fourisenough Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Anyone else see this video on RI teacher who quit? Really affirms my decision to homeschool through middle school, at least. How do you feel about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 That was a pretty good summation of what I saw as a social worker in Texas schools. It is the biggest part of why I homeschool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stansclan89 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 That just reminded me of why I homeschool. I actually started hsing 10 years ago because the needs of the school were more important to them than the needs of my children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Anyone else see this video on RI teacher who quit? http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/445736-video-from-teacher-explains-why-many-homeschool/ I have quite a few friends quiting the teaching profession. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 God bless him!! I hope he finds a spectacular job educating kiddos in a nice private school or in a charter school or some tuturing type place where he can do some real good!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xuzi Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 That's pretty close to describing my own parents' recent experiences in public education. They've chosen to remain in the trenches, but only because they're so close to retirement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Good for him! Everything he talked about was my experience exactly when my daughter was in public school. In Kindergarten and 1st grade, they had desk work almost all day preparing for the standardized testing they'd need to take starting in 3rd grade. They had silent lunches and were not allowed to talk in the lunch room, so they could hurry up and eat, so they could hurry up and get to their 15 minute recess, so they could hurry up and get back to their desks. Only, the teachers frequently took my daughter's recess away as a punishment for talking too much in the classroom. So these 5 and 6 year olds had to sit quietly at desks all day, had to sit silently in the lunch rooms, and would only get a 15 minute break- but lost it for socializing. What a vicious circle. And when she got home at the end of the day (often not until around 20 or a quarter to 4 PM), she had homework to do. I hated it. And her first grade teacher also gave her a "demerit" for talking too much so that she came home one day sobbing, "I got a demerit! And I don't even know what that is, but it's bad!!!" And that same teacher also gave her an F in math making her think she was bad at math. Why? Because she'd missed some assignments due to illness and/or vacation that the teacher couldn't find time for her to make up in school and wouldn't send home, combined with the fact that she'd tell the kids to draw pictures to illustrate their problems and my daughter, who always loved art and drawing, would take her time, drawing elaborate illustrations. Then she wouldn't have enough time to do the second side of the sheet, so instead of grading her on what she knew and got right and had time to finish, the teacher would just give her a 0. It was unbelievable. We stuck it out until 3rd grade when I had to add in all the stress and stomach aches of the school pushing the standardized testing so much, and by then, I was just done. That was no childhood. That was no real education. That was no fun, no room for creativity, individuality, etc. I pulled her out and never looked back. He summed it up exactly. It's like that all over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maela Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 I saw this happening 11 years ago when I was going to college to be an elementary school teacher, which is why I eventually changed my major. My dh is a middle school teacher and has to deal with a lot. I don't know how he does it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 That just reminded me of why I homeschool. I actually started hsing 10 years ago because the needs of the school were more important to them than the needs of my children. :iagree: I watched this video with my DD earlier today and she actually cheered some of his comments :) His experience mirrors her terrible kindergarten experience. We homeschool through a public charter program and are dealing with some of the same garbage he describes. It's the reason why we are withdrawing (yeah!!!) in January. This, from my DH (employed by the government): "The government doesn't see people, it sees numbers. You need the numbers (test scores) to get the money." They don't see my struggling DD. They see a low test score that must be remedied at any cost in order to insure that their funding isn't jeopardized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 My son's (old/we've moved) school speech therapist hinted many times that schools had changed and not in a good way. She talked about how much seat and language arts/writing oriented work starts even in K and how hard it is for young boys especially. She talked about not having enough time for physical activity. She was clearly concerned about many of the same things this man mentioned. That said, I have friends and family who seem really happy with their kid's public school experiences. My nephew loves school (first grade). Maybe it depends on the schools involved? I do wonder if there is back story to that man's quitting. Why wouldn't the principal of his own school meet with him? What was he doing that they made him stop and why? They made him stop something he was doing on his own time with parent approval? Why two schools (and problems in both apparently) since 1999? That said, even before I left public school teaching eight years ago, changes were ruining education in my opinion. From what friends still there have told me it's worse. Schools have major problems and it's very sad. Adding: I looked at some of on PI reading and the approach isn't orthodox (upside down reading and writing). It may work for kids but it's not typical and it seems not being allowed to continue the tutoring was the main problem that finally led to his resignation. His website says he was conducting research on his methods RI public school district and maybe they made him stop that too, perhaps for legal reasons? I see he's also interested that aren't typical and might be being applied to kids without issues. His website would indicate all this started just in 2009. I'm guessing it brought the problems, whether they should be problems or not, with the administration. His website is interesting. I can tell from his videos, website, and numerous postings on other forums it's a passion of his. I