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Poll: HSer attitudes about PS.


My GENERAL opinion of PS academics in the US is...  

  1. 1. My GENERAL opinion of PS academics in the US is...

    • Excellent
      1
    • Very Good
      1
    • Good
      8
    • Neutral
      60
    • Bad
      76
    • Very Bad
      12
    • Deplorable
      12


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I have problems with both the structure and the function of schools, and overall, I think they grossly undereducate our citizens in important respects and seriously miseducate them in others. I went through public schools and did extremely well. I graduated from college summa cum laude. I don't consider myself to have had an excellent education.

 

Tara

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I have positive feelings about public education. I had a great public education. I'm from a long line of public school teachers. I have wonderful friends who are public school teachers. I don't deny there are problems in the public school system (not that there are not with homeschooling!), but I think that overall public schools do a good job and are a good thing. So I voted "good."

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I think they average on the positive side. The majority of people are "fine" and the lion's share of people went through public school (to simplify it *greatly*). However, I think the great majority of schools grossly under-educate (at best) the students they are supposed to serve. For this reason, I can't go very high on the positive side. I think "good" may be a bit of an overstatement.

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I really think that is a loaded question. There are so many variables - most of which, unfortunately, center around money.

 

Most of the schools in our area now, as well as the schools I grew up in, are quite good. But the socio-economic conditions in our area are favorable as well, and the taxpayers are willing and able to support the schools. Parental involvement in the classroom is also very high around here, and I have heard most PS parents speak highly of their children's schools/classes.

 

I can see how in other areas though that this is not always the case.

Parents must work longer hours or multiple jobs, and are not able to volunteer their time in (or out) of the classrooms. Lower paying jobs mean less tax money for school funding, and then less pay for teachers - which may lead less qualified teachers accepting positions in those schools....

It's a vicious cycle. :-(

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I voted neutral. But, I don't have a *general* opinion. There are good schools and bad schools. In fact, that is one of the major things I have a problem with.

 

I voted neutral too for the same reasons. I think my judgement would vary from school to school because there are some horrible schools and some really good schools.

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I think there are some deplorable school districts in the US, there are also some amazing districts. We have 2 top notch and 2 really good districts around us. We also have 4-5 very bad-deplorable districts. All within 30 minutes of our house.

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I voted neutral. But, I don't have a *general* opinion. There are good schools and bad schools. In fact, that is one of the major things I have a problem with.

 

:iagree: Exactly my opinion. There are also parents that do a lot to help school work for their children, while other parents do little to help. This influences what a child gets out of their ps education.

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This was based on statements like:

 

1. HSers only pull their kids out of PS for social reasons (assuming academics are not the issue.)

 

2. HSers mostly just care about adding a religious spin on school (assuming academics are not the issue.)

 

3. HSers are not as concerned about academic rigor as parents who send their kids to institutional schools.

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I am a "deplorable" voter. I'm sure there are acceptable schools in the US but the general outcome and the majority of schools horrify me. Thank goodness I had my primary education completely in a private school before I went to HS.

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These polls are to see if generalizations I have heard non-Hsers make about Hsers are accurate.

 

I would generally say that schools are not giving families or taxpayers their moneys worth, that they have taken on (or had thrust upon them) too many responsibilities that are not related to education, that they contain both too many teachers and too many students who don't really want to be there, and that they can only serve a student who really wants to learn.

 

I also think that American schools tend to underserve gifted students. That schools have in general low expectations for what their students can achieve. That they need to (and need to be allowed to) send home problem students who aren't interested in learning and who detract from the learning opportunities that other students might have (I'm not talking about LD's but rather kids who just cannot be bothered to do assignments or pay attention in class).

 

However, I also think that the county we live in at present has some incredible opportunities, both in academics and extracurricular activities. But this is the first place we've lived since my eldest was in kindergarten where I've been tempted at all to investigate local schools. Schools in Hawaii were horrid. Even the DOD school in Japan had a lot of negatives (Four families pulled kids out of just one elementary school classroom to homeschool - it was that bad. And these weren't die hard homeschoolers at all.)

 

That doesn't mean I think that all teachers are bad or lazy. It is a very broken system. And it is a system that doesn't seem to differentiate between good and bad teachers with much fidelity.

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I chose very bad but meant to pick bad. Oops!

 

But, believe it or not, these forums have caused my attitude to improve towards public school. Before reading here, I would have chosed deplorable.

 

I guess it was all the "homeschool kids being behind when they go back to school" threads that got me thinking that maybe public school is not so bad after all.

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I voted neutral, but my actual answer is closer to FAIR. I'm not "neutral" about it. LOL And this is if we're talking about *academics*. Personally, I have more negative opinions on the social and political aspects of the PS system than the academic aspects. However, considering where the U.S. stands among the rest of the world in education, I don't think I could give it a generally positive vote.

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