Are you true feelings about US public school much stronger than

[mirth]

what various people who know you fairly-well to well might imagine? Simple enough question.

[tadbhoward]

Yes.

[Parrothead]

Dh knows how I feel. My mother would be surprised.

[Mrs Mungo]

No, people who know me fairly well know exactly what my feelings are.

[WeeBeaks]

Yep. I'm the oddball in the midst of friends and family who us public schools. It's not worth war here. They know I don't feel PS is for us, and that I have very serious problems with the way things are going with PS though. I make no secret of that. But I don't talk it about it much at all unless specifically asked. It is more peaceful with less defensive friends that way. Honestly, I'm not criticizing their choices, just the state of the public schools my tax dollars are helping to fund. My beef is with the schools not the parents who utilize them. But it is still more peaceful to keep relatively quiet.

[BigMamaBird]

No. While I ps isn't my first choice for my kids, I know they could be perfectly happy, well adjusted and well educated if they had to go. I just know I can do a better job than them where my kids are concerned.

[johnandtinagilbert]

My closest friends all home school, but no family does or would. I don't even bother to go there with them. I gave very basic reasons why we chose this for our family, but I don't care to explain myself to them, nor do I wish to berate the system where their dc all dwell.

 

I do believe a child can be successful in p.s., I just think there are too many things wrong with the system to entrust the system to raise my children. If I said that to most people who have dc in p.s., they'd be offended. I don't want to offend anyone, so I don't bother.

[Carol in Cal.]

I believe that the public school system is fatally flawed. I always vote funds toward it, though, but the disparities in what constitutes a 'public school education' within just a 30 mile radius of my home are sufficient to make me want to froth at the mouth. The only time I ever talk about this, though, is when someone says that everyone who is poor has chosen that by being poorly educated--as if public education is in any way equal between rich and poor neighborhoods.

 

I believe that the perfect schooling would be me homeschooling about 6 kids, on a homestead with a really good library, in a benign climate, and a foreign language tutor twice a week. We would sing together every day, kind of like the Trapp Family. The kids would attend good old-fashioned Lutheran schools starting in about the 7th grade, with other kids who were raised more or less the same way and who we already know a bit from cooperative homeschooling activities from time to time.

 

Since I don't have a homestead, nor yet 6 kids, nor yet others like me, nor yet a Lutheran school like that close by, that's not what I have done. No one, it occurs to me, not even my DH (who wouldn't really care anyway), knows that I feel this way.

 

So that's why I voted yes.

Edited February 19, 2010 by Carol in Cal.

[Old Dominion Heather]

No. While I ps isn't my first choice for my kids, I know they could be perfectly happy, well adjusted and well educated if they had to go. I just know I can do a better job than them where my kids are concerned.

 

:) I fall in here. I taught PS before kids and I'm sure my kids would be fine if they ever had to go, but I know we can tailor their education here at home. That just can't be done in PS.

[lovetobehome]

Yes.

I keep quiet so I don't offend. If I am asked, I explain, but guardedly.

It is not so much the academics that bothers me, much more so the 'socialization.'

I'll keep my kids home forever, rather than send them there...and I would leave the country if homeschooling became illegal.

And, I used to TEACH in public school! So I can say so. :-)

I very much respect anyone else's choice to send their children to PS, I just have strong feelings about it for MY children.

[Osaubi]

Yes! I keep quiet esp since we have teachers on both sides of the family. Some support homeschooling and some don't say anything so I don't say anything either.

[stripe]

Anyone who's bothered to ask me in person has been shocked at how fiercely I believe in the need for good, public schools and a well-educated public. (Apparently it's shocking and revolutionary to believe it's NOT acceptable to have bad schools. Ugh.) I just don't feel that's a reality for most school districts at this time. The never-ending education budget cuts aren't doing much to dissuade me at present.

[rose_king]

People know where I stand on the issue of hsing. We live in a very small town. Everyone knows what everyone ate for breakfast kind of town.:glare: There are very very few hsers. When asked I do tell them my opinion. I don't open up the discussion, and I refuse to argue about it. I just give more info. if asked nicely.;)

[Carol in Cal.]

Anyone who's bothered to ask me in person has been shocked at how fiercely I believe in the need for good, public schools and a well-educated public. (Apparently it's shocking and revolutionary to believe it's NOT acceptable to have bad schools. Ugh.) I just don't feel that's a reality for most school districts at this time. The never-ending education budget cuts aren't doing much to dissuade me at present.

 

Well put!

[jenL]

Yes.

I keep quiet so I don't offend. If I am asked, I explain, but guardedly.

It is not so much the academics that bothers me, much more so the 'socialization.'

I'll keep my kids home forever, rather than send them there...and I would leave the country if homeschooling became illegal.

And, I used to TEACH in public school! So I can say so. :-)

I very much respect anyone else's choice to send their children to PS, I just have strong feelings about it for MY children.

