What Happened to letting kids be kids?

I can't stress the value of homeschooling enough! I was homeschooling my daughter (now 10) in 3rd grade, but when I moved to this supposedly "superprogressive" college town for grad school, I decided to give the public schools a chance last year. NEVER AGAIN. I watched her go from a confident, happy, self-assured kid to a nail-biting, neurotic girl with self-esteem problems. When she started purposely missing the bus and saying, "Can't I just stay home with you, since I missed the bus?" - I knew that was it. She had hours of homework, was in trouble (as is usual for her in public school) for asking "too many questions" and wanting to chat while she worked, and was being tortured by other kids because she was considered "babyish" for enjoying public television (the only tv she's really been allowed to watch for most of her life - we don't even HAVE a tv at home). When you bring up these types of problems to school "authorities," all you get is that "kids will be kids" crap and complete disregard for the child's needs. She's now back with me at home, and I'm on leave from grad school to homeschool her. Luckily, I have a wonderful supportive husband who is working about 50 hours a week to keep me at home - we're half-broke, but I'd rather be poor than watch my daughter crying her eyes out 3 times a week from the stress of public school!

 

I completely agree 100% with everyone's feelings on this. It's sickening what is happening.My husband was telling me that one of the reasons he heard, that our nation's schools are doing this is to catch up with places like Japan where education is their top priority.Not that that's a bad thing mind you but I have always wondered what the ulcer rate in Japan was. Those poor kids go to school all year from the time they are like 3 or 4 until they graduate college.

Japan is nice and all but my kids aren't Japanese.

 

japan also has the highest adolescent suicide rate in the world.


great.

 

no kidding?

Why am I not surprised?

 

Actually, 2 years ago or so the US beat Japan in teen suicides for the first time - don't know what the current figures are...

 

there is something to be said about pushing kids to work harder in school..because frankly, education in this country is absolutely atrocious(pre collegiate level). It is something that we should all be ashamed of. The answer though is not starting school earlier, or making kids go year long like japan..its removing all the crap education from our school and getting back to the basics.

 

could you be more specific? what is crap education? music? art? gym? calculus?

does anyone besides college-graduated engineers and architects even use calculus? should we really be tormenting our high school teens with a difficult genre of math that they most likely wont even use? I still have yet to use any calculus or geomtry I learned in high school. the boundaries and proofs of a triangle have yet to rear its ugly head in my relevant life.

If we do simplify our kid's education...what do we keep and what do we axe?

 

Art, music and PE have already been cut from my kids public school, and they're an "A" school! Which means they get the most funding because the kids perform well on the F-CATS (Florida's standardized tests). They get an hour of art, music and PE a week, they used to get it 3 times a week. Last year the PTA sent a notice home asking parents to donat 300 dollars each to pay for teachers aids!

This year they started school on the 16 of August so they could have more time to prepare for the F-CATS. Higher scores, more money.
I think the crap education is the test training. They're so busy preparing for tests, they are not learning anything.
I can see the gap in college kids. When I went back to college as an adult, I was amazed that the kids fresh out of high school panicked at the thought of an essay exam! They could not function without multiple choice tests! For English comp or philosophy, ethics, psychology, where they had term papers to write, they asked the professors for topics! They couldn't think of their own freaking topic, they needed it to be assigned to them. That's crap education, their not being taught how to think for themselves, they're being taught how to follow instructions.
Too much emphasis on standardized test-taking training, and little emphasis on actual education. That's crap education.

 

I totally agree. My daughter started on August 12th! I hope to god they don't standardize test her age!
I'm in college right now, and all the new students complain about needing study guides, and the professors are suppossed to tell them exactly what the tests are going to cover. Hmmm, the material we've been discussing? They need their hands held the whole time. It's very frustrating.

 

history/english/math/language are crap at almost all schools.

Math: Our normal students are way behind foreign students(especially asian in term of math). I lived overseas in hong kong for 3 years and went to a private school(1st-3rd) and we started more advanced earlier. When i came back to the states, i learned nothing new until about 7th grade. None of this required me to start earlier than we did in america.