hope, if it really is a break through, he is able to keep using it to help kids. I think he'll be more satisfied out of the classroom for sure. I don't think the video posted gives the full picture behind his resignation. That's certainly not saying he doesn't have legitimate points about broader issues in education! I just think his resignation and problems with administration have more to do with his PI reading than the other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 He looks retirement age. At least he's quitting with all of his benefits, assuming he has been teaching for most of his adult life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 She talked about how much seat and language arts/writing oriented work starts even in K and how hard it is for young boys especially. She talked about not having enough time for physical activity. This is actually why we started homeschooling. I originally looked into that option when my son started Kindergarten at ps. The first week, my son was SO excited to go to school. After about a month, he started saying things like "I'm stupid" and he would cry/start arguing when it was time to get ready for the school bus. They were pushing reading and writing so hard that my son was just l o s t ... They started sending him once a day to work with the Special Ed lady (which he actually liked). I also got phone calls from the school saying that he had fallen asleep while playing on the floor and I needed to bring him home for the day (but that's another story). It was just bizarre. When I pulled him out of school at the end of the year, he still couldn't read. :confused: You know how I taught him to read? Hooked on Phonics that I found at Target - on sale. :confused1: Anyway, about the video. We're in Texas. I've only lived here for 3 years and I've heard a number of teachers complain about what he's addressing in his letter. Many teachers are disgusted with the constant testing. It's a mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 I know two women who planned to keep teaching "forever" because they loved it so much. They both decided to take early retirement instead because they said the system has changed so drastically for the worse over the last 10 years. My SIL and several of her peers are bucking what their supervisors want them to do so they can actually teach. They are all new teachers and very idealistic. I love what she has told me about what they are doing, but I have to wonder how long she will be able to keep it up. She is paying a huge amount of $$$ out of her pocket. She is spending her own free time trying so hard to make a difference. And I highly suspect that the system will eventually push her out of the profession, too. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 It saddens me that nothing has changed in the public school system for the better since I made the decision to homeschool 4 years ago. I admire his willingness to go public with his reasons for leaving. He seems like he would be a great teacher and I hope another more open minded school snaps him up. One of my SIL is a teacher (now the reading specialist) and she tells anyone who is thinking of going into teaching not to do it. That this is a terrible time to be a classroom teacher. In spite of the fact that you have no say in curriculum choices and policies you get blamed for everything by the parents and the school. Of course, 2 sentences later she is telling me that I should put my kids back in school, but that is another discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 9 yrs ago, when I found out I was pregnant with DD, my major feeling was relief. Because I knew that I had a good excuse to, at minimum, take the next school year off (given my history of high blood pressure during pregnancy and pregnancy loss), and very possibly, an excuse to quit altogether. I loved my kids, and I had an awesome principal-retired Marine training sergeant, who had the respect of parents and kids and treated his teachers like professionals-there was a definite chain of command, but it was him protecting US from things that we didn't need to mess with so that we could teach. I'd gotten over 50K in grant money for the school in the prior years, and was running a band program, two choirs, a guitar class, and getting results. I'd been able to present at the NAMM floor show the year before as part of our guitar program, and my kids had been in a national advertisement for VH1's "Save the Music" program. And I still was, more and more, feeling like school was a bad place for the kids. Everything was so focused on testing, even with a principal who was trying to buck the trend. My inner city school was considered "low performing", and even though test scores had gone up dramatically since this principal came in and let teachers teach, with the mobility rate we had, it was unlikely we'd EVER be able to get off the list-we could teach kids to read and make progress on getting them to grade level, but then they'd leave and go elsewhere. Some kids boomeranged several times in a single year. The kids we had from K-6, or even from K-3, were on grade level. It was the transfers in and out, the kids with no stability, that were sapping our scores. But the state didn't see that. They could look on the school report card and see 69% annual mobility (and that's not even counting transfers between schools over the summer)-but they never clicked that, hey, maybe THAT'S the problem? Another lady in my homeschool group taught at the same school I did. She hung on a couple of years longer, finally leaving after the principal finally retired and the school got a new one who believed in the politician school of management. It was a hard school to teach in at best-without good leadership, it quickly became impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedmom4 Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Thank you so much for sharing this! My dc have never been in school and I have fond memories of elementary school. This helps me realize my youngest ds would not have done well in an environment like that. He is now 10 and doing well with reading and math, but he was a late bloomer. He had a VERY difficult time sitting still for any length if time. He is also such a people pleaser and would have been devastated by bad grades. Also he would have had to be medicated to sit still that long. He isn't a bad kid just full of energy. Elise in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 This is exactly what public school was like for my son and part of why I started homeschooling. I have much older children who went to the same school system and there experience was much better. As for field trips, each class usually gets one each year and, like recess, it is used as a bargaining chip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 That is exactly what my elementary education was from when we moved in 3rd grade to 6th grade (late 70's early 80's). Including not being able to talk during lunch. Then I went to an excellent Junior High. Only thing that saved me was that I turned to reading. I probably read 4-5 hours per day while at school. I remember as an adult talking to a friend of mine that as a kid always got in trouble for reading during school. He said to me, "You didn't get in trouble?" I thought a minute and said, "They probably knew that the other option was me talking." