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Well, being in Louisiana explains a lot-being ranked 50th in quality of education says a lot. Try living in a state ranked #1 and all the things you are complaining about not being done ARE being done here. Our kids' history education up until this point has been totally appropriate and educational. They know a heck of a lot more about our country, wars, etc. then the Iraq war. I think you need to get out a little, stop being so negative and look around. You may have had a bad experience but your are FAR from the norm, in fact, very far and I would venture a guess that your "exceptional" 7 year old would be an average student here. I am sorry to say but you have a very narrow mind about education and hopefully your children are being exposed to other viewpoints.
The problem I have with it is that I have been exposed to another-- several other-- viewpoints. We're in Florida now (which hovers between 45-47 on a good day, and thank all the Gods for Louisiana & Mississippi). We've also lived in a couple of places which were ranked very differently; I attended a boarding school known for its academic quality.
The problem, of course, is that we're here, and for reasons I don't care to go into, likely to remain so for awhile. I don't want my children to have to settle for the local (low) standard. If they're capable of doing more, I see no reason to settle. And if they're not, I want it caught quickly, and remediated quickly-- something a "D" school in a bottom tier county in a low=ranking state will not do. Mercifully, we have not had that problem, nor do I expect it.
To be quite honest, considering most states have 50% dropout rate or higher
No, they don't.
The most pessimistic researchers' view of high school graduation rates is that of Education Week's staff. They show ONE state with a graduation rate below 50%.
Again, maybe the public schools in your area suck but we have wonderful public schools and the cream of the crop are not homeschooled kids-no where NEAR close to accurate. You continue to compare our schools to other countries but you fail to mention that no other country in the world educates ALL of their children.
The in-state testing results for Minnesota suggest that your schools are not as wonderful as you think they are.
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On the 2009 online Science MCA-II:
• 45 percent of fifth-graders were proficient on the Science MCA-II compared to 39 percent in 2008.
• About 43 percent of eighth-graders were proficient, compared to 39 percent in 2008.
• About 50 percent of high school students were proficient, compared to approximately 43 percent in 2008.
Student performance on the Minnesota Academic Standards for Math showed that 41.6% were proficient in 11th grade. This compares to 59.7% in 8th grade and 82.1% in 3rd grade. The percentage declines steadily from 3rd grade. It's hard to know if the 3rd grade proficiency is from the 1st and 2nd grade teachers or if it is from a high level of proficiency the day the children walk into school, having been well taught... at home.
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the cream of the crop are not homeschooled kids
How do you determine that? What's the basis? I'm not arguing the point, pro or con - I am merely curious.
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no other country in the world educates ALL of their children.
According to UNESCO, there are 16 countries in the world with higher literacy rates than we have.
Canada has a higher percentage of college (uni) graduates than we do. The Czech Republic has a higher percentage of people with 12th grade or above.
In Iceland, 93% of their 16 year olds are in school. 36.4% of children in their second year of age attended pre-primary schools. They have 9.3 pupils per full-time equivalent teacher, with high school classes a bit over 18 per room, on average (excluding special education).
Which aspect of "all of their children" do you think we do that those other countries do not?
The most pessimistic researchers' view of high school graduation rates is that of Education Week's staff. They show ONE state with a graduation rate below 50%.
They estimate Ed Week is off by some 9%, over all.
So, the article says that Ed Week is wrong but doesn't give correct statistics. So what are the right numbers then? They can't just say they are wrong and give nothing to back it up.
For your next post, how about sourcing some of your information??
I never said my daughter learned to read in the womb. You are making things up and trolling.
The mass of children are being let down every single day. The proof is the fact proven that the cream of the crop excells best at home, which is very sad.
So I was indulging in hyperbole. The greater point was that if we assume that your daughter is extremely gifted and unusual, then her experience isn't particularly relevant to the majority of students. We've established that some public schools don't have the resources to fully engage the truly exceedingly gifted students.
Where is this proof that the "cream of the crop" excels best at home? (and I'm not talking the very few top kids who have very special needs)
The "mass of children" are not being let down every day. Many are thriving. And if you really think that public schools are failing the majority of Americans, then you should worry for our collective future, as the public school students of today will be the ones primarily responsible for our future.
For everyone who does say "public schools suck" (and certainly there's room for improvement in many schools and districts) it might help to take a step back and look at how far we've come. Every child has the right to go to school. Not just the right, but the obligation. We don't have child labor. Kids don't have to drop out at age 10 to go work. Education is no longer reserved for the middle class or the wealthy. Even if you grow up in a terrible situation you still at least have the possibility of moving up through education.
