I also recommend looking into Montessori schools. You might like the kinesthetic learning focus they tend to have. They're big on providing materials that the kids can manipulate. I'm pretty biased though.
I also recommend looking into Montessori schools. You might like the kinesthetic learning focus they tend to have. They're big on providing materials that the kids can manipulate. I'm pretty biased though.
confuZion3 wrote:pete240z wrote: Who let the kid walk out the front door with those clothes and makeup on?Who let the other kid walk out the front door with a gun!?
Excellent point! Both sets of parents are guilty here.
But I disagree that the parents can blame the school and act like: "What school didn't expel my kid for wearing a dress and makeup?"
pete240z wrote: Excellent point! Both sets of parents are guilty here. But I disagree that the parents can blame the school and act like: "What school didn't expel my kid for wearing a dress and makeup?"
Sure, but here on this messageboard, it turns into an indictment of the left wingers. Not an indictment of stupid people in general. Duh, everything is Hillary and Bill's fault.
Salanis wrote: I also recommend looking into Montessori schools. You might like the kinesthetic learning focus they tend to have. They're big on providing materials that the kids can manipulate. I'm pretty biased though.
My wife is AMI trained, with two masters degrees. She also comes from a long line of teachers, and I mean LONG! There are over 20 living teachers in her extended family right now. So.. I'm not going to comment on schools other than the Schools actions are just reactions to lawsuits or potential lawsuits, period.
The other problem, as stated above, is a lack of responsibility on parents parts. This is not a problem of the schools, but hey its easier to shift blame. The issue runs deep in our society and no ammount of posturing about conspiracies etc will fix it. I also find that those complain about conspiracies and the leftist leanings need to get more involved.
If you have questions about Montessori, just yell.
ignorant wrote: So.. I'm not going to comment on schools other than the Schools actions are just reactions to lawsuits or potential lawsuits, exclamation point . . .
I fixed that. 
But I have no problem agreeing with you here. Right now, we live in a nation where it is apparently OK to sue your kid's school because it is teaching them science - while at the same time, it's OK to sue your kid's school because it's NOT teaching them enough of the science stuff and trying instead to teach them religion. Personal beliefs aside, they're screwed if they do, and screwed if they don't.
If you file a law suit and the court finds out that you filed it frivolously, you should be put in jail. For a week. See if that cuts down on bull-cookie lawsuits.
The lawsuits are a tool used to destroy us. 
Big box store poof. If there were more, the world would be a better place.
who insists on the bulk of the law suits, disconnected and poor(as in quality not wealth) parents. Wish i could talk about the latest problem child my wife has to teach.... the problem isn't the child.. it's his rents.
The problem with most of the children (but not all) is the 'rents. Pouring more money into the school (taking it from the 'rents and their neighbors) won't help it. The people who are suing are victims of the Esquires awaiting their BBSP , just like the late night TV comercials that run "Have you or a loved one, even if their dead, ever been treated by a neurosurgeon? Call the law firm of ..." That's a real comercial that I saw on TV in the Houston area. The parents have been fed a line of BS so that they think that their "rights" are to have their son wear makup and dresses or that it's their "rights" to have the school stop their son from wearing makup and dresses. This case is really a matter of distraught parents with a dead child looking for someone to blame being victimized by an Esquire that thinks he can make a quick buck here. It would not surprise me at all if the parents were approached by the Esquire with the lawsuit, instead of the other way around.
I race cars and think skeet shooting is a hoot.
And I have a noisy old airplane.
I love America (even though I wasn't born here), apple pie is my favourite and I know ALL the words to The Star Spangled Banner.
But I've been a teacher for 37 years.
So I guess I'm a communist. 
I'm also a Democrat.
I know some of you think that's the same thing anyway.
aeronca65t wrote: . . . I have a noisy old airplane.
I like you.
aeronca65t wrote: I race cars and think skeet shooting is a hoot. And I have a noisy old airplane. I love America (even though I wasn't born here), apple pie is my favourite and I know ALL the words to The Star Spangled Banner. But I've been a teacher for 37 years. So I guess I'm a communist.
I bet you force your students to put their trapper keepers into a pile and redistribute them on the first day of class you dirty communist!
