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Homeschooling yeah nice, how many families can afford to have only one working parent?
Lets get serious here..... can we rear our kids like we want? NO. Society tells us how to raise our kids, the government tells us how to raise our kids. The Politically Correct groups tell us how to raise our kids ~ But lets blame 90% on the parents....
Look at the educational atmosphere, can you really tell me it's challenging? For how long have the test scores been falling in public schools? Why are the dropout rates of high school kids so high? Is it the parents fault again?
How about we take a real long hard look at the San Antonio school system... Why are our kids bored at school? Why are they disenfranchised with school? When the kids see our politicians cheat and lie and get away with it what morals is society teaching?
I see these multi-million dollar sports complexes.. sports are nice but what does it teach? I can see it now on someones resume "I competed in the breast stroke in high school", "I blocked 20 shots in one game"~ Boy now that'll get you a good job.
As had been said many times, if the school system were a business and the students it's product they would have been out of business a long time ago.
Homeschooling yeah nice, how many families can afford to have only one working parent?
Every family can afford it. I know this because we started our family while my husband was still in graduate school, working off of a $23K stipend...and then he got a second job teaching college part-time which brought us another $14K per year.
ANYONE can.
It involves huge sacrifices....but anyone can. I cringe--literally cringe--when I hear the sentiment that it is not possible. It's simply not true.
Every family can afford it. I know this because we started our family while my husband was still in graduate school, working off of a $23K stipend...and then he got a second job teaching college part-time which brought us another $14K per year.
ANYONE can.
It involves huge sacrifices....but anyone can. I cringe--literally cringe--when I hear the sentiment that it is not possible. It's simply not true.
It's about priorities.
Thank you! We don't make a lot of money but I can stay home due to budgeting and saying no to all the 'stuff'. It can be done and in our household it will be done. I'm 99% sure we will be homeschooling in August.
They should just expel all those morons that love to waste our tax dollars. The education system is a business, but then again parents are sometimes controlled by Child Protection agencies and such tree huger type of program. If only they'd be a a regulation to spay and neuter all those hooligans. Dont get me wrong, but those are future system moochers. and what good are they going to contribute to society? All of those nice section 8 houses they are building across the street will eventually be occupied by those gun wielding idiots.
Homeschooling yeah nice, how many families can afford to have only one working parent?
It's not a necessity - it's an option. For us, it was being "connected" - through our kids, the teachers and the school. Raising 4 kids, there wasn't much "extra" money, but we spent a LOT of time with them - much more than many do today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by plwhit
Lets get serious here..... can we rear our kids like we want? NO. Society tells us how to raise our kids, the government tells us how to raise our kids. The Politically Correct groups tell us how to raise our kids ~ But lets blame 90% on the parents....
Really? Horse apples! That's a cop-out. I raised our kids to OUR standards, which included a visit from CPS when my stepson cried "child abuse" because I spanked him. CPS came in, I told him that when he got out of line (disobeying, back-talking, etc.), he'd get 1-3 swats on the butt. If he made the SERIOUS mistake of lying about ANY aspect of it, he got twice the punishment. I was asked when the discipline would take place, and I explained that if it was something REALLY bad that made me mad, I'd wait until I could "cool down" - but always within the same 24 hour period of which I was made aware of the situation. I WAS FOUND TO NOT BE ABUSIVE, and the "case" was closed. So the myth that we can't discipline our kids is just that - a myth. NO ONE is going to TELL me how to raise my kids, so yeah - if someone is gonna tell me "society" won't let 'em, then I'm gonna call BS on it.
It's VERY inconvenient to be a parent, to be sure - and frustrating as the dickens. You'll hear every excuse under the sun, you'll be told how mean you are, and how everyone else gets to do something you won't allow them to do. I didn't care - we were gonna do it MY way. LOTS of hours spent doing the hard stuff of riding herd on them, but it was worth every second of it. Now that they're grown, they realize that I loved them ENOUGH to do the disciplining needed to keep them in line (each child IS going to be different, and present different challenges).
Quote:
Originally Posted by plwhit
Look at the educational atmosphere, can you really tell me it's challenging? For how long have the test scores been falling in public schools? Why are the dropout rates of high school kids so high? Is it the parents fault again?
