School starts tomorrow! How about in your areas?

[Melissa]

Teachers do get the short end and in the end it seems to fall on their shoulders which is far from fair. Parent's should be the one's to take the lion's share of the blame. My son also has done fine on the FCAT (Your just focusing on Core curriculum after all) but like you said they aren't learning basic every day fundamentals that get you by in the real world. That's why I stated they should bring back more vocational class's such as auto-mechanic's, welding, Agriculture, AC repair and so on & so forth. I know some schools may still have some of these, I'm not sure. A couple of years ago I noticed my sons hand writing. I was like "what the fuck is this, it's barely legible". He said "The teacher can read it". Are they trained in Heiroglyphics? It's because they do not teach basic writing fundamentals in schools anymore. So I made him sit down for an hour a day a write something out of a book, day after day after day. Now his hand writing(along with cursive) is really good.

Oh I agree, like I told A4P, I'd never blame teachers, of course it's far from fair for them to take blame. I know their hands are tied when it comes to the standards they are told they have to go by, they don't have a choice. And so funny, I've been making my son do the exact same thing to improve his handwriting

[Panther]

Not sure how Governor Goodhair is going to handle this now that he has presidential aspirations ...

Just what this country needs...Another Texas Governor wanting a new job. What could go wrong with that? It seemed to work out so perfectly last time around.

This one just may be worse ... and I didn't think that was possible.

Hubris on the hoof.

^5 Fu! I waffle between being overly happy that he will no longer run roughshod over us and prepping my itinerary to get the hell outta dodge upon his swearing in. Just a scary thought all the way round.

Twisted child starts back on the 22nd (I have to admit I'm liking this standardized start date for the majority of schools). I need to get her in touch with Deb... this child claims she wants to take over her bubs drum kit.... lol I'm thinking something a bit more.... easy on my sanity.

[Clasicrockldy]

My daughter's school actually started on August 12th. Since she is a new student, she has to go to orientation today, and then start classes tomorrow. (I am sending her to a Sutter County school). It is a small school, so I am hoping she will get with the program and use her brains to do schoolwork, instead of getting into trouble.

[S2M]

Personally, I think highschool should be run a little closer to that of college. Let kids pick their own classes. I had no use for english, yet had to take 4 years...give the kids the option of testing out, and getting the credits. Offer more electives. Highschool is a time to discover what interests you. If a kid wants to spend his entire 4 years in the basement(shop, art, auto), so be it....dont force Chaucer on a kid that wants to build cabinets for a living....or diagramming sentences on a girl who wants to do interior design. IMHO, standards are the wrong way to go....i was good at science and math. I didnt particularly like math, or see the need for quadratic equations...but i did it. I could have been doing something else...like a writing workshop, or an extra ancient history class. Give kids the option to test out for credits. Time is important to kids too...you dont want yours wasted. Neither do they....

[Gideon]

dont force Chaucer on a kid

Just stop there. The Canterbury Tales are so dry and boring, I wouldn't wish them on any kid.

[artist4perry]

S2M that sounds good I guess, but look at it this way, you don't want little Sean to grow up and not know how to write a proper resume, or to be able to read, or to have some basic knowledge of many things.

Let's say their boss to be is big into the arts, and talks about them all the time. Let his competitor little Rick come along and he knows lots about the arts. Both little Sean and little Rick are up for a big promotion. Both are equally qualified for the job but the boss likes talking to little Rick because they have so much in common. Little Sean has no clue about the arts and is left out in most conversations. Now who do you think will get hired?

General knowledge of many subjects can sometimes make or break you. If nothing else, you never know where simple knowledge can get you.

As a former high school teacher I would have loved to only have students interested in art. But truthfully, they would not have enough teachers for students if they chose. Some classes would be too full, some too small. They have to by law be there all day in some schools.

I by law was only supposed to have 150 students at a time for Jr. and Sr. High. They accidentally signed 185 to me. That is how many wanted my class that year. They had to drop 30 out of my classes. We had quite a few calls from angry parents to the Superintendent because their kids wanted my class. But there was a limit to how many legally I could have.

Now in Elementary and Middle School I have 900! Go figure!

[S2M]

First of all, most kids should know how to read and write before HS. So when they get to HS they can take what they want. Elementary/ Middle/jr. High schools need to stress the basics THERE. Secondly, teacher's unions need to go buh-bye....get rid of tenure, and start rewarding by merit. Tenure may be good for the teachers, but not for the kids....keep the good teachers, and kick the tenured ass clowns to the curb....