Not all teachers are Commies. Not all Commies are teachers. Not all D's are Commies. Not all Commies are D's. Most teachers are D's (especially in higher education). Most Commies are D's.
Assignment: 1. Draw the set diagram for this. 2. Shade in the subset where the NEA leadership is found.
Extra credit: Place dots where the LQ, Da O and Little Mac are found.
GlennS wrote: I bet you force your students to put their trapper keepers into a pile and redistribute them on the first day of class you dirty communist!
Damn You!
You were looking in my classroom window, weren't you!
I'm also from a family of teachers, so I see a good deal of the idiotic stuff that's been going on.
For the most part, the education system is screwed. In Florida, an amendment was passed to extend homestead exemption, which is hurting the budget. School systems are having to lay teachers off because the money isn't there to pay them. What makes me say WTF is that the school systems then get fined for having too many children in each classroom.
I say that for the most part, the education system needs better leadership as a whole. In my area, the superintendent and the administration is pretty good. It's the idiocy that we have in higher government that is killing our schools. We need real education reform. We need teachers running the show, not lawmakers. For the most part, the majority of the laws are written by people that don't know anything about education. They're written by people that think that since they've been to school, they know how one operates.
BTW, that envelope is great!
VanillaSky wrote: They're written by people that think that since they've been to school, they know how one operates.
Correction: They're written by people who are going to put their kids in private school anyway, so their own incentive is to pay less money for schooling that their children don't use.
We started my daughter off with the phonetic stuff, she was reading and doing some simple math before she went to preschool. The main reason we put her in preschool was for her to learn some social skills the hard way, same way that we did.
Maybe it's just the school system locally, but I haven't seen much of a trend toward the socialism I have heard of in other school systems. We did the 'Meet the Teacher' thing last Thursday night and in the classrooms were posters outlining personal responsibility ('Your behavior is your responsibility', for one) and also that each student was expected to be responsible for his/her own assignments and projects. I rather like that, since it dovetails neatly with what we have been teaching at home. As long as that keeps up, I will be happy with her schools.
I'm not informed enough about other school systems to offer an opinion. I have heard a lot about them through the news, etc.
Dr. Hess wrote: The lawsuits are a tool used to destroy us.
Get rid of the smilies and that would be rather accurate.
That shooting happened at a school I live about ten minutes from. I'm a little surprised that only two other people here have asked who let the shooter bring the gun to school. What's the bigger issue here, a flamboyantly gay boy wearing makeup/woman's clothing to school or a boy carrying a gun to his school with the intent to murder someone? I agree the parent's should have told their child that he shouldn't wear things like that to school if he wants to have a somewhat normal school life but he should not be killed for doing it. This is in no way the school's fault unless they sanction hate crimes, which I find highly unlikely.
thatsnowinnebago wrote: What's the bigger issue here,
The kid with the gun was wrong, I will agree.
The kid dressing different was who he was, no problem here.
The main problem is the parents BLAMING the school for NOT discipling their own child.
MitchellC wrote: Correction: They're written by people who are going to put their kids in private school anyway, so their own incentive is to pay less money for schooling that their children don't use.
Why, that makes sense! After all, everybody KNOWS that you don't get anything out of educating anybody beyond your own kids. Heck, the more uneducated people there are in a society, the better it flourishes. Just ask the fine folks who brought you the Khmer Rouge.
And if the education system is overwhelmed by children who are basically being raised by wolves and therefore don't bring the most basic tools for learning to the table, shoot, just teach your kids yourselves and let the system go suck eggs. Then you'll be even better off, and your children will be the winners! They'll rule...
...over a wasteland.
Margie
Apexcarver wrote: I too think that school systems are pushing towards a bit of a socialism-esq methodology. Its not a conspiracy, but an alarming trend. Even when i was in middle school i can remember being pushed that i had to share things that I had brought for myself. I even got in trouble for in essence telling them to pound sand. "But you have to share!" "Not if its MY stuff"
"Did you bring enough for everyone?"
Sounds pretty, well, Socialist.
confuZion3 wrote: The dumping of your stuff in the pile and then distributing it randomly to all of the other students in the class is Marxist Communism at its very basic level. There is no incentive to purchase anything other than crap because the odds are, you won't be using it anyway.
