Gallup: Americans Rate Public Schools the Worst Place to Educate Children

[Dave_Berry]

"Only 5 percent said they believe public schools give children an excellent eduction." ...

Gallup: Americans Rate Public Schools the Worst Place to Educate Children | CNSNews.com

[kayakmom]

A thought: Don't just ignore education, parents, but get involved. i treat school as a socialization place where my kids jump through the hoops the state requires and also may find some interesting classes/teachers. It only goes to 2pm in our area.
then they research and do experiments in our basement, take online or community college classes, study AoPS, pursue hobbies etc.
I also help run the engineering, the math and the mesa clubs
I don't expect the school to do everything, but actively pursue enrichment opportunities to offer kids or encourage them to find interesting things themselves. then they choose what to continue in more depth.
When college apps roll around , they have been true to themselves, found a passion they can study and enjoy.
Don't be a sheep. Think and try things for your family.

[MiamiDAP]

k -12 in the USA does not work, period. Busy work, no analytical skills development, program is not challenging....many college kids need lots of remedial activities, that is if they realize that, others simply give up, switch to other majors. NOBODY should give up their dreams, if they are up to be an engineer, they shoud be able to pursue it. Yes, every single HS graduate should be able to successfully complete college requirements for engineering degree, it should not be for the cream of the crop. This is just one example. Tons of money are wasted on the most expansive k - 12 education in the world and it is not at all up to world standards, not any close....Parents involvement is absolutely required, but it is NOT enough. The program has to be scratched and completely redone.

[NJSue]

It is meaningless to speak of the American school "system." Some public schools are excellent, while others are abysmal. We have been very pleased with the public education our D has received in the state of New Jersey. I was also a public school product who attended college with many prep school graduates. I never found myself at an academic disadvantage to them. People love to complain about public schools, but in many places, they have improved in the last few decades. It's all location-dependent.

[3bm103]

I guess I must be in that 5%. My kids received an excellent high school education. Probably better than most privates since it was big enough to offer a lot of options both aademically and for EC's.

[FallGirl]

Anyone else pick up on the fact that only about one fifth of those surveyed had children currently attending K-12? I know lots of people who think the public schools are horrible and most of them are retirees or people without kids. Many of them haven't set foot in a public school in decades. FWIW, both of my kids have received very good educations in our local public schools, much much better than the schools I attended in the wonderful 1960's and 70's.

[Marsian]

FallGirl -- I agree. My children have received a much better education than I did. Their math is far more advanced, and their teachers expect much more from their English papers.

I live in a state (NC) where not that many people send their children to private schools. However, my daughter has found that her fellow students who went to exclusive, well-known private schools were no more well-prepared for their college classes than she was. They had more guidance and they had more literary extracurricular opportunities available, but they also missed out on the racial and economic diversity of public schools.

A lot of people that we hear complaining about public schools are people who've never had their children in public schools. They don't know what they're talking about. The parents I know who've moved their children from private to public schools have been pleasantly surprised.

That being said, I'm sure that there are places where public schools are not as good or even terrible. The quality probably even varies greatly within each state. To paint all public schools with the same brush is ridiculous.

[frazzled1]

Excellent catch about the survey respondents, FallGirl.

I could not be happier with the fine education my three kids received in our local public school system. No remedial work necessary, and that's not because I got them up to speed. If I'd been selected to participate in the survey (maybe I'll have to stop hanging up when people who claim to be conducting surveys call the house), I wouldn't have described any of the school categories - private, parochial, charter, homeschooling - as excellent. That's a high bar.

Fully expecting another teacher-bashing thread here, though I'd love to be wrong.

[Hunt]

Why would we think that people who were mostly educated in the public school system would have an intelligent opinion about it?

The real thing that's wrong with this poll is that it asks people the question in general about America, not about their OWN local public school system. I bet the percentages would have been quite different if people were evaluating their own local systems.

[MiamiDAP]

Nobody can judge opinions. Intelligent or not, opinion is opinion and everybdoy is free to express it as weel as everybody else is free to consider it or not. This is not the point. The point is the results, the facts, the struggles at college, the unbelievable emptiness. Did you ever ask about 1/3 pound of enything at the counter? I do not even try any more. They simply do not know what that means.....Simply unbelievable!!! I still maintain that absolutely every HS graduate from absolutely ANY HS should be able to successfully complete college degree in absolutely any major. At least, this is the way in many other countries. This I would call great education system. And in addition, it should not require 13 rdiculous years filled with all kind of stupifying and dulling activities. 10 is plenty to bring them to much higher levels than current 13 years system.

[austinareadad]

My S goes to a pretty run-of-the-mill public HS in Texas. He did well on his one AP in Sophomore year and on the associated SAT II test and has few complaints about his teachers or his school. His coursework is certainly much more advanced than what my average public HS in Texas offered a few decades ago. The one problem he runs into is that there is some school policy to allow kids to take pre-AP classes regardless of how well prepared they are (maybe in a futile attempt to reach MiamiDAP's goal), and this can really slow down math and science classes.

[Hanna]

"The real thing that's wrong with this poll is that it asks people the question in general about America, not about their OWN local public school system. I bet the percentages would have been quite different if people were evaluating their own local systems."

Exactly -- just as most of us strongly disapprove of Congress, but are neutral to positive about our own representatives.

[BCEagle91]

The city where our kids went to college has a median household income of $39,000. Last night there were four people shot (one may have been part of the group of men that initiated the shooting and other violence). The schools have drug and gang problems (of course). There is a tech school far from the downtown area where kids can do better (it's in a suburban setting) but there are drugs and gangs there too.

Would you send your kids to this district?

[MomofWildChild]

I agree that it really varies from location to location. I have a friend whose kids were educated in the Las Vegas area and they both made it through college (local schools) but can barely spell or construct a sentence. It is truly horrifying to me.

[CTScoutmom]

I think a large part of this is due to No Child Left Behind. While some standardized testing was done when I was in school (HS class of '86), we didn't have state testing, and the composite results were not published - let alone widely published as they are now. Performing "on grade level" implies an average grade level, not a minimum, yet that's how our schools are "scored" with these tests. The goal is for 100% of students to be at grade level - yet we are not willing to hold back the kids that are not on grade level (at least at most schools).

If these people are looking at the performance of entering college students, perhaps they should look at the demographics. What percentage of HS graduates entered college in the 1980's? If we look at that same percentage, and how they do in college, I suspect they are the ones who are prepared. The remainder, who wouldn't have gone back then, probably shouldn't be going now, particularly with the high prices.

If we are not doing a good job of educating our kids, it is a shared responsibility: the parents, the teachers, the administrators AND the community. Most teachers do a good job, a few don't. One would hope those few would leave the profession on their own, but they don't, because they have nowhere else to go. Administrators can't or won't get rid of them (I do believe there should be tenure reform, as a means to improve the system so that all kids get a good teacher).