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Fact, it is cheaper to have a high school graduate who becomes an asset to society, than the cost to society of the non graduate who becomes a liability as they get older. How could Randy miss this? She was educated in public schools that don't teach such critical thinking.

The children have a RIGHT to a public education, that is suited to them. That right is not constrained by just including pubic schools, regardless of what Randy and the children haters tell you. It is about the rights of the child not the illogical preferences of adults like pro public school wackos. Randy gets choices all day every day, but deny that to the children. Pro public school only advocates are anti children.

It's all in the tests. Schools don't need day to day micro management. When the nation wide test results come out, they will tell us who are the good shcools and who are the bad. Although we already know.

Bottom line, IT'S ABOUT THE CHILDREN MORONS!

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What I like about this article is that it's about students succeeding at learning. How refreshing afer decades of "Why Can't Johnny Read?"

Innovation happens best on a small scale like this...in many types of organizations. Innovate, evalutate, improve, enhance, review, improve, and so forth. And once the model is showing consistent success, either multiply (microschools) or scale up (charter schools).

This school is about equipping young minds to grow up to be lifelong learners. And probably lifelong inventors, builders, thinkers, leaders. Not because they are being trained to be such, but because they are being challenged and inspired to see how far they can go. Miss Jean, what you are accomplishing will have dividends for decades. You go!

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Sep 20·edited Sep 20

Public schools are akin to child abuse. I applaud Miss Jean for starting her school. Children are curious and should not have a fake curriculum restrain their search for knowledge and understanding. Homeschooling is best, but this looks really good. Classical schools based on using the Socratic method are the only thing close to this in the public system . Randi Weingarten should be put in Gitmo with KSM for her educational terrorism she committed against American children over decades. School teacher unions must be outlawed, disbanded, dissolved, and extinguished.

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Democrats/socialists/communists never go to jail. See "Randi", Fauci, Hillary, Hunter Biden, etc.

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Mr. Brizel,

Shouldn't the teaching of morality be something assumed by the parents? And could you please define the patriotic American values mentioned in your post? There seem to be as many definitions of those floating around as there are of American culture.

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If you want your children to have any sense of traditional morality and patriotic American values-you simply must avoid the toxically woke public school systems

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When I left the Army in 1999, my plan after having spent most of my life moving from one place to the other, was to become a part of a community. That's a fairly typical response for a person of my background. I decided to become a public middle school teacher. Why?

Those people had helped me live my life and go on to some great experiences. They taught me how to read, write, communicate my experiences and interpretation of life, attempt to understand others and learn. Thanks to them I graduated college, went to art school, worked in government contracting, joined the US Army as an Arabic linguist/paratrooper, become a teacher, horseman, "cowboy" during two September cattle round-ups on Zuni Pueblo and a far less successful round-up on land owned by a Navajo friend's mother-in-law, ever-improving guitar player...I'll stop there. They helped me create options for my life. I felt that it was my duty to give kids the same chances by doing what my teachers had done for me.

My question to all the parents reading this article/post is this; when your child had a teacher that was doing the things described in the article, did you support that person by going to the school administration and saying how much you appreciated it? Did you back that teacher up when your student was not receiving what you thought was the appropriate grade, even though it was an actual reflection of your student's efforts? Did you recognize through your actions the work of that teacher, or did you merely pay lip-service to some of the ideals similar to that described in the article?

I've been trying to be the teacher lauded in the article for 23 years now. To be what so many of you want your children to have. And it has not been easy, but it could have been with a lot more support from the parents who valued what was going on in my classroom. And I will say this; there are a lot more teachers like me in the public school system than you might think.

Don't run from public education; support in the best ways that you feel you can.

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I have applauded teachers to the administration both at the levels of principal, superintendent, and School Board. The problem is a system that is not designed to help the child but instead to support the System. Schools of Education are by and large a waste. The requirements are to limit those allowed into system.

A person with a PHD in math can teach in a university but not a high school. A person with a Masters in literature can teach in college but not in a high school. but I understand there are certain principles for teaching younger children.

We need to radically change the Educational System just as we need to throughly change our federal and .state bureaucracies

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Sep 20·edited Sep 20

Former teacher. One of the biggest problems? The federal law, the America with Disabilities, demands that every (EVERY) special Ed student succeed. Regardless of their aptitude OR their behavior. Even if teachers must spend 3x's the effort for these students. They get simpler tests, they get written notes, they get more time on their tests, they legally get more help than the non spec Ed kids.

Sorry, these students... cannot typically succeed at algebra 1, much less calculus. If you are stupid enough to fail a spec Ed student? You, the teacher, are the problem. Because they are "passing" all of their other classes.

So, the system teaches you, forces you, to give them a 70.

And every other student learns how little work they have to perform to get a 70. Why work harder? Johnny is passing.

When everyone gets a 70, nobody is really learning...

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School choice is undermining Randi Weingarten's bank account. Public education is failing our children. No child in the US should be denied the joy and freedom of being able to read. That should not be acceptable. Period.