Tell me....who LETS the child drop out? Who ALLOWS the child to fail by not monitoring their homework and course work during the course of a week? I could tell you my kids' averages on an ongoing basis - most parents can't, because "they're too busy with work". My wife just retired after 29 years of teaching, and I can't tell you how many times she'd send notes home to parents and never get a reply. How many times she'd request a meeting with the parent without a response. How many times she'd even try to reach the parent, only to find out that EVERY number the school had on file for them was a disconnected one. The teacher has the student for 8 hours a day (round numbers) - the parents for 16, PLUS the weekends. I'd sit down with the kids and help them with their homework. I would NOT do it for them, but I'd do whatever was necessary to make sure they understood how to do the coursework.
Quote:
Originally Posted by plwhit
How about we take a real long hard look at the San Antonio school system... Why are our kids bored at school? Why are they disenfranchised with school? When the kids see our politicians cheat and lie and get away with it what morals is society teaching?
The teachers can't teach in an atmosphere of "you can't make me do it", or "I'll do what I want, and there's nothing you can do to me!" The teachers didn't make that rule - the PARENTS did when they demanded that Corporal Punishment be taken out of the schools. Dr. Spock had a field day - and the kids have suffered for it since. I've seen my wife accused of lying by a parent because little Johnny/Joyce would go home and tell them a lie - and the parent automatically believed the child. I raised my kids to KNOW that if there were two stories, I'd believe the teacher EVERY time unless they could PROVE otherwise - and yes, there WERE times that I'd go to bat for my kids, because they COULD prove their story - but practical experience proved to me that 99% of the time, the kids were either lying, or not telling the ENTIRE truth (which in our household was the SAME as an outright lie). When the kids see their PARENTS reelect the cheating, lying politicians, the PARENTS teach their kids morals. When kids see their parents lying to a cop trying to get out of a ticket, their getting their moral lesson. When kids see parents switching price tags, or any other method used to "get over" on the system, THAT is when they learn their morals.
My kids knew they'd get one of three answers when they asked something:
"Yes"
"No"
"Maybe"
If "yes", then whatever was promised WOULD happen, period - no matter WHAT it took. If "no" - then it would NOT happen, period - no matter what arguement they attempted. "Maybe" meant just that - it was either still under consideration, or that there were too many variables to be able to give a definitive answer at that point in time. Nowadays, parents will do WHATEVER the kids want just to get "peace" in the home. I can promise you - if ANY of my kids had EVER spoken to me in the manner I see and hear many kids speak today, they'd STILL be having trouble sitting down!
Quote:
Originally Posted by plwhit
I see these multi-million dollar sports complexes.. sports are nice but what does it teach? I can see it now on someones resume "I competed in the breast stroke in high school", "I blocked 20 shots in one game"~ Boy now that'll get you a good job.
Now, there - we have NO arguement. In fact, I'll go one better - I don't CARE if a 6th grader can run a computer - can they do the 3 R's??? Spellcheck won't help you construct a proper sentence, or catch the error when you write "there" instead of "their" - but the folks around you that DO know the difference (and are deciding whether you're going to get the job you're applying for) will sure know just how smart you are NOT.
Quote:
Originally Posted by plwhit
As had been said many times, if the school system were a business and the students it's product they would have been out of business a long time ago.
....and if many of the parents had to get a license to have kids, the population of this country would drop like a rock.
Homeschooling yeah nice, how many families can afford to have only one working parent?
Lets get serious here..... can we rear our kids like we want? NO. Society tells us how to raise our kids, the government tells us how to raise our kids. The Politically Correct groups tell us how to raise our kids ~ But lets blame 90% on the parents....
Look at the educational atmosphere, can you really tell me it's challenging? For how long have the test scores been falling in public schools? Why are the dropout rates of high school kids so high? Is it the parents fault again?
How about we take a real long hard look at the San Antonio school system... Why are our kids bored at school? Why are they disenfranchised with school? When the kids see our politicians cheat and lie and get away with it what morals is society teaching?
I see these multi-million dollar sports complexes.. sports are nice but what does it teach? I can see it now on someones resume "I competed in the breast stroke in high school", "I blocked 20 shots in one game"~ Boy now that'll get you a good job.
