What makes a good school?

[Retiredcoach]

Mike,

A great school is all about the atmosphere, not only within the school, but within the community. It is all about a "family atmosphere" that reverberates throughout the entire building. It is about the passion for learning, and the compassion when life takes a bad turn. Its about caring and knowing and treasuring about each and every person having importance and value. It's about dedication to the education of every young mind.... striving for excellence and attainment of the highest potential in all endeavors. It is about enthusiasm and pride in who we all are and what we represent.... our country's brightest future.

The best schools are built within communities that foster and value education to the highest degree. Like any investment, schools represent the biggest investment in our country's future.... not a small task, not a cheap task, and not a task that can be taken lightly. The best schools are not just about a competitive sports program nor test scores, they are the products of a dedicated community and state who place value upon the education quality first.

[melannewis]

I'm probably not the best person to respond to this as I gave up on the public school system down here and actually home school my children. One of the biggest disappointments to me is that they always go by the motto "no child left behind". I find this a little ridiculous. My 18 years old son, who was an A/B student in public school up until his 10th grade year is able to do complex trigonometry equations but is totally clueless if you take away a calculator and ask him to mutiply decimals. How can that be?!! I think all schools should stop "exposing" kids to a wide range of concepts before they have even mastered the basics. I had to stop using pre packaged curriculum for my fourth grader because I found it crazy that he was learning about finding the area of a rectangle before he even mastered all of his multiplication tables. Go back to basics!! Not every child needs to be a genius in every subject at the age of 10!!

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by melannewis

I'm probably not the best person to respond to this as I gave up on the public school system down here and actually home school my children. One of the biggest disappointments to me is that they always go by the motto "no child left behind". I find this a little ridiculous. My 18 years old son, who was an A/B student in public school up until his 10th grade year is able to do complex trigonometry equations but is totally clueless if you take away a calculator and ask him to mutiply decimals. How can that be?!! I think all schools should stop "exposing" kids to a wide range of concepts before they have even mastered the basics. I had to stop using pre packaged curriculum for my fourth grader because I found it crazy that he was learning about finding the area of a rectangle before he even mastered all of his multiplication tables. Go back to basics!! Not every child needs to be a genius in every subject at the age of 10!!

Do you realize that is a federal mandate?

[Obxnc7]

Well I guess I should chime in on this as I feel responsible for some of the so called "bashing" of Lee County Schools.....lol. I agree that the question, "what makes a school a good one?" is so very broad that it is almost impossible to answer completely in one day. And different things make different schools good. Not all children need the same type of school and so what may be good for one child may be a disaster for another........

BUT, I think that the main complaint most parents have with Lee County is School Choice. I have to agree with Retiredcoach on this one. Community plays a big part in the success of a school. (You do need good teachers, board members, etc. but I think we all agree on that one....it's a given!) Parents have the right to move into a neighborhood and send their child to the nearby "neighborhood" school. No child, especially elementary age, should be on a bus for hours a day! I think that when you have a community of children that attend the same school, you do foster a sort of family feel at the school, which is nice for students AND parents. We moved from a situatione like this.........and it's comforting to know all of the kids in the school, to see them on the weekend, to know the other kid's parents and know that they also know your kid and their likes and dislikes. And when the neighborhood kids go to the same school, you find that the communtiy you live in takes pride in the school. The community members volunteer, they donate things to the school, and they want to have a successful school where kids flourish for "their" neighborhood. And when you have a family atmosphere, like Retiredcoach said, the children learn from that as well. They learn to be there for their friends when life gets tough, and they learn that every life is important and they learn how to be compassionate and caring. We have stopped teaching our children the golden rule in school, it seems.....and that has resulted in violence in a lot of our schools. IMO, it's time to quit consolidating schools, and time to go back to smaller, neighborhood schools.............I could go on and on, but I won't....lol. That was just ONE reason why we chose private over public in Lee County. There were other reasons as well.

Just for the record......I live very close to a public school my child does not attend. I don't know one child from my immediate neighborhood that does attend school there. So nobody in our neighborhood supports that school. What a shame.........

And, yes, No Child Left Behind IS a federal mandate............a very stupid one!