The future for ALL our children?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I could ask I suppose what IP means by a wacko school but I really don’t care . We were very happy with the education and every other family I have spoken to feels the same way. </p>

<p>My oldest graduated from one of the top colleges in the country five years ago and she still draws on the foundation she acquired in grade school.</p>

<p>Both my husband and I truly enjoyed the volunteering that we put in over the years. We really got more out of it than we put in.</p>

<p>Sent from my iPhone using CC</p>

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<p>No, it was not in the least. I suggested possible explanations for their lack of desire to attend school functions. There was nothing pejorative or belittling in what I wrote. </p>

<p>I also did NOT indict them for not showing up. Actually, I wrote that you were entitled (and them obviously) to have a different opinion on the value of volunteering. I did write that not participating was the Asian parents loss … as well as ALL the students’ loss. I hope that some day you might understand what those words do mean! </p>

<p>This is what I wrote:</p>

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<p>You, in turn, only used my post to cast aspersions and throw inflammatory daggers.</p>

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<p>Since when has that stopped you?</p>

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<p>Last night I had the radio on to Jim Bohannon, and he was talking to Dr. Allan Goodman, the current president and chief executive officer of the Institute of International Education. Dr. Goodman said that the state of California has more seats at the college level than ALL OF CHINA. That we have more colleges per capita than the world. </p>

<p>And then I fell asleep…</p>

<p>This is what I see in my classroom/school/state. The top 20% is all that. They either possess intellect that will get them where they think they need to go, or drive & intellect to get them where they need to go. They are taking AP, articulated college credits, and extra curriculars until the cows come home. They studied hard and did the work. And then the economic rug has been pulled out from under them. They will deal with the paradine shift that has been dealt to them. It will hurt like no other.</p>

<p>But what of the other 80%? Most of them will figure it out too, but it’s gonna hurt like no other. Why? Some weren’t paying attention in class. They didn’t take the hard classes. There are some (not all) that “push away education with BOTH hands”. For some, high school is simply a social club. They refuse to hand in homework, and don’t bother to bring a pencil. Teenagers are ego centered, they can’t help it. They go through a phase of bellybutton gazing, and for some it lasts 4-6 years. They can’t help it! You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them think. </p>

<p>And then, poop hits the fan. Colleges have standards. In Iowa, to have a seat in the AA university transfer track in community college, students must have at minimum a 22 ACT. To have a seat in calculus, they must have a 28 ACT. The students that weren’t paying attention have to take remedial classes. It’s a money maker for the colleges. More time= more cash. Students start to languish and chafe under the system’s rules. They drop out. Belly button gazing is not a major.</p>

<p>Speaking of paradine shift, the economic rug has been pulled out from under a boat load of people! College costs are out of this world, and parents are starting to chafe under those costs. They want their child to have success, and college, until 2008, offered the fast track to a better life. Then the brakes screeched…</p>

<p>There will be some casualties from this economic/educational disaster. Students that came to the table unprepared will have to live in mom’s basement. But that 20%? They will figure it out. They have skills. They will start online businesses & wait tables until there’s an opening, because someone that grandfathered into a skill that now requires a college degree died. They will survive.</p>

<p>The belly button gazers will figure it out too. After dropping out, they will live in mom’s basement with fewer skills than the 20%. They will finally come to a realization that they need to get it together and finally study, and do the hard work it takes to get that AA and then BA. They will become the non-traditional student. And pay for it. They have no choice.</p>

<p>Some parents, because they were too tired, didn’t watch the ship. They didn’t hold their child