not looking for "the same education"

[MarkT]

=====================================================================================

"

The original mission of public schools ... is this understanding that no matter where you come from, you will go into the doors of a school and every child will receive the same education.
Nikole Hannah-Jones

"

=====================================

Each student needs an education that is at least tailored towards that child!  This has nothing to do with race or gender.
They aren't robots.

=====================================

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/01/16/509325266/how-the-systemic-segregation-of-schools-is-maintained-by-individual-choices?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20170122&utm_campaign=bestofnpr&utm_term=nprnews>

 

or google

"How The Systemic Segregation Of Schools Is Maintained By 'Individual Choices'"

[Reefgazer]

I understand the author's POV, but I will not (and did not) sacrifice my kids in the hopes of turning a dysfunctional school system around.  We were in the public school system long enough, and I volunteered extensively enough, to know that no amount of effort on parents' part was going to turn around public schools in the school lifetimes of my children.  It's my job to make the best choices for my children and encourage others to make the best choices for their children.  The schools other children attend and why they attend those schools is not my business and shouldn't be my choice.  I also enthusiastically agree with the author that our personal choices matter in our lives and the lives of our kids, and that is why I support vouchers for private/religious/homeschools - because I want parents empowered to make those choices for their children.  The issue of bad public schools will not be fixed until the issue of dysfunctional families is fixed, but that is another issue and one that you can't speak of freely on this board without igniting a hysterical sh!t storm.

Edited January 22, 2017 by reefgazer

[Carol in Cal.]

Around here, the quality and content of public education varies a great deal from one school district to another.

It's impossible to look at this and say that every one has equal access to a good education.  

[abba12]

Yeah, no. My job as a parent is to give my children the best I possibly can. 

The system itself is broken. Sacrificing my child to that wont fix it. No, my kids don't deserve more than anyone else's kids. However, I can't take care of everyone else's kids, I can only petition for change, and in the meantime while change is not happening, I can only care for my kids, and do the best by them that I possibly can. 

[Guest]

That is an attempt to rewrite history. My Ggf would have found a strap if his children did anything to waste their teachers'time, withdrawn them, and put them To work. No one sat around idly, learning was done. And if the teacher had told his kids to sit idly, school would.be out of session until a new schoolmaster was hired.

My district is up to five years wasted time now, and expecting the nonremedial to go to CC or prep school then a four year if they want a serious college degree. Most have left for Florida instead. Move sixty miles, and college prep is still available, but only for those who.can get a seat. Kicking the middle class out doesn't seem.to be helping in the mission to educate the third world students though...

Edited January 22, 2017 by Heigh Ho

[LMD]

Do you have kids op? Feel free to live your own conscience, and I'll live mine.

Maybe my free thinking, actually educated children will change the world enough to benefit your grandkids.

[JustEm]

I was bored out of my mind in the public schools my kids would be going to if I didn't homeschool. I refuse to feel guilty for wanting more for my children because our public school system is broken. Them being in school isn't going to help other students. I can still help the local system by staying informed and voting on things that affect students.

 

I'd like to talk to my fil about his opinion on that article because he is in our zoned district. He was recently hired as the new superintendent of the district. But I kind of fear his response even though he's never said anything negative about us choosing to homeschool.

[Carol in Cal.]

I actually do think that homeschoolers should do something to support public schools.

But I don't think that that something should involve feeling obligated to sacrifice their own children.

Rather, they should be willing to sacrifice themselves in some way.  And most do.

 

First of all, there are property taxes.

 

Second, lots of homeschoolers help to advocate for better schools or for charter schools.

 

Third, quite a surprising number of homeschoolers volunteer at public schools at various points in their lives.

 

And lastly, homeschoolers buy that candy and wrapping paper and tri-tip, and provide auction items for booster clubs, and attend those auctions and crab feeds and barbeques for schools in their neighborhood.  

 

I think that that is plenty.  We don't have to sacrifice our children.

[snowbeltmom]

=====================================================================================

"

The original mission of public schools ... is this understanding that no matter where you come from, you will go into the doors of a school and every child will receive the same education.

Nikole Hannah-Jones

"

=====================================

Each student needs an education that is at least tailored towards that child!  This has nothing to do with race or gender.

They aren't robots.

=====================================

 

 

 

<http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/01/16/509325266/how-the-systemic-segregation-of-schools-is-maintained-by-individual-choices?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20170122&utm_campaign=bestofnpr&utm_term=nprnews>

 

or google

"How The Systemic Segregation Of Schools Is Maintained By 'Individual Choices'"

 

Well, if the public schools had actually succeeded in its mission, I never would have needed to homeschool.  I obviously feel zero obligation to sacrifice my kids for some perceived "greater good."

 

The author also stated in the article,  "I know she's learning a lot," she says. "I think it is making her a good citizen. ... It is teaching her that children who have less resources than her are not any less intelligent than her or not any less worthy than her." 

