eye off of the customer (the children, in this case) it’s all over. Time to close up shop. The same bloated structure that has been put in place for K-12 is also prevalent in higher education too. Both should be eliminated.
College administration is the core problem, both misgovernance and exploding costs.
Many don’t really get the “in the service of others” that is so at the core of being human (and successful). Those who avoid such service, really never rise to much - as they are always concerned about self.
Very true.
I really appreciate Jim writing this and it enlightened me.
smits3 wrote about this quote:
"We spent 80-90% of our time in grievance adjudication, and if the employee didn't like the outcome, they simply went over our heads, lawyer in tow."
I've been in and observed plenty of bad situations that were caused by one or both of the parties involved. Looking at the extreme negative of both sides: Management assumes that since they are management they must always be right and thus don't admit their wrongs, compromise or really listen to the grievances. Employees affected by management often place their rights well before their responsibilities (which often come last).
That being said, these situations are created by both parties especially when people feel entitled to everything. Making smaller organizations thus limiting the number of people often helps, but what is better is creating a culture of listening and teamwork is what helps most. Dialogue without vilifying others allows people to disagree and then compromise.
As demonstrated here, it becomes about the adults: massive bureaucracies, strong entitlement to "my rights", and the complete lack ability to get along.
The children who want to learn really suffer.
Clearly, these adults (and many many more on both the extreme left and right) never learned the basics of kindergarten: use the resources you have, do your tasks first, and play well with others.
Nicely "said," M. Fellows. TY. Sums it up pretty good. "Bring back the art of compromise" is surefire winner. That's probably why nobody'd go for it.
"...the very best reform for any system is pure competition." Well-stated, and so very true.
So well thought out and written. Thanks for this!
Thanks for writing, Jim. Agreed. The only way to affect change is to cut funding like the government is currently doing to you with inflation caused by shutting down energy development. Are you adjusting your lives right now? Damn straight you are. With all the education resources like Khan Academy et al. you have choices.
This situation is one of the primary reasons why we chose to pull our kids out of the (supposedly great) local school district and enrolled them in Catholic schools. While the Catholic schools weren't perfect, we always believed that a much greater emphasis was placed on traditional education and less on bureaucratic BS and the gamesmanship dance between the school board, administration, and the teachers union. Also, when student discipline was necessary - it was taken.
I also like the comment about old vs. new school buildings. In our area, the mantra seems to be "the only good school is a new school". Beautiful historic buildings are being torn down in favor of new cinderblock, cookie-cutter, education factories. Little effort is spent maintaining existing school buildings, knowing that by letting the old buildings get run-down, the chances are better to get state funding and build shiny new buildings in their place.
Catholic schools all of the way for us for a variety of reasons. No regrets. I taught in both parochial and public....public was horrible.
On a trip past a few large school complexes yesterday in rural Washington and Oregon, I remarked to my husband that we spend millions on school buildings/playgrounds/athletic fields that sit empty for like 4 months plus every year. So wasteful. School should be year round because no kid needs to help with the potato harvest anymore.
In Florida, the school buildings are fenced off and locked during vacations and summers.
Makes no sense.
I agree.
I am a big proponent of year round school. This is purely speculative but I suspect year round school may adjust the motivations of who goes into teaching as well. I’ve known a few teachers that shared they went into teaching to have summers off.
Maybe some, but the teachers I know all teach summer school to make extra $$.
Plus, summer is a time to BE A KID--not sit in a classroom. When else in life are you going to end a school year with a seemingly infinite summer stretching out in front of you for you and your friends to have adventures?
The infinite summer adventures of my childhood no longer exist. Children are not allowed to play in their own yards unsupervised, let alone roaming the neighborhood as we used to do. All summer means today is infinite time to spend shooting things in the latest video game.
The summers kids have now would be no loss.
The Australian system of around 8-10 weeks of school with 1- 2 weeks vacation, with 4 terms spread across the year works much better. Summers are around 5- 6 weeks through Xmas time and new year, being the southern hemisphere.
TY. Yeah, I'd heard about that one. Seems reasonable to me.
You're both right about school during summer. The other bad thing about it is that kids simply *forget* half-a what they learned over the long break. Gotta be done over in the Fall.
I don't think most countries do that to their kids. No reason to, now, like You "said," M. Unwoke.
Home schooled our kids. It was great. Brought the family closer. Also realized even with a challenging curriculum school was done by 11
Same here. Our oldest son (who has ADHD) started middle school right after we moved from Kansas to Iowa. His elementary school in "backward" Kansas had all special education services integrated in the classrooms, with students going in and out at various points of the day for whatever services they needed, so no one was singled out or made to feel "stupid."
