Getting it right

[akck]

Originally Posted by DannyL

That's politics, as has not a lot to do with how the kids are educated here. We have excellent teachers, and the system is expanding. In fact "Tlingit as a second language" has been started in the elementary school system.

I agree we have excellent teachers and if you can work your way through the system, your child can get an excellent education here. However, we are not immune from the problems facing other school districts. The high school does have an unacceptable dropout rate (I think lower than the national average, but still unacceptable), and there were disruptions problems at one of the middle schools last year. My biggest peeve was how they would try a new method of teaching a subject, only to not have it continue at the next grade level. It soured one of my kids on math since he had to switch back. Even the high school math teachers complained that the kids were coming in unprepared.

With that said, I will say that other than the one math problem, our kids received a good education here and were/are able to move on to college. It does require that parents take a semi-active role in the process to ensure that they get in the right track for a good education.

[DreamChasers8]

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

Of I ever have children, they will be home schooled regardless of how "good" any local schools are. The government will have no hand in educating any of my children if I have them.

I completely agree!!!

[Wrennie]

Back to what DannyL said about influx---I am beginning to blame this on the Discovery channel. We have definitely become the flavor of the decade. So many people coming up with stars in their eyes. My church cannot even afford repairs for all of the sleeping bags/tarps/fire starter kits that we're handing out.

[susitna-flower]

Originally Posted by DreamChasers8

I completely agree!!!

I used to think like this until I decided as a parent it is my responsibility to allow my children to grow beyond my abilities, knowledge, even vocabulary! If I am the only person inputting knowledge, I will limit theirs! The thing I have done is go step by step with them, so they know how to walk a moral road, tell right from wrong, but still be able to negotiate through life after they are out on their own.......

My three kids are great! I have had folks ask me how I ever got them raised so well....MY HEAD SWOLE! Until I remembered, "pride cometh before the fall", and I decided to thank God instead for giving me a little wisdom along the way!

So one of my daughters is graduating from UAF this next week, and has been given a FULL assistance-ship for the PHD program at UAF in Clinical Psychology! Not bad for a gal educated in our local schools (upper Susitna Valley)....My son is going off with a FULL scholarship for his first year of college, educated in the same schools. He is actually more well rounded as a person than either of my daughters, he has interests that range from writing, acting, singing, but also riding the white hills on his Polaris 600 and competing in Arctic Man......Life is good in the Upper Susitna!

[DreamChasers8]

That's wonderful Susitna-flower that your kids have turned out so well. I would assume that the small town living and small schools probably with small teacher/student ratios makes all the difference as well as their upbringing by wholesome parents. I don't know if you were born in Alaska or transplanted to there, unfortunately down here in the lower 48 schools are horrible. The "majority" of teachers either don't care, aren't paid enough to care, or just plain scared of the kids and even some the parents. Students now a days can easily carry an assortment of weapons and threaten teachers to their faces. Along with the lack of education, the kids are just in schools to go with the flow. Drugs run rampant and so does sex. School officials care more about the politics and show than right and wrong. PTA's are full of hot air and meetings mean nothing but empty promises once they are over. There are not enough books to go around for kids to study for test and yet they are given 5 and 6 hours of homework at younger and younger ages to replace what the teacher didn't do during the day. Grades don't even get entered into the grade books (my own personal experiences with my children in school).
I'm just saying that back in the old days it was a parents right and responsibility to educate their children. Not the governments. I don't want schools/government pushing their ideas onto my kids ex. evolution vs. creationism. Homeschooling is made easy now a days too, you can order complete curriculums with answer keys to properly teach the kids in a self learning environment. I don't even have to know all of the answers, hence the answer keys. My kids range in ages of 15 years old to 2 years old. After experiencing the let down of my kids education in public schools I finally decided to take things into my own hands. This is my first year homeschooling my kids and we all love it. I have even learned new things. I'm not saying all schools out there are bad but the school system in America in general needs a makeover. Over seas in places like Europe they laugh at American kids because they are coming out of schools and they don't even know things like who was involved in the American Civil War, or when was the war of 1812, I'm not kidding either. If one parent is able to stay home and chooses to educate their children and properly socialize them as well, I think they should be supported. It's more rewarding than you could ever imagine.
Just my 2 cents, whatever it's worth. Not trying to offend anyone.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by susitna-flower

I used to think like this until I decided as a parent it is my responsibility to allow my children to grow beyond my abilities, knowledge, even vocabulary! If I am the only person inputting knowledge, I will limit theirs!

Absolutely correct! It takes a community to raise children. We've lost, for the most part, the value of an extended family; not replacing it with the facilities of a larger and more varied and functional community is a negative.

[Metlakatla]

I'm no real fan of public schools these days. We ended up sending the Prince to a private school. My last straw was when an English teacher accused him of plagiarism in a free association writing exercise that was done on a daily basis during the first five minutes of class, with no books allowed on the desk. The teacher simply did not believe that the offspring wrote what he wrote, and yet couldn't tell me who did write it but he made allusions that it probably came from one of the American expatriate writers living in Western Europe in the 20's-30's.

Of course the child had not yet even read most of those authors; he was simply a child who could write.

I used to think like this until I decided as a parent it is my responsibility to allow my children to grow beyond my abilities, knowledge, even vocabulary! If I am the only person inputting knowledge, I will limit theirs!

I totally agree with this, though, but I do think, because of my own subjective experience, that parents need to be diligent and involved in their children's education. And the reason I'm not thrilled with home schooling either is that I've seen a lot of children grow up so extremely insular and isolated. Floyd's comments about community are right on.

[rotorhead]

I'll agree with some points from both sides of the equation, education-wise.

Despite 'Shrillerys' exhortations that "it takes a village to raise a child", what it really takes is a family that actually cares. Most specifically, it takes parents that are willing to make the required sacrifices to raise their kids right and educate them to the best of their abilities. It also takes parents that are willing to admit that they have limitations of their own, and are willing to seek out answers and information from outside sources when necessary.

Expecting the public school teachers to just take over and teach your kids everything they'll need to know is unrealistic. No matter how good the teacher or the school is, it is ultimately the parents responsibility.