 

I don't need to send my kids to public school in order to learn those life lessons.  Geez.

 

 

[Renai]

As I skimmed through the first part of the article, my first thought was to check the author's ethnicity. (hear me out...)

 

I looked up the author's history. She was part of the desegregation movement as a mixed-race child. Many in the black community think/thought that we black homeschoolers are/were basically turning our backs on the sacrifices made to get minority students an equal education in public schools. The article reflects this mindset, and did not surprise me at all. Well, actually, it did give me a slight pause considering the strides black and other minority homeschoolers have made these years.

[zaichiki]

 

The author also stated in the article,  "I know she's learning a lot," she says. "I think it is making her a good citizen. ... It is teaching her that children who have less resources than her are not any less intelligent than her or not any less worthy than her." 

 

I don't need to send my kids to public school in order to learn those life lessons.  Geez.

 

 

I agree.  I heard the author interviewed on NPR and I thought she was NUTS.

[zaichiki]

As I skimmed through the first part of the article, my first thought was to check the author's ethnicity. (hear me out...)

 

I looked up the author's history. She was part of the desegregation movement as a mixed-race child. Many in the black community think/thought that we black homeschoolers are/were basically turning our backs on the sacrifices made to get minority students an equal education in public schools. The article reflects this mindset, and did not surprise me at all. Well, actually, it did give me a slight pause considering the strides black and other minority homeschoolers have made these years.

When I was listening on NPR, I heard the author describe her mother's intention for her daughter's education... and it struck me that her own mother was doing what she was accusing those "white people" of doing -- wanting the best education for her own children. Her mother was of the opinion that the "white school" would give her daughter the better education, and so sent her there, despite the hardship. Those neighborhood families who want their kids in the higher performing schools are wanting the same thing, and yet the author labels it racial discrimination and slams them.  Are some of them racists?  Quite possibly, as racists are everywhere. But could the motivation of some/many be the same as her own mother's? Quite possibly, because most parents everywhere want what is best for their children. 

 

It struck me as odd that the author was able to connect her childhood education to her adult success, but didn't want to give her own child the same advantages...

[Guest]

Hmmm...what "third world students" are you referring to?

Does it matter? Funding is so little that school is now a place where students who speak english fluently are told to sit quietly in review for years. The teacher is overwhelmed with ENL and SN. Parents move out of the community when their children are excluded from learning. That isn't helpful in building community, amd eliminating the zip code effect.

[RoundAbout]

By this logic I should not only send my child to a neighborhood school but I should actually move to the poorest, most underperforming school district in my area and send my child there to help raise the quality of education. Outside of a few urban areas with high density and lots of choice, the neighborhood school is usually just a reflection of the community. I have friends who pat themselves on the back for sending their kids to public school and being non-elitist, but their neighborhood public school is in a high tech bedroom community, all white, and makes top 10 lists every year.  :001_rolleyes: Meanwhile we can afford to live in a less expensive, more urban, and more diverse area precisely because we can ignore the quality of the public schools.

[snowbeltmom]

The two statements in the OP seem to me to be diametrical opposites.  The first statement asserts that every child should receive the same education, while the second statement asserts that every child should receive an education tailored to that child. 

 

My three kids are not receiving the same education - what they are receiving is an education tailored to their unique talents and interests.  There is no way a school with a mission statement that, "every child should receive the same education" would have met any of their individual needs. 

[Dmmetler]

I figure one way I help the public schools is by keeping my little statistical outlier out of them. Not having her in class probably reduces the range of students they have to teach by a couple of standard deviations.

 

FWIW, I gave at the office-I spent 10 years teaching in urban schools, one of which was featured by Jonathan Kozol in "Savage Inequalities", teaching from 6:30 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon because I wanted to give the students the same opportunities kids in the suburbs had, writing grants to get instruments and funding to provide band, choir, guitar, and percussion ensembles, and spending a lot out of my own pocket on top of that. I couldn't continue to do that and parent. And I really couldn't continue to do that and parent a child who was significantly out of the norm for local schools and would have either been completely unserved or taken significant amounts of teacher time away from other kids.

 

 

[MarkT]

The two statements in the OP seem to me to be diametrical opposites.  The first statement asserts that every child should receive the same education, while the second statement asserts that every child should receive an education tailored to that child. 

 

My three kids are not receiving the same education - what they are receiving is an education tailored to their unique talents and interests.  There is no way a school with a mission statement that, "every child should receive the same education" would have met any of their individual needs. 

yes the first is a quote and the second is my comment/opinion on the quote - sorry if that was not clear

 

Whenever I see "one size fits all" in the education world it tends to bother me.

 

(probably should have been posted this on chat instead)

[Guest]

Roundabout, in my area the diverse schools are the tech area schools. The poor dont want to attend because the schools don't qualify for title one. The rich don't want to attend because the area isn't wealthy enough to fund the individual research opportunities one gets in wealthy or magnet schools.