When did American Public Schools start to go down hill? (paying, history)

[questioner2]

Everyone I talk about tells me how terrible the public schools are now a days. They tell me "in their day" our public education system was much better. The kids minded their teachers, people paid attention in class and the quality of instruction was much better.

If you are a baby boomer or older, do you think the school you went to "in your day" is better than what your kids have today?

If this is the case then there must of been a glory day in America's history when schools were great. In what era was our public education system in good shape?

[Mom2Feebs]

The minute parents put their kids so high on a pedestal that no one could reach them, including the parents themselves, is about when the chocolate ice cream turned to poop.

[Thyra]

It started in the late 60's when my kids started school...open class rooms permissive attitudes..I went to 8 years of Catholic School. Nuns dressed in Habits...48 kids to a class room ... no fooling around.. we learned the most important thing on earth.. HOW to learn on our own in later life! And, boy, when Sr. Mary Catherine hit someone with that pointer...

[dynimagelv]

They turned to crap [and became far to easy] the day after I graduated.....june 1959

[LaoTzuMindFu]

Originally Posted by Mom2Feebs

The minute parents put their kids so high on a pedestal that no one could reach them, including the parents themselves, is about when the chocolate ice cream turned to poop.

Mom2Feebs is right. I think this is when it started, attitudes that are taught in the home not in the schools. I think schools and teachers are fine and are doing the best with what they have, but the problem is really with the parents not being involved with their children's education.

[LordBalfor]

While I cannot put a specific date on it, I do think that various lawsuits filed over the years have done a lot to undermine the authority and options of teachers, school nurses and administrators in regards to both discipline issues and the health of the students. They used to have far more leeway in what they could and couldn't do (a good thing in my opinion). Now they are largely hamstrung because of legal concerns.

Just a small part of a very large problem.

Ken

[domergurl]

When they started tying standardized test scores to school funding ... also, when parents think that schoolteachers can act in loco parentis to their children and blame them for the attitudes of their kids.

[Cali BassMan]

Originally Posted by Mom2Feebs

The minute parents put their kids so high on a pedestal that no one could reach them, including the parents themselves, is about when the chocolate ice cream turned to poop.

Bingo.........................

[Hawkeye48]

We are spending more money on public education than we have in the history of this country. Yet globally, standardized test scores put us in the middle of the pack among many third world countries.

All while private schools do much, much better with much, much less money.

[Visvaldis]

Teachers and the education system are easy targets for placing the blame, also they serve as scapegoats for ignorant parents.
I attended public schools in Chicago from the fifties into the sixties. Being smart was not scorned. Not everybody set their career goals to being a star in entertainment or in sports.
Reading was considered important, as was writing correctly, paying attention to spelling and grammar. Those kids who didn't meet the requirements at the end of a semester had to repeat the semester.