His new middle school in "famed for education" Iowa had only two options for him: normal classes with no accommodations for his ADHD or the special ed class, which was mostly mentally retarded students. He couldn't cope with the former (especially since the school had a "rotating" schedule, which meant you didn't have the same classes at the same times each day), but the latter had nothing whatsoever to challenge his (not-impaired) intellect.
I had been considering homeschooling since before the kids were born, and fortunately, the new school district had an excellent homeschool assistance program, so we made the leap. I was amazed that, working one on one, we could get through a full day's worth of material in about three hours, and my son was infinitely less stressed out.
The following year, when the school tested our younger son as "gifted" but then failed to do anything about it, he joined his older brother at home, where he quickly caught up to his brother's grade level. When we moved to the rural town where we now live, our oldest was able to go to public high school and *cope.* Our younger son skipped a grade and entered middle school, where he did very well.
I ended up homeschooling their younger sister a few years later (and at least one year later than I should have started). She was more challenging than her brothers, since she refused to remember any information that she did not see any immediate use for. Art was her passion. But she, too, eventually went to public high school and coped well there.
If I had kids today, I wouldn't let them anywhere near the indoctrination centers.
I wish everyone had you as a teacher. My God, what a mom you are.
*blushes* Thank you!
My young kids are in a tiny public school (less than 70 kids total in K-7) in an agricultural area. The building is a tiny little two room school house with a bell tower from the 1800’s and all of the classes were combo classes of different grades. The school has always been very traditional with no amenities besides great teachers - no gym, no lunch program, no after school activities - but I loved the scrappiness of it. The teachers traveled in the summer and incorporated things from their travels into the curriculum, some of the kids rode horses to school, every day starts with the pledge of allegiance still, and the “hot lunch program” was a volunteer sign up of moms who made a home cooked meal for the entire school once per week. I have no idea how this school was never shut down by some government agency in this state but it was/is a gem. Until two years ago when the superintendent retired and some woke one replaced him. Her first order was trying to implement a DEI plan which backfired with the parent body and had to be reversed. She eliminated the cool hot lunch program and tried to implement a new grading system (teachers went to the board against it). Most all of her efforts at “improving” the school failed and she was not trusted by teachers or parents. The school stayed open all during COVID otherwise I would have pulled my kids. I started going to every board meeting and became the school’s PTO president to keep an eye on things. Fortunately the board fired her this year and hired a new guy from rural Alaska.
My kids love their school and I’m still confident they’re getting a great education without the indoctrination but I have toyed with homeschooling all three of my kids. They are several grades ahead of their peers (one of the benefits of small classes is the teachers flex their instruction for the range of abilities) and still love learning. Both my husband and I work full time though. We have flexibility- I work from home a couple days per week and my husband works four 10s. We both love our jobs. If push came to shove and this new Alaskan superintendent doesn’t work out, I would do whatever I needed to do to pull them and homeschool as I will not put them in a different public school for all the reasons discussed here. I have heard other homeschool parents say getting through their lessons goes fairly quick. Is it feasible to work full time and still homeschool? I don’t want to feel like I’m short-changing my kids’ education but on the other hand it seems like they could get so much more out of just two hours of homeschool instruction than 6 hours of public school education. And a lot of learning just takes place in day to day interactions. I would love to hear if homeschooling was really a full time job or if it ended up adding more flexibility to your lives. I suspect it’s the latter but I have a lot of people insisting it’s crazy to even consider working and homeschooling.
We unschooled 4 of our 5 kids. Depending on what kind of homeschooling you choose, your role as a parent will be different. In unschooling, you aren't instructing so much as you are facilitating your kids in pursuing their own interests and passions, so a lot of their learning happens incidentally, in the course of following their individual trajectories. It means that different kids will have different educations, but I think that is the reality anyway given that kids respond to any given instructional experience according to their own personalities, strengths, and interests. (Hence the fact of kids moving through even the same school system yet coming out with different learning and abilities.) The biggest advantage of homeschooling, whether with curricula or not, is the flexibility to tailor the learning experience to the kid, to meet them where they are.
That said, from my experience and observation, the single most fundamental component for any child's successful life preparation is the strength and health of their family relationships. That is true whether a kid goes through a school system or learns at home. Loving, functional family bonds are what will go the furthest in setting kids up for a productive, stable life.
"Scrappiness" is a really underrated attribute these days. We could use a lot more of it in this country and in our schools.
I agree. It's closely correlated with "grit" and "resilience"—two qualities also in short supply.
Homeschooling (I speak from experience) is not for sissies--it does require investments of time and money. Social isolation is a danger -- if not addressed creates real problems for children as they turn into adults. On the upside, there is no one standing over you scolding you with their regs and rules. I recommend books, lots of books--not e-books, actual ink-on-paper-in-binding books. Lots of great books available at great prices at Alibris/eBay and other outlets. Best wishes.
