I can't believe a teacher said this.

[mommy4ever]

We have been considering bringing dd13 home from Catholic school. We already have her 2 younger sisters homeschooling as of this spring. DH feels the decisions should be hers, and she's wavering. After what she told me today, :glare: I really want her home. However, that decision isn't completely mine.

 

We were talking about things that her sister hadn't learned. Every time dd11 tells me she doesn't know something, I have to take it with a grain of salt. She likes to be spoon fed, but as dd13 is a 2 years ahead of her, she can corroborate many things, as she was in the same school. She was almost positive she was coming home in the fall, now she is thinking she will stay in the school system :tongue_smilie:. So I was considering afterschooling, especially grammar and spelling, for a kid with 90's, her spelling and grammar suck big time. She was discussing with her teacher that her mom wanted to do spelling with her at home. Her teacher told her "Tell your mom not to worry about it, you're one of the best spellers in grade 7, and anyway, when you get in the workforce, you won't need it anyway, your computer will correct your spelling and grammar errors.".

 

WHAT???????????? So this teacher feels it's ok to send out semi illiterate people into the workforce? Sorry, but I want a doctor, lawyer, surgeon, banker that can read and spell with ease....not to mention, if they are graduating the semi-illiterate to become our next generation of teachers....how will the next generation of students fare? Who will write quality books for the kids to read?

 

I also found out that the government is changing what you require in order to graduate, you only need a grade 10 math. You need a grade 12 Social Studies that is so full of drivel it isn't even funny, and I don't know, but I use math way more than I do my social studies. SO they not only can't read, but can't do basic calculations.

 

Between the teacher attitudes, and the insanity of the curriculum, I can't believe what is going on with the school system here. I don't know what it is elsewhere... perhaps it is par for the course.

[Veritaserum]

Doh! :001_huh: My mom was telling me the other day that when she was a volunteer mom at my brother's high school, the teacher didn't care when my mom pointed out that several of the students' letters to local businesses were full of errors. The teacher didn't care because it was a computer class and not an English class and that the kids just needed to learn how to use spell check. *sigh*

 

In one of the lectures I recently listened to, SWB said to turn off spell check and make the kids fix their spelling mistakes. :)

[GWOB]

I will start out by saying I was rather reactionary in my decision to homeschool my dc.

 

You know, sometimes "good enough" really isn't good enough. I completely follow the philosophy "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" (being the good Southerner that I am), but I found my dc's school to be "broke." I am not raising good capitalist workers. I am raising well-rounded, educated individuals. I understand the angst one must feel when their child is in a parochial school. We, as Christians, want to raise good Christians. However, IMHO, good Christian and well-educated are not mutually exclusive.

 

If you do not agree with your school's definition of "good enough," by all means change it. You, as a catechized member of the Catholic faith, should be able to instruct your dc in the faith. I KNOW you as a parent are capable of educating your children. Spelling IS important. Grammar IS important. To me they are. Are they to you? If so, feel free to change your child's circumstances.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Point 1--When I pulled my dd who then was in 4th out of public school she was an honor roll student from 3rd grade (they didnt have honor roll below 3rd). All report cards both years, straight A's. I pulled her out after 4th grade and started HSing in 5th. She was at an end of a 3rd grade year math level-- and on the honor roll??:001_huh: It took all last year (and lots of frustration on her part, poor thing) to get caught up. Now she is a little ahead (except for understanding volume:glare: in all subjects, even math:D)

 

 

And point 2-- I am so glad I got editing books this year :lol::lol: (in reply to veritaserum's post!!)

[mommy4ever]

What are editing books? Sorry still catching up on all the new acronyms, etc. This isn't an acronym, but I think I'm missing a reference to understand.

[Veritaserum]

What are editing books? Sorry still catching up on all the new acronyms, etc. This isn't an acronym, but I think I'm missing a reference to understand.

 

She might be talking about books like this.

Edited May 6, 2010 by Veritaserum

[johnandtinagilbert]

prayers heading up that you'll get here home...what a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad thing to say to a child....someone needs to rough up that teacher ;)

[angela in ohio]

"Tell your mom not to worry about it, you're one of the best spellers in grade 7, and anyway, when you get in the workforce, you won't need it anyway, your computer will correct your spelling and grammar errors."

 

This is a very popular sentiment among public school teachers. Sad, but true. It's even been posted a few times on this board. :(

[Jennefer@SSA]

"Tell your mom not to worry about it, you're one of the best spellers in grade 7, and anyway, when you get in the workforce, you won't need it anyway, your computer will correct your spelling and grammar errors.".

 

WHAT???????????? So this teacher feels it's ok to send out semi illiterate people into the workforce? Sorry, but I want a doctor, lawyer, surgeon, banker that can read and spell with ease....not to mention, if they are graduating the semi-illiterate to become our next generation of teachers....how will the next generation of students fare? Who will write quality books for the kids to read?

 

This is a very popular sentiment among public school teachers. Sad, but true. It's even been posted a few times on this board. :(

 

Yes, I agree it's very sad. Speaking as a former ps teacher with almost 10 years classroom experience I think more often than not an issue of laziness or not caring but that they becomed resigned to the reality that you can't do it all. This is especially in today's schools with the lack of parent support, the amount of discipline that goes on and takes away from valuable teaching time, the bureaucracy teachers have to deal with (often mounds of paper work that much time), and so on that teacher realizes that you can't get it all in so don't worry about the stuff that others will take care of (even if that "other" is spell check).

 

Too many of our schools are broken and to me this is just another example of that to me and just part of why I am so thankful I have the privilege of homeschooling my children!

[Dmmetler]

I volunteer at a local charter school, and was amazed when the teacher told me to "don't work on the facts, just the concepts. If they can count on their fingers, they're fine". Third graders should NOT be counting on their fingers to add single digit numbers, period!

 

So, on my list for "before the end of 1st grade"-make sure DD is really, really solid on those number bonds!

[AuntPol]

When I pulled my daughter out of 4th grade at the end of the third quarter, the teacher said to me, "Well I guess now you can work on the spelling issues that you've been so worried about." At the conferences, I was concerned about my daughters spelling and the seemingly lack of teaching spelling rules, etc. I was told they don't teach spelling, they teach vocabulary. When I assessed my daughter with SWR, she was second grade level in spelling. She went up to 6th grade level after nine weeks of homeschool. In one year of homeschooling, she went from being barely at grade level equivalent (yet in gifted classes at school) to being four and half grade level equivalents ahead (or a jump in over 30%ile points!). This is with just about everything I use being "below grade level" or right at the last year of grade level by homeschool standards.

[wapiti]

Reminds me of a time about twenty years ago, when I was a volunteer after-school tutor at a low performing elementary school. The teacher asked me to tutor kids individually in long division. I soon realized that they did not know the times table. When I asked the teacher about it, she said they didn't need to, because when they grew up they would use calculators. I never did figure out how they were supposed to learn long division if they couldn't multiply. Needless to say, my attempted tutoring never got very far.

[Murphy101]

Doesn't surprise me at all to hear a teacher say that.

Doesn't surprise me at all to hear it from home schooling parent teachers either.

 

I don't agree.