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Bravo. First, let's understand that marginalized communities are marginalized because teachers unions marginalize them. Second, let's recognize that age stratified school "classes" are the dumbest innovation of the century. Nothing like grouping ignorant 15-year-olds with a peer group of ignorant 15-year-olds to extinguish development, reason, temperament, wisdom, respect, honor, kindness, and progress. The 1-room model had responsible near adults in the same room with younger kids in need of role models. Wish our young teens had role models other than other moronic young teen "influencers."

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Sep 20·edited Sep 20

Yep, that entire “puff daddy” and “Taylor swift “ vibe is poisoning the children.

“Gots my money, you take yours.” Sorry, that won’t improve anyone at all. Most folks are kind and generous and gentle,until you give them a hard reason to not be like that.

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Excellent points and unfortunately too true.

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Imagine just how far we would have come with technology the last 50 years if the industry was being run by government. Well, that's what has been happening in the education industry for well over 50 years with continuing, predictable disastrous results. These innovations are only happening now because of the very small concessions to a free market in education due to school choice, vouchers and homeschooling being allowed. If the government's vice grip on education vanished completely, imagine just how wonderful education would be 50 years from now. The problem is NOT the education industry or the people working in it, per se, but the fact that it is an industry that fundamentally is held in thrall by government bureaucrats, fiats and dictates.

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Look at what has happened to NASA the last 20 years. It went from being a scientific merit basis agency to one that now pushes DEI, Climate change and is only concerned with covering its behind.

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Well, there's news. An industry with government intervention that isn't doing well.

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Mr. Shurts,

It has been my experience that those (unnamed) fiats and dictates mentioned by you are rarely enforced. They cannot survive the gnat-like attention spans of government bureaucrats, or the most recent "professional development" in which the latest/greatest "best practices" or "learning technologies" are touted by some company hawking its wares to said bureaucrats. There is a lot of money to be made in the "education industry" and the free market is taking as much advantage of it as it can.

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Do you mean an education industrial complex? These "industrial complexes" seem to be popping up in all industries the government regulates and/or controls.

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There are similarities here to the Montessori model.

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The education establishment should be asking "WHY?" Why is homeschooling so popular, why are micro-schools a thing, why is school choice being passed by so many states, why, why why?! If they were true educators with curious minds they would be trying to find the reasons behind the trends, not vilifying the folks that just want their kid to go out into the world with the best possible chance to succeed!

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Sep 20·edited Sep 20

Why? Because teacher’s unions hate children. And love their pensions and pay packages. To heck with the children. They actually do NOT want our children to be educated. They want slaves instead who can’t think, can’t reason, can’t do simple mathematics, nor anything else, but play sports, mow their lawns, and be nannies to their children.

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What is ironic, is that the democratic party should own this issue and they probably would were it not for the teachers union.

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Back in the golden dawn of government education we were promised by Horace Mann that his "common school" would lower the crime rate by 90 percent. How are we doing, Horace?

In the event, of course, the government schools are just a way for the politicians to funnel money to their supporters. And to heck with the kids. 'Twas ever thus, and ever will be.

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Mr. Chantrill,

I'm not sure I see the connection between the two statements.

You don't really think the classroom teacher is doing the work for the money, do you?

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No, they do it for the retirement benefits, work benefits, extended vacations and some actually love the power they have over kids and teenagers.

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At $100k plus for 10 months work, they are in NJ.

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I think all of this disruption is great! My accounting teacher said from many years ago, “confusion is a higher state of knowledge than ignorance.” It doesn’t relate exactly to this situation but I think this “chaos and disruption in education is a higher state of knowledge than ignorance (ie status quo)”

I’m happy things are being challenged. Something better will emerge that’s better for the kids. We have one chance to get this right!

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I would have liked more clarification in this article on whether this is about funding alternative public schools such as charters or funding for religious private schools.

Be careful what you wish for when it comes to wanting tax dollars to pay for private schools. That means any religion can open up their own schools and have us pay for them.

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founding

Taxpayer dollars shouldn't be funding any ideas. There should be complete separation of education and state, just like there should be complete separation of church and state. In addition to producing really bad results, government schools are a violation of free speech. They force taxpayer to pay for the promulgation of ideas they may or may not support. All of us are paying for some ideas we don't support, which is why there should be a free market in education. It's the parents job to decide where and how their kids will be educated.

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My first thought to Moderate Mom's comment was: Well, taxpayers are already paying for religious indoctrination in the public schools in the form of LGBTQ+ and CRT curriculum. But on second thought, Moderate Mom has a point. Will this mean Islamists could open a Madrassa and taxpayers would have to foot that bill? I agree, we need clarification.

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Memento,

I will argue that religious indoctrination takes place when the phrase "...one nation, under God..." from the Pledge of Allegiance is intoned over a school PA system.

Should those who place their version of God above a nation be forced to stand? Should those who do not believe have to listen? Invocations of some deity in front of a captive audience are a form of bullying.

Things like sexual orientation, religious beliefs, etc. should be left to the realm of personal thought. I agree with you and Moderate Mom. Clarification is needed.

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