The only instances in which I've seen homeschooled children experiencing social isolation is when their parents are obsessively sheltering them from anything outside their own home. In most cases, homeschooled children are far better socially adjusted, since they spend time interacting with people of all ages (the way we all do in the real world) instead of being trapped in an artificial setting with kids of only their own age and (alas) maturity level.
Thanks. Money is not a problem nor are books. I never could get onboard with digital books so years ago I just built a makeshift library in our house to store the books. We have thousands and the collection is substantial including most of the classics. Cole’s book just got added to the pile. That’s actually one of the things that interests me about homeschooling- I love reading and especially love the classic stuff they don’t cover anymore. I want my kids to be exposed to topics and titles that will never make the reading list of a public school. The social aspect doesn’t concern me either - it’s purely the time.
Having done so is my biggest parenting regret. I was a product of public education and had confidence in it. No more.
Both my children received good educations from the public and for my daughter, Catholic, High schools, albeit less rigorous than what I remember having had.
However, if they were in school today, I’d home school them for sure.
Mine were in school.during the transition period.
I saw a short documentary on Catholic schools. They run on a much smaller budget than public schools and had a 90% plus graduation rate and a high rate of students going on to higher education.
Lean administration and no teachers unions
I did a lot of research on that back in the 90's. As you say, Catholic schools did better with less, consistently. They don't indoctrinate Catholicism - they don't see that as their mission - but they do teach values, right vs. wrong. What a concept. They tend to give teachers more creative control, aren't unionized and, unbeknownst to many, are mostly located in poor neighborhoods. They also insist on uniforms as a "leveler" - the rich kids can't flout fancy clothes, no one is stealing tennis shoes, etc. Most public schools around the world use uniforms instead of free dress, by the way. Many lessons to learn from the Catholic model.
Nuns with rulers can accomplish educational miracles.
My 65 year old wife still has 'nun nightmares' from her elementary school days at St Alphonsus.
Charter schools as well. Need school choice
"We spent 80-90% of our time in grievance adjudication, and if the employee didn't like the outcome, they simply went over our heads, lawyer in tow."
Private businesses have owners and employees. Both are empowered to do one thing: serve customers. Without customers, there is no business, because customers can go elsewhere. Monopoly government ALWAYS AND EVERYWHERE turns this setup on its head. The system is run for the employees ONLY, and the "customer" be damned. The term "public servant" is the greatest euphemism in human history.
The two most frightening sentences anyone can hear, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help", and "I from Microsoft and you will love our new Upgrade".
Thank you for pointing out that quote, it made me think about how people just are unwilling to get along. Its both bad management and bad employees.
I'm going to write something more but it is in reply to the parent comment by Jim.
Once again, thank you for pointing out this quote.
Ooooweee. You strike lightening *again.* (Meaning, right You are. And yeah, a euphemism!)
When I went to grade school, we had a principal, a secretary and a janitor. We need laws that say schools teach the three Rs (The RS is a metaphor for core subjects) and no politics, no sexual "enlightenment" and no social justice. The only sex taught should be sex educate (straight biology nothing more). Teachers should leave their politics and social change philosophies at the door and those who don't comply are fired with prejudice.
Social justice, politics, sexual ambivalence are the parents' responsibility not the schools.
ABSOLUTELY!
Children came out of one-room schoolhouses across this country with better educations than they get now. They could read, write, and do arithmetic--despite the fact that many of them never went to school after the 8th grade--better than the "high school graduates" than many of these Woke schools are pushing out, unprepared, into a harsh world.
My kids spent time going to school in a rural area in one of South America's poorest countries during their vacation. The school had dirt floors. My daughter's comment, when she was about 8 years old? "They're at least a year ahead of us in math, Dad".
The pity of it is that in marginalized communities, elementary schools are promoting kids who are two to three years behind on standardized tests. That ruins them (yes, it's not an overstatement). We spend way too much time and money on higher education, ignoring closing the gap in elementary school. How about instead of forgiving loans, we provide funding for additional teacher's aides in nonperforming schools? Or is that too radical a concept?
In the traditional one-room schoolhouse, students of all ages and abilities would be grouped by how far they had gotten through the textbook series. They would keep working on the material until they grasped it. The teacher would give each group individual attention at various points throughout the day, and students might tutor each other.
The point was to progress through understanding the material, not to be advanced by age. A student might be determined to catch up with their age-mates (for the sake of pride), but it was not required.
Celia, you are exactly correct! This age promotion nonsense simply pushes the problem to the next level and dumbs down classes. The one room schoolhouse would be a big improvement upon our public school system and I'm speaking as a public high school teacher for 25 years.
You have confirmed for me that changing school board members doesn’t solve the deep rooted issues in our education racket. Thank you for your honest efforts and sensible suggestions.