 

:iagree: This is me to a tee!

[Laurie4b]

No. I don't have strong negative feelings toward public school. I have strong positive feelings toward homeschooling for my family through middle school. Either choice is fine for high school.

[Donna T.]

Yes, I think so. I am actually very pro-PS. I think most of the people who know me would assume that I'm not. Our county is gearing up to vote on a penny sales tax for the schools, which are suffering terribly right now. I think most of my friends would be surprised that I'm voting for the tax.

[smrtmama]

I'm not at all anti public school. I just think that my circumstances allow me to provide a better education for my children then they'd have in a school.

[mirth]

I'm not at all anti public school. I just think that my circumstances allow me to provide a better education for my children then they'd have in a school.

 

I didn't mean to ask if a person's true feelings are necessarily more negative than she lets on. (Maybe someone lives in a all hs-ers neighborhood [that would be fun!] and everyone feels the same way about ps but oneself) Trying to divine if hs'ers let it all hang out even to those closest to them.

[Elisheva]

Yes. I have close friends who send their kids to school and I'm a hundred percent supportive even though inwardly I might be cringing. They're smart people and obviously their values are not identical to mine, so what's to be gained by imposing my opinion, as though it would make any difference in such a personal family decision. But I do privately think they are selling their kids short to some extent.

 

Even when relatives or whoever try to needle on the subject, I talk more about subjects I want DD to learn that aren't taught in school and experiences I want her to have, rather than about the academic quality of PS. Keep it positive rather than negative. In the privacy of my own home I am not so Pollyanna-ish about it.

[chaik76]

No, I don't think so. My feelings about public school are much the same as they are for homeschooling and private schools...whatever works best for each kid. There are super homeschools, super private schools, and super public schools. There are also super bad homeschools, public schools, and private schools.

 

And different kids need different things. My oldest does super well with homeschooling. My second is totally different. Homeschooling will work well for him too, but I'm thinking that he would totally thrive in a public school or private school environment where there's lots of interaction with people and things and where there's always something going on.

 

But I'm pretty forthright about that...

[Aubrey]

I'm a certified teacher. While I don't love the system, I've seen good in it. I think I'm rather rational about the whole thing. That would surprise some people.

 

Then I think about sending *my* kids, & I get...well...irrational. The degree of irrationality would surprise the rest of the people I know. Well...I hope it would! :lol:

[angela in ohio]

Yes, but I repsect my dh too much to say so in public. :001_smile:

 

I think many schools do a decent job of providing an education, but I do believe they have a purposeful political bent in the opposite direction of mine.

[babysparkler]

No, people who know me fairly well know exactly what my feelings are.

:iagree:

[Audrey]

what various people who know you fairly-well to well might imagine? Simple enough question.

 

Yes. I do not tell people I know IRL what I really think about public schools because some of them work in public schools or are related to people who do.

[KidsHappen]

I am the one that answered other because didn't know if you meant others like aquaintances and neighbors or if you meant others like family and close friends. In the first case, probably. In the second case, no.

 

I don't generally go around sharing my true feelings about things with the general public because, hey people think I am crazy already, but I do share with friends and family because, hey they already know I am crazy. :tongue_smilie:

Edited February 19, 2010 by KidsHappen

[melissel]

No. While I ps isn't my first choice for my kids, I know they could be perfectly happy, well adjusted and well educated if they had to go. I just know I can do a better job than them where my kids are concerned.

 

This is just about exactly how I feel, and most of the people in my life know that. Then again, I don't have too many particularly close people in my life :lol:

[melissel]

The reason I try to be non-committal is because I remember being 20 yo and thinking I knew so much about parenting. Sometimes life has a way of getting you back and proving you wrong.....:lol:

 

And yes, I try not to be too outspoken about HSing for this reason as well!!! :lol:

[Miss Sherry]

I think when you don't enroll your children in the p.s. , that that in itself makes a bit of a statement about your ideas about the p.s. People that are close to me know my thoughts on the p.s. for the most part, but I do try to restrain myself from going on and on too much. But I don't really care to discuss it with casual acquaintances. Of course, I've met a lot of people that the subject never comes up with. I know that most random people I meet do not homeschool and I do not wish to put a wedge between us right off the bat.

Besides, if we didn't have p.s. there would be a lot of children with no educational options at all. That would not be a good thing. I think that the quality of education that is received in a p.s. varies greatly from school to school and classroom to classroom. So in that sense, I really am not "anti public school". But I am appalled at much of what happens in the p.s. system and do not want my children in that environment. But I am sure there are many fine teachers in the p.s. system that I would be happy to have teach my children. Some, not so much.

Edited February 19, 2010 by Miss Sherry

[Crimson Wife]

I am the one that answered other because didn't know if you meant others like aquaintances and neighbors or if you meant others like family and close friends. In the first case, probably. In the second case, no.

