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I think that many people underestimate the negative effects of a home environment where education, or being smart has little value.
There are many homes where mom spends the day watching TV (including the soaps, Oprah, etc.), and later dad comes home to spend the evening watching sports. Both parent immerse themselves in the mediocrity of TV, day after day. None of the parents read anything, not even a newspaper, much less a book. They probably would have difficulty writing a short letter. If a child grows up in this environment, he/she may wonder, why bother to learn how to read or write? What good is it?
When my son was in 1st grade and not reading, his teacher said to me, "Your son is not reading because he is not seeing you read and write. You have never read to him. He hasn't been exposed to reading and writing." She also asked me if we needed to sign him up for free or reduced lunch because he couldn't catch on to reading.
I said to her, "I am a college graduate. His father has a master's degree from Harvard and is a brillant nationally known trial attorney. We are both published writers. Many members of my family are published writers and we all read every day, books and two newspapers daily, and we all enjoy writing letters to the editor and op-ed pieces for the newspaper just for fun. My son has over 1,000 books in his bedroom and I have read to him every day since he was an infant, sometimes hours at a time."
She says, "Oh, well, I see the problem now. You over-emphasize reading and writing and that is why he is not able to read or write."
No matter what, the teacher's inability to teach him how to read and write was my fault.
The problem was he is dyslexic and once enrolled in a private school for kids with dyslexia that has truly gifted talented well-trained teachers he learned how to read and is now reading above grade level. The public school would not acknowledge the dyslexia. It just simply was MY FAULT he couldn't read.
what most people fail to understand and acknowledge is that a child who has not learned to read with some fluency and skill but the age of 8 WONT--unless drastic and intensive tutoring is done to make up for what has been missed...and I mean any child--not one with dyslexia or other learning disabilities--
in my hs in TX--part of the English dept job was to help 10 n 11th grade students be ready for the TAKS reading tests that junior students (at that time) has to pass to be eligible for graduation--we had many ESL students who struggled with English period--much less reading on grade-level---there were students who had a very erratic home life and school attendance in their past history--there were kids who had been to school every day since kindergarten and still struggled---
we had a reading teacher come in twice a week and pulled our most needy kids out of regular English classes for small=group reading enhancement. No every child that needed help could go--we had to triage our choices. And she was a good teacher but it was such an uphill climb to make even a small percentage improvement in their reading ability...and often without continuation of that assistance, the students would lose those hard-won incriments and just return to the same struggle...students who made improvement as sophomores would need the help again the next year--
it is like part of the brain has atrophied and really can't be awakened...
SO much work needs to be done with young chldren who are in danger of not getting the testing for difficulties, the right environment (because that does make a different to so many children and adults) and incentives for reading--and NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND just does not address the ROOT of why kids can't read or do math or have poor attendance
Making a law that holds educators responsible is not how to solve this educational crisis--it is just a cover-my-ass lip service by state legislatures and the federal govt who cut the budget of Head Start and other useful programs
most jail and prison inmates read at a 4th grade level or below---what ever the reason, you can't help but wonder if better reading skills would make a difference there...
The problem I have run into over the years with my son in public school is the deliberate “dumbing down” of the students. It seems they are more concerned about building self-esteem and fairness than setting realistic educational standards while preparing them for what they will face in the real world. There is no fix for the public school system in whole. You have some very good individual schools here and there throughout the U.S., but in a whole it’s just garbage.
Over the past 15 years they have systematically moved away from phonics to word memorization. Math has gone from learning proper structure to figuring out the correct answer to approximating, and the list goes on and on. On paper the “No Child Left Behind Act” works perfectly, the problem is scruples administrators have learned how to manipulate the system in order to benefit themselves. I could type on and on about my complaints with the public school system, but they know we are a nation divided when it comes down to standing up for our “real rights” in this country, and they will continue to take advantage of our division until we become a conquered nation; then it will be too late.
American students are constantly losing ground to their European counterparts, but that doesn't bother many Americans. The effects will make themselves known in the future. That is America's future.
How can you make it to High School and be reading and writing at a 3rd grade level? I think if you are doing 3rd grade work you should be in the 3rd grade no matter how old you are. Or maybe a special class, but not in a regular 10th grade class. I do not think you should get a 12th grade diploma either.
Does that sound to harsh or do you agree?
I've seen this first-hand. For people I went to high school with and then later to college with as well. It happens. At least for what I saw first-hand it seemed that the teachers & professors were inconsistent in how they assigned grades. For me, an obvious US born native they expected a lot - for my peers, they were born in a different country and were held to a different and lower standard when it came to written and spoken english fluency.
I agree with you. It is so sad what has happened to our public schools. I'm so fortunate to be able to homeschool my boys. You can see the decay of society whenever you are out...kids are a mess. I blame the schools and their poor education, the budget cuts that have made schools this way, the parents who have too many wants and so have to both work and can't be there for their kids, video games and tv, and the silly belief that a computer can replace books and a good teacher.
Please people, stop falling for the "budget cut" baloney the public school system constantly advocates. If any of you were to do a search of your state's education budget each year, I believe you would struggle to catch your breath. True, many states have “cut” their education budget, but take a look at what they are still receiving. If the funds were used for there main purpose which is to educate I know we would see better results.
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Public school's suck