There are good schools (and yes, there are) and there are bad schools, but when you consider that once the alternative was NO school things don't look so bad.
That in no way means that we shouldn't keep striving to make sure that all kids have the best opportunities possible, and to work on improving the situation for those kids who are failing.
Actually, if you review the history shortly before public schools were officially established, 90% of all kids attended school of some kind outside the home. 10% were homeschooled. If you look at the growing number of homeschoolers, 2%, one must wonder how long it will be before we reach those same statistics. How sad? If our schools were able to provide quality education, not just a mediocre poor excuse we have to give to all kids because it is their right. It is no longer a child's right to public education. It is every child's right to a quality education.
Again, maybe the public schools in your area suck but we have wonderful public schools and the cream of the crop are not homeschooled kids-no where NEAR close to accurate. You continue to compare our schools to other countries but you fail to mention that no other country in the world educates ALL of their children. The vast majority of the counties in the world stop educating their average and below average kids in roughly 8th-10th grade. Only the best of the best get the opportunity to move on to college. Have you been on any college campuses lately and taken a count of the foreign students enrolled in US colleges/universities?? We are comparing ALL US students to the top maybe 5% of students in other developed countries-try comparing apples to apples and you will see a big difference in where the US places.
I meant cream of the crop as in the perfect representation of the demographics that everyone, especially Ivory, states.
How is it possible that we would begin to compare public k-12 education with college education? Colleges have their names to ride on. Their professors don't have that same happy tenures and the lenient system that K-12 have. Lenient not just to the students but to the teachers as well. I just read an absolutely shocking story about some outrage over two teachers in MN (another top ten state ). They apparently assumed that the student was gay and made very inappropriate remarks...one told him after choosing a president for his report that he must be into older guys among other comments. The parents finally pulled him and placed him in another school. Instead of firing the teachers, one male & one female, they kept their jobs. The female teacher was required to take a week long course on diversity in the classroom with special attention to sexual orientation. She went the first day and called in sick for the rest of the week. At the beginning of the next semester, guess who returned happily to work. MN School District Settles for $25,000 After Teachers Subjected Student to Anti-Gay Harassment
You may hear some stories about college professors but there are a heck of a lot more horror stories about k-12 teachers who get off with a slap on the wrist.
Some colleges refuse to give college credits for college level courses taken in high school because of lower standards and sub par teaching of the information. They also offer high school level courses for students who were failed by the public school system...no longer for the costs their parents already paid the public schools to teach that information but to more out of pocket cost to them or their child.
The most pessimistic researchers' view of high school graduation rates is that of Education Week's staff. They show ONE state with a graduation rate below 50%.
They estimate Ed Week is off by some 9%, over all.
The data that I have already shared some place showed that there the average drop out percent is 23.7% combining all demographics of the country. Some demographics have a lower rate while others have higher such as African American boys who had a near 50% drop out rate.
Actually, if you review the history shortly before public schools were officially established, 90% of all kids attended school of some kind outside the home. 10% were homeschooled. If you look at the growing number of homeschoolers, 2%, one must wonder how long it will be before we reach those same statistics. How sad? If our schools were able to provide quality education, not just a mediocre poor excuse we have to give to all kids because it is their right. It is no longer a child's right to public education. It is every child's right to a quality education.
Those aren't the statistics I've seen. Do you have some sources? Many of those schools were also not what we consider schools today. Maybe we're comparing apples and oranges here, but I want to make sure I know what it we're discussing. Are those 90% of all children? Those under 18? Those in 8th grade? Access to education, including quality education, is more equitable now than it used to be; well into the 20th century many non-white kids had NO high schools in their communities, and had to either move elsewhere for boarding school, live with family members in other cities, or drop out due to lack of access. Public schools today certainly aren't perfect, but at least we no longer deny children admission based on their race.
I agree with you that all children have a right to a quality education. I think we disagree in that I think public schools are capable of providing that quality education. Not all do, there are plenty of problems, homeschooling should be allowed, etc., etc., but public schools are not inherently flawed.
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). They apparently assumed that the student was gay and made very inappropriate remarks...one told him after choosing a president for his report that he must be into older guys among other comments. The parents finally pulled him and placed him in another school. Instead of firing the teachers, one male & one female, they kept their jobs. The female teacher was required to take a week long course on diversity in the classroom with special attention to sexual orientation. She went the first day and called in sick for the rest of the week. At the beginning of the next semester, guess who returned happily to work. 