As had been said many times, if the school system were a business and the students it's product they would have been out of business a long time ago.
I have to respectfully disagree with everything you've said. Not sure why there seems to be this sudden need to bow down and care so much about what society/schools/Spurs fans/the far right/etc. thinks about what one does and does not do or say or believe. But, no one is telling me how to raise my children. And when I screw them up in one way or another, that will be my fault and I'm certainly not going to blame a teacher, or society, or television or McDonalds. Screw the village mentality, this is my job (whether I like it or not) to raise these kids and make the correct choices for these kids day in and day out.
If kids drop out of school it is absolutely the fault of the parents. I am overwhelmed by the amount of school work my child AND I are responsible for on a daily basis. The amount of homework and special projects and school events and tutoring and helping her learn to read is literally a full-time job. But I can't sit by and expect one teacher of 22 students to do it all. Again, I am the parent and it is my job to make sure my children are not only educated, but are absorbing and building on the knowledge they receive at school. It is my job to make sure they know education is a priority, their duty and their road to success.
I understand the fear about school these days, but I still believe the rewards outweigh the very slim risk of them being involved in some sort of school violence. School is not just about sitting at a desk learning ABCs. I do believe it provides great experience in learning how to interact with others, whether it be other adults, friends or bullies. I think school -- and particularly being away from mommy -- helps children become more independent. At some point kids must leave the nest. Sheltering them while they are children is only a disservice.
Which brings us to sports. While I don't think I have ever put the fact that I was on the crew team on my resume, I can tell you having to get up for practice at 4 a.m. 6 days a week gave me more lessons in commitment, team work and responsibility than any physics class. The purpose of sports is to build character. The purpose of school as a whole is to produce not just a smart student, but a well-rounded student.
From someone who has had to deal with CPS in Texas, CPS often does nothing when there really is child abuse. CPS is not going to do anything when you spank your child within reason.
TexasRedneck did a really good job explaining why most of the fault falls on the parents. In schools serving bad neighborhoods, the students are terribly rude to the teachers and do not care about learning. The teacher can't make your child do anything and it's not their job to raise your kids. It is the responsibility of parents to make sure their children respect adults, are well behaved, and get their homework done at home. It is also not the school's job to go to your home everyday and make your child attend.
Indeed. Nothing found. More hysteria. Part of the problem is the viral issue which allow these rumors to be spread by students through mass digital communication. The schools should jam cell phone signals perhaps because twice this year it has not been conducive to learning.
The other part is parents, yes the ones who engage in this hysteria, who spread rumors. Someone needs to slap them silly because they are even among us, and so emotional, so wanting to see someone pay, but pay for what, rumors?
Also notice most of these schools are not in the core inner-city. I remember when Columbine happened, the students involved also were nothing like the type you would find in our inner-city.
This seems strangely a suburban problem, yet in the inner-city where gangs and guns do plague the streets, there are no such issues. It seems some sides of town have to make up their own problems because they don't really have many. Must be nice for Jim and Sally to skip out yet again!
Quote:
Originally Posted by plwhit
Homeschooling yeah nice, how many families can afford to have only one working parent?
...
Look at the educational atmosphere, can you really tell me it's challenging? For how long have the test scores been falling in public schools? Why are the dropout rates of high school kids so high? Is it the parents fault again?
...
As had been said many times, if the school system were a business and the students it's product they would have been out of business a long time ago.
Agreed. The dual-income family on a social level has destroyed much of the fabric of America. Industrialists wanted this, they can pay one parent half as much, buy a cheaper product, our labor, and in many cases have to have the other parent also work.
I always said if you want to destroy a nation insure both parents are out the home, raise the children with Jerry Springer type shows for after-school programming, and let the advertisers do the rest.
Standardized testing is also a core issue. As the school system itself. Again school is just to insure the industrialist have obedient workers, not productive thinking members of society.
Merovee, that is where you are wrong. Inner-city kids have to deal with gang activity, fighting, and even hear gun shots on a regular basis on their way to and from school; the media just doesn't cover it. It is expected, so no one cares. When something violent happens in a nice neighborhood, everyone freaks out and it's all over the news because things like this shouldn't be happening to the well-off. Columbine is nothing compared to the number of innocent people who have died at the hands of gang and drug violence.
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