Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
One well known homeschool program, Abeka, uses video recordings of class lectures combined with book work. It's like sitting in the actual classroom. Our children were so far ahead of public school students that they aced the GED after Grade 10 and entered college two years early. Both have now graduated from fully accredited Universities and our son has a Master's Degree. I recommend it highly.
My oldest is a freshman in public school and could most likely have passed the GED last year.
He'll finish highschool with well over a college year worth of AP credits. He's generally on track to get into about any University in the US.
I'm not dogging on you, I'm merely defending against the many many posts here attacking public schools with a broad brush.
I also supplement his school learning by giving additional reading topics and discussing key events and how they tie into our today, tommorrow and history. This summers reading was The Jungle. Pretty appropriate given all the union discussion here in the US as well as the pros\cons of government regulation as well as some insight into what China is going through right now.
If something is actually a money pit with no value I am going to assume that the individual school districts and families in the district with make their decisions. It's no concern of mine how anyone else spends their money and I am all about choices when it comes to pretty much everything.
From what I personally know about IB, which is only internet stuff I've read and forums I've visited over the last 8 years or so, AP is still the standard and IB is pretty limited. Everyone has different styles when it comes to education and I'm happy to see an alternative even if I personally wouldn't choose it. I feel the same way about a couple programs our district has.
I was thinking the same thing. I've been around here quite a while and to have two new posters jump in so early in an obscure thread in political? Never seen it before.
Excuse me, but is there something in CD's TOS that I am missing? Is there a rule against inviting new people to join City Data to discuss a particular issue? Because I have not yet sent out an e-mail blast to my regular readers to join in as I am busy working a yard sale with my neighbors, but I was planning on it later tonight. I note the "questioners" seem to spend an obsessive amount of time on City Data based on their outrageous number of posts, so perhaps you are feeling invaded? Do you feel that gives you the right to disrupt and attempt to shut down new threads?
Excuse me, but is there something in CD's TOS that I am missing? Is there a rule against inviting new people to join City Data to discuss a particular issue? Because I have not yet sent out an e-mail blast to my regular readers to join in as I am busy working a yard sale with my neighbors, but I was planning on it later tonight. I note the "questioners" seem to spend an obsessive amount of time on City Data based on their outrageous number of posts, so perhaps you are feeling invaded? Do you feel that gives you the right to disrupt and attempt to shut down new threads?
Off topic. And I did address your post to the best of my knowledge. Do you want to discuss it or fight? That seems to be the main issue.
If something is actually a money pit with no value I am going to assume that the individual school districts and families in the district with make their decisions. It's no concern of mine how anyone else spends their money and I am all about choices when it comes to pretty much everything.
From what I personally know about IB, which is only internet stuff I've read and forums I've visited over the last 8 years or so, AP is still the standard and IB is pretty limited. Everyone has different styles when it comes to education and I'm happy to see an alternative even if I personally wouldn't choose it. I feel the same way about a couple programs our district has.
I originally thought that too, but as it turns out, parents have no say when it comes to whether a school district wants to implement IB. The decision rests entirely with the Board of Education. This is why it is so controversial. In many cases, a BoE buys into IB's marketing, spends hundreds of thousands of dollars "exploring" IB for two years before the real "details" are sprung on the parents and the taxpayers. Once the truth about IB is discovered by the public, the only way to get rid of it is to elect new BoE Trustees who will vote it out.
I believe in transparency and accountability when it comes to our taxes and our public schools. There is NONE when it comes to IB. It is frustrating beyond belief to have to file Freedom of Information requests just to get the exam results for exams that WE THE TAXPAYERS are being forced to pay for!
"Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted."
"Give us the child for eight years and it will be a Bolshevik forever."
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
Or you can actually teach your child to be an independent thinker (and give him a library card) so you don't have to worry about the Bolsheviks (or the John Birchers or the Communists or the Tea Party or the Wiccans gathering in the moonlight naked as the day they were born) brainwashing him.
Wow. What an idea. Be afraid of nothing and teach your kids to make up their own minds.
Oh, and I have my own quote: I chose an American:
"Knowledge indeed is a desirable, a lovely possession."
~~Thomas Jefferson.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 08-24-2012 at 01:42 PM..
I originally thought that too, but as it turns out, parents have no say when it comes to whether a school district wants to implement IB. The decision rests entirely with the Board of Education. This is why it is so controversial. In many cases, a BoE buys into IB's marketing, spends hundreds of thousands of dollars "exploring" IB for two years before the real "details" are sprung on the parents and the taxpayers. Once the truth about IB is discovered by the public, the only way to get rid of it is to elect new BoE Trustees who will vote it out.
I believe in transparency and accountability when it comes to our taxes and our public schools. There is NONE when it comes to IB. It is frustrating beyond belief to have to file Freedom of Information requests just to get the exam results for exams that WE THE TAXPAYERS are being forced to pay for!
Sounds like every single problem is caused by people, not the IB program. I don't know how you can ban stupid because if you actually do get rid of one thing (IB) another pops up and takes it's place and once again people will be making decisions.
Sounds like every single problem is caused by people, not the IB program. I don't know how you can ban stupid because if you actually do get rid of one thing (IB) another pops up and takes it's place and once again people will be making decisions.
I wouldn't call it seeking to "ban stupid". I would like our public schools in the United States of America to wisely spend the U.S. taxdollars they are funded with by hard working Americans trying to hold on to their homes which are depreciating daily in value while their school taxes rise exponentially, to follow Federal Law:
Excuse me, but is there something in CD's TOS that I am missing? Is there a rule against inviting new people to join City Data to discuss a particular issue? Because I have not yet sent out an e-mail blast to my regular readers to join in as I am busy working a yard sale with my neighbors, but I was planning on it later tonight. I note the "questioners" seem to spend an obsessive amount of time on City Data based on their outrageous number of posts, so perhaps you are feeling invaded? Do you feel that gives you the right to disrupt and attempt to shut down new threads?
1) Never said it was against the TOS.
2) Never tried to shut the thread down.
<Please don't try to strawman me again....it's kinda embarassing to have to watch.>
3) Merely agreeing with the observation that it looked *odd* and if you need to invite your fan base to new forums like it's some sort of rumble just strikes me as counter-productive to a well reasoned discussion.
You'd be shocked to learn I'm actually listening to your arguments with an open mind. As it turns out, my observation is accurate as to the new posters, not sure why you have to react the way you did as it's not a good way for a "leading expert" to conduct themselves.
I realize that the Progressive movement and the teacher's unions in the U.S. have been dumbing down what has been taught in our public schools for decades and that we spend more $$ per student than any other civilized country on the planet. As a large, diverse country, we also provide free education to untold millions of illegal immigrants, only to be told our system produces inferior results to countries like Finland. The comparisons are apples and oranges and a red herring in terms of this debate.
IB sells three "educational programmes for ages 3-19, the PYP, the MYP and the DP. Only the IB DP is considered a "real credential" by some, and I assure you, even UK universities like Oxford recognize an American HS diploma or the Advanced Placement International Diploma for admission while requiring a score of 38 or higher (on a scale of 24-45) for the IB Diploma, something rarely attained in the U.S. by a tiny minority of the tiny minority of full IB Diploma candidates.
"..universities like Oxford recognize an American HS diploma.." No they don't. To enter an Oxford or Cambridge college, an American must already have a Bachelor's Degree from a U.S. university. It is possible to gain entrance to some of the "red-brick" universities with 2 years of U.S. college which is considered in the UK to be the equivalent of "A" levels... or the IB. The same is true of all universities in Europe. The American High School diploma is not recognized.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