Wellllll... technically Marx doesn't give a damn about personal property. Now, that Play-Dough factory... Marx wants that bitch!
Salanis wrote:mistanfo wrote: Hi, my name is Jason and I drive a Miata. I wear kilts. I've been known to put my hair up in bunches, even when in public. Somebody please fatally shoot me for not following the social norms, so that my family can sue someone for not enforcing social norms and hit the lawsuit lottery.[AA]Hi Jason.[/AA] Sorry, I can't help you. As a fellow Miata-driving, kilt-wearing guy who has been known to have facial hair and/or a pony-tail, I feel such an action would have a minimized impact if I were to be the one to shoot you.
how about a neon driving guy in a kilt and a pony tail? Wait, i cut off my pony tail and sent it to one of the hair donation groups, never mind.
Marjorie Suddard wrote:MitchellC wrote: Correction: They're written by people who are going to put their kids in private school anyway, so their own incentive is to pay less money for schooling that their children don't use.Why, that makes sense! After all, everybody KNOWS that you don't get anything out of educating anybody beyond your own kids. Heck, the more uneducated people there are in a society, the better it flourishes. Just ask the fine folks who brought you the Khmer Rouge. And if the education system is overwhelmed by children who are basically being raised by wolves and therefore don't bring the most basic tools for learning to the table, shoot, just teach your kids yourselves and let the system go suck eggs. Then you'll be even better off, and your children will be the winners! They'll rule... ...over a wasteland. Margie
OK folks, i'm going to tell you that one of the people quoted above is a college student about 20 years old, single, with no children. the other recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of her 29th birthday ( ) and is an involved and responsible member of a two-parent / two-child family. ignore the names and guess who's who.
on another note, schools around here aren't getting any less money year over year. school funding is a fixed percentage of my property tax, which hasn't decreased in recent years despite the fact that my property value is down about 25% from when i bought this house less than 5 years ago.
and FWIW my kids are going to private schools. i drive a 12-year-old car with 200k miles on it, and my wife drives a 6-year-old minivan with 125k on it. maybe when the younger child graduates high school (in about 15 years), we'll modernize the fleet.
We had a ballot initiative here to completely eliminate the property tax funding for the school system. Seriously. The missing $$ were to be replaced by increased sales taxes for 5 years... after that, there was absolutely no provision for taxpayer funding of the schools. Only reason our fine citizens (who appeared to be all for it) didn't get to vote this into reality? A judge declared it invalid this summer, said we had to devise some method of funding the schools. So don't think my rant above is some silly, ungrounded fear that people really don't believe in paying to educate anyone but their own offspring... it's happening in Florida, where people come to retire and suck off the system.
And by the way, how do these people resolve their right-wing views with their willingness to take a Social Security check that represents far more $$ than they ever put into the system?
Margie
At the risk of derailing this thread entirely: I support eliminating the real estate and vehicle property tax entirely and replacing it with something less likely to make you lose your house or car.
(puts on SFI firesuit and chain mail)
The basis of socialism is 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs'. That's how property taxes work and is why I think they are regressive. The school system needs funding, no doubt about it, it just needs to be done differently. Yeah, I'm talking about a sales tax. With no 5 year sunset provision. Now everyone will screech 'but that takes disproportionately from poor people'. Guess who gets the bulk of the tax funded public services anyway? Fire away, Dimmycrats.
I don't have a problem with taxes per se; I do have a problem with people who become professional leeches and work the system so they can get by with the least effort expended. I have not seen it in the schools my daughter has attended, but if I were to see a socialistic bent from the teachers and curriculum you better believe I'd be very vocal. To the point of moving somewhere that she'd be less likely to receive socialist indoctrination.
In today's scandal rag, there is a comparison between different schools re: funding per pupil. One school in Mount Pleasant (where all the yuppies live) has ~500 students, it spends $5,100 annually per pupil. There is a school in McClellanville, a poor fishing hamlet, about 20 miles further up the road but in the same school district which has ~110 students that spends $21,000 per pupil. No, that's not a misprint or fatfinger. I'd like to know why the disparity. Of course, the story doesn't go into detail.
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