History: The only thing more atrocious than American's grasp on other peoples history is our grasp on our OWN history. We need to actually teach it. We need to focus on american history and we need to not focus so much on multicultural history and get back to the basics. A well educated person expands his horizons once he is educated by learning about cultures, we dont need to jam a kid with 5 facts from every country in the world, that does absolutely NOTHING for the kid.

English: My beef with english is much the same as history, we need to TEACH IT. Its sickening how many kids go off to good colleges and dont know how to write a research essay or even compose a well sound argument. Also we need to get back to reading CLASSIC books instead of reading a few multicultural ones. Its disgustingly wrong that kids dont read the likes of Homer, Austen, dickens Hemingway, Lawrence, steinbeck, twain and others.

Language: This is one of my biggest beefs. As much as i love english and hope it becomes the world language, there is a need for foreign languages and americans should start early learning them. Classical if possible, but others are fine too.


Art: it should be a staple in any kids education
Gym: Same as art, a healthy mind needs a healthy body.

also, we should put a higher emphasis on philosophy/poetry

As for the importance of things like geometry and and calculus, they are hihgly logical and teach a lot. How many times has the average joe schmoe written a research paper once they graduated from school or needed to know about the Boxer rebellion? Never? Being educated teaches you skills.

I know what i've said requires a lot more from the teachers and students, but instead of filling up the kids time with busy work(coloring in a map of china comes to mind) and useless assignments, give them real assignments.

 

I see the same thing at college and its pathetic seeing kids at university having no clue what to do. Teachers should never teach to a test, although i understand why they do now. They need to teach to teach.

It's ironic that kids dont know what to do with essay exams. MC exams, when done right, are the hardest possible exams. I never want totake an MC exam, i'd rather write reams of papers worth for an essay exam instead of a MC exam.

Imagination is exactly why we need more philosophy/poetry/art in our education. We dont need drones, even if that means we can catch japan and korea in standardized test scores.

 

I thik crap= making kids sit for hours on end with no real hands on experiences. Plus the whole school system isn't based on what kids really need. It's based on test scores and written data and for money. But kids learn better in a totaly different way. If you set up a learning environment with whats real and with what matters kids will learn. Real things that they will use in their lives. Not bussywork and less play etc. hands on and interactive..not just interactive with each other but interactive with their minds. When you start to realize how girls and boys develop you realize that school isn't set up for them at all and it is detremental to their learning.

 

Hmmm....

And I thought I wanted to work in a kindergarten in the States because I don't like the education system here in Asia.

My 6 year old kindergarteners can read. Should I say I am proud? I know they are being pushed. They are learning how to read AND write two languages. English and their native language. Their schedule is so jammed packed. In their English class, I have to teach Grammar and then there is Phonics and Maths and Science and Music and TaeKwondoe and Art and Music and Computer and Topic exploration and... and... and.. not to mention homework! And don't forget that non of the books are written for kindergarteners. Schools use them because they impress the parents.

I simply everything I have to teach and make everything as colourful for them as possible. My co-teacher insists on pencils but I insist on crayons to brighten the Grammar book which they shouldn't be learning! I don't remember learning Grammar till somewhere past first grade! They are also expected to count from 1 to 100 in both languages!

My boyfriend said that if his kids are gonna be schooled here, it would be if he's rich enough to open his own school.

 

Whatever! That is fucked! Even when I went to kidergarten about 11 yrs ago we learned all that in kidergarten! Half the kids in my class weren't even pottytrained and everyone had velcro shoes and no one could count or spell or anything! whatever! man! i am so pissed. kidergarten was all about arts and crafts and playing tag!!!!!!

 

My kindergartener has homework every night. My second-grader has four types of homework every night. Sometimes we have to choose between finishing homework and bathing.


It irritates me when they send home notes and put a note on the sign in front of the school saying that I should make sure my kids rest and eat breakfast because this week they're taking the STAR tests and the school needs the money.

Now they sent both my 4-year-old kindergartener and my second-grader home with packets and instructions for me to help them sell as much wrapping paper and Christmas presents as possible to raise money for the PTA. I told their teachers, politely, that we are busy with things like HOMEWORK, and don't have time for a part time job, so we won't be able to participate. My kids came home then complaining that they were the only kids who wouldn't be eligible to win prizes for selling the most crap! I told my kids it's their job to be good students, not raise money for their school. We gave at the book fair.