<p>Hi owlice,could you let your son taking class from local colleges? Sometime you really don’t have any choices, you just have to do it by yourself.</p>
<p>blueraindrop, he was all excited about the possibility of entering college early (something we’ve started talking about), right up until he found out there’d be even more homework in college! 
Still discussing it, however.</p>
<p>missypie, I absolutely agree with you that public education is tough!</p>
<p>Of course, I guess I don’t want to imply that we should go back to the “good old days.” There was a girl in my sister’s class who was in a wheelchair. She went to normal grade school. She had to be tutored at home in junior high because the junior high had three floors, no lift. She got to come back for high school, because the school was just one floor. That’s obviously wrong, but there’s still a limited amount of money to accomodate everyone.</p>
<p>My son is a high school social studies teacher with a student who doesn’t understand/speak English at all. She sits in his class and they “hope” the immersion will help…they tell him to treat her the same as any other student. Fortunately, he does know some Spanish and can communicate with her but it’s extremely limited.</p>
<p>Laxmom, what would your husband think if he was fluent and asked to teach that student and only that student in Spanish one period a day?</p>
<p>It makes me absolutely sick that we have all this money to put on HUGE Presidential elections and campaigns (yes, I know most of the money is their own, but we contribute quite a bit for debates and conventions), to build nuclear weapons, to do stem cell research, but apparently we have no money to educate our children.</p>
<p>Even the CSU system is taking HUGE cutbacks and are suffering quite a bit like the public high schools. Makes me absolutely furious.</p>
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<p>Think about all of the very bright, intelligent kids stuck in public schools who, because they are passing classes, are not being stimulated or growing academically because all of the money is being funneled to the bottom. I’m not railing against special ed or anything but no child left behind means no child gets ahead.</p>
<p>When I think about my own public school high school education, I’d rate it as below average…I had one terrific teacher senior year who really taught me to write. Otherwise, a parade of the average and below average. Not having to do a lot of work for my As, I had a great time in orchestra, oral interp, theatre, school newspaper, etc. I got good grades at an average university but now have a great career. I guess I’m saying that if a person is bright and motivated, a below average high school experience won’t forever mar their future.</p>
<p>hisgracefillsme: We pay MUCH more for education and social services than for anything else on your list! Also, I don’t think it’s legal to use any public funds for conventions. Check out a pie chart on the federal budget or your local/state budget. </p>
<p>About $5,000 of my $7,300 property tax bill goes to pay for the public school in my town.</p>
<p>I live in a place where 40% were born outside the country and 78% of the population has parents from outside the country. My D’s friends speak many languages. Kids who come here without English as a first language get full day K, whereas the others get only half day.</p>
<p>Sometimes it feels a bit frustrating or unfair, but we know from experience that a) we need immigration b) most immigrants need help with language and c) most importantly, if that help isn’t provided, especially for youth, they fall between the cracks or off the rails and that costs us as a community much much more in the long run. So overall I think its a good thing.</p>
<p>baseballmom-I understand that. Really, I do. But if we’re spending so much on “education”, why are our public schools still in so much trouble?</p>
<p>Grace, it’s because money is not the answer. I’m not saying that we don’t need money … of course it’s necessary … but I honestly think there is much more to the problem than just throwing money around will solve.</p>
<p>ALL kids need to be challenged to achieve their potential. That’s a tall order for a public school.</p>
<p>Our town spends roughly 90% of its tax revenue on education. This makes the senior citizens go ballistic and really hasn’t improved education at all. Much of the increase goes to teacher salaries up 6% a year for the last 3 years.</p>
<p>One other point is that there are a number of students born in the US who don’t speak English as their first language. Our experience has been that many students from other countries going to our schools learn English much faster than these other students.</p>
<p>I think we’ve strayed from the point of the original post, a non-English-speaking student being provided private classes in, presumably, his language. What this brings to mind is the French immersion school in my sister’s public school system in a suburb of a large midwestern city. People literally stand in line overnight to enroll their kids in this school, where they study everything in French. </p>
<p>The irony struck me.</p>
<p>I should add that I would love to send my kids to such a school. My sister has 3 children there, and they all speak French fluently.</p>
<p>The best way for a kid to learn new language is to be thrown into regular class or day care without any special treatment. Both of my kids did just fine. It takes about 6 months for 10 years old to start speak fluently without any accent and read and write in new language, and it takes about 2 weeks for a 3 years old to start speaking. It is not the same as learning a second language in a classroom. The more fuss and “help” is provided the longer it takes. Total waste of funds!</p>
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<p>Yes, return to the topic, but I have to address this. </p>
<p>prmlcomm, I get the impression from your post that you think “special ed” means “the bottom.” My special ed kid is in [url=<a href=“http://cty.jhu.edu/set/eligibility.html]SET[/url”>http://cty.jhu.edu/set/eligibility.html]SET[/url</a>]. “Special ed” doesn’t mean “stupid.”</p>
<p>Just thought you should know.</p>
<p>One problem in the schools I’m familiar with is the inclusion of students who have various learning disabilities that make it difficult for them to keep up with the rest of the class. Its considered discriminatory to separate them into special classes. The net effect is that the teacher is forced to teach so that all students are learning in the classroom (lowest common denominator) thereby penalizing those who grasp the material more quickly.</p>
<p>Money spent per student in US schools are much higher than other countries alredy. Seems that money is not an answer. If you compare the school program in US and other countries (including some non-developed countries in Africa) you will see great difference. US program is so much less challenging and accomplishes much less in 13 years than others in 10 years. It is filled with busy work and memorization exercises that do not develop/stimulate analytical thinking. One of the reasons - we are so afraid to hurt kid’s self-esteem that we forgot that their brains and ability to function in work place needs to be developed. Try to ask a sales clerk to get you 1/3 pound of whatever - good number of them will not understand. Few years ago I took a class at CC - instructor mentioned that in a past 20 years the students analytical ability went down considerably. I started my career in a department filled with relatevely young work force. I have changed 9 jobs. In a period of last 25 years face of department at every company that I have worked changed drastically: most people are either close to retirement or from foreign countries. Very sad!</p>