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Yes, this was what I witnessed when I worked in the local schools -- years before I had children -- and a huge part of our decision to homeschool. I will say, listening to his list of things that are "gone, gone, gone," I was struck by how those things are so readily available to my children as homeschoolers. I'm just grateful, really. We do eat breakfast together peacefully while talking to each other. We do eat lunch together joyfully while talking to each other. We do get outside when the weather is lovely, and we don't even call it "recess." ;) We do have have class pets. :) (Well, just a stray cat for now, but he's adorable. And last year we had a wolf spider named Charlotte [until she had an egg sack, then it was bye-bye Charlotte!]) We do have birthday parties and other fun celebrations. We do go on field trips to farms, the aquarium, the zoo, museums, and other wonderful places. We do learn music, practice an instrument, work on drawing and art projects, and enjoy crafts (well, at least the girls do). We do study Latin and French. No "cuts" in the foreign language department here. We do try new and creative approaches to learning and teaching. We do "tutor" each student, without any prohibition against doing so. All these things that we sometimes take for granted were "gone" from his public school classroom. No wonder he quit! What an eye-opening reminder of what it's like out there for children... and teachers. It's so easy to forget how constraining and sterile the child's day is in school, and how probably many teachers don't like it to be that way for the children, either. It's an unnatural childhood, I think. This teacher's tone of indignation sounds as though he knows this is not a good thing to do to children -- to take away all the human reasons for learning. Why do we learn? So we can relate to each other. So we can be kind to others and to animals, steward the earth, celebrate each others' lives, travel, explore, connect, create, wonder, dream, inspire. The school system he describes is barren and lifeless and dead. It is free of any motivation for learning. Where do the teachers and students get the energy to go on? Thanks for posting this link, OP. I feel better about our "sick day" routine today. ;) In light of what this teacher said, our day was just fabulous at home. Sick Child #1 is reading The Last Battle, Sick Child #2 is sleeping soundly, and Sick Child #3 is sleeping soundly. Chicken soup for supper, and a snuggly read aloud after. Homeschooling is gentle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 :iagree: I watched this video with my DD earlier today and she actually cheered some of his comments :) His experience mirrors her terrible kindergarten experience. We homeschool through a public charter program and are dealing with some of the same garbage he describes. It's the reason why we are withdrawing (yeah!!!) in January. This, from my DH (employed by the government): "The government doesn't see people, it sees numbers. You need the numbers (test scores) to get the money." They don't see my struggling DD. They see a low test score that must be remedied at any cost in order to insure that their funding isn't jeopardized. That is so disturbing, since government seems to grow bigger by the day. It's a shame they can't see the person. I suppose that's the nature of the beast? Your daughter is certainly more than a test score! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 I know two women who planned to keep teaching "forever" because they loved it so much. They both decided to take early retirement instead because they said the system has changed so drastically for the worse over the last 10 years. My SIL and several of her peers are bucking what their supervisors want them to do so they can actually teach. They are all new teachers and very idealistic. I love what she has told me about what they are doing, but I have to wonder how long she will be able to keep it up. She is paying a huge amount of $$$ out of her pocket. She is spending her own free time trying so hard to make a difference. And I highly suspect that the system will eventually push her out of the profession, too. :( Most teachers I know spend $$$ every year on classroom supplies and things the kids need that don't come from home or get supplied by the school. And you're probably right about your dedicated SIL getting pushed out, if she's not working hard at "fitting in." Sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Wow. He pretty much summed up why I pulled my oldest out of school in the middle of second grade. She was another extremely bright child who consistently lost her 20 minute recess because she would draw detailed, elaborate pictures and never "finished her work in time". And all the standardized test prep. In 2nd grade! Blech. I loved his phrase about a school system that was "diametrically opposed" to learning. (Okay, that's not exactly what he said, but that's what it feels like). I keep having moments where I think my life would be easier if I put my kids back in school. But then I get a reminder about what a bad fit traditional schools have become for normal children who need to run and play and learn about the real world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyinthegarden Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 God bless the teachers who stay and sludge through the system, without them there would be no public school at all. The states are adopting the educrats' core standards one by one. If the state government can't create excellent schools, I doubt the federal government will. We need separation of government and education. Imagine if the public school staff could implement the environment most homeschoolers have created? Or imagine that parents could actually be involved at the school? The more the educrats get involved the less it becomes about the individual student, and the ability of the teacher to use their skills to the best advantage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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