 

:iagree:

I feel much freer to give my true opinion about the schools in our district to folks who do not live in the area since they have no personal stake in the matter.

[eternalknot]

No. While I ps isn't my first choice for my kids, I know they could be perfectly happy, well adjusted and well educated if they had to go. I just know I can do a better job than them where my kids are concerned.

 

:iagree:. My true feelings aren't terribly strong, though they are well-known. I don't homeschool for academic or social reasons, though, so that probably influences my answer.

[MaMa2005]

Yes. DH is a HS teacher and is literally counting down the days to retirement. I am a retired teacher. So much time wasted in PS and so much paperwork that is just unnecessary.

 

It is interesting to be around DH's workmates. They all wish they could home school, but it is just not feasible for everybody.

[Pamela H in Texas]

My view of P.S. has changed A LOT recently so that changes things, I'm sure.

 

I'm not nearly as anti-PS as I was at different times. And I've never been nearly as anti-PS as I was pro-homeschooling.

 

However, I would guess most people would think I'm more against PS and more pro-hs than I actually am.

 

After being in the local jr highs and high schools daily, I'm MUCH MUCH MUCH more positive towards PS. I think being home, being pro-hs, prior experience, etc just snowballed in my head. I have always thought we needed to continue working to make PS the best it could be as the majority of people will go through them, I now LIKE a LOT of what I see in school. Of course, there are more than a few things that need work also.

 

Well, but locally, homeschooling as a whole is dreadful in comparison. Academically, behaviorally, etc, they just aren't keeping up. I'm hoping this new group of homeschoolers I met recently will change that in this area, but honestly, I'm dismayed that so many parents are keeping kids home but not disciplining or educating more than "kinda."

 

If I could tweak a few options a little, I would send my son to P.S. So my view has changed A LOT.

Edited February 19, 2010 by 2J5M9K

[iquilt]

As far as family is concerned we have no problems with public school as a theory, just not for us at this point in our lives. Reality is I hope to homeschool all the way and never have to deal with ps or a social school environment ever again. My mil already thinks I'm crazy enough, so I always focus on how well our children are doing and how happy we are as a family to be a homeschooling family.

[OhM]

And I've never been nearly as anti-PS as I was pro-homeschooling.

 

 

 

Well said. This sums up my viewpoint, too.

[happyhomemaker25]

I said yes. I could be wrong though. Most people know me as fairly opinionated. I try to keep my mouth shut unless someone asks me or I hear something completly wrong.

But no one would guess how much I loathe public school. Yep. I loathe it. I will move heaven and earth to make sure my kids never have to go. I did one year of it with my two girls and spent the whole year in tears because it was such a disaster. Even being at the school and trying to be involved there was so much I saw wrong that I could not change.

That being said I am a very protective mama bear. To watch a teacher hate my child probably was more than enough for me. She always denied it and tried to act friendly, but she hated my little girl. When I pulled her out for homeschooling she told me that was the best news she'd ever heard. In front of my kid. Yeah, it was not pretty.

I just wanted to add that our homeschooling is a conviction from God. One He has given us for the duration. That is why I can so strongly say my kids won't be going to public school if I can stop it. :)

Edited February 19, 2010 by happyhomemaker25

[k10coon]

I'm of the same thought at HappyHomaker. I am always careful to be pc when talking about it with others though. In true reality, I would move heaven and earth to prevent my kids from going to public school.

 

Living in a "good" district makes others question me even further about my choice to hs. I have to bite my tongue from screaming my true opinion.

[GaHadley]

most people don't know how I really feel about our public school system here. Most of the people we're friends with are involved in the public school some way - have their kids there, teach/coach there, or are in administration.

 

I sat among a group of women one night. I was the only homeschooler. There were 2 PS moms, 2 PS teachers, and 2 private school moms. The public school moms and teachers dominated the conversation and it was all about the behavior of kids, the lack of discipline in the school (and how they aren't allowed to discipline effectively), the kid who got beat up in the bathroom in 6th grade SEVERAL times by kids he didn't know, the mom whose 5th grade teacher spent most of her time arguing with her husband (also a 5th grade teacher) and other time making up with him (in a little spot behind the door where they could make out). and these women thought I was the crazy one for homeschooling my kids!

 

There are far too many things I hear from teachers and such to want to put my kids in that environment. Our system has many wonderful teachers (and some bad ones, like anywhere). We are a well funded system - nice schools, the latest technology, well paid teachers, etc BUT I would not want my kids exposed to what goes on behind those doors.

 

All that being said, I'm sure this statement is going to surprise you, but it's truly how I feel: As I've dug deeper, I am more FOR homeschooling than I am against public schooling. Sure, there are kids that turn out fine and well educated from public school, but there are COUNTLESS reasons that I now homeschool - and keeping my kids out of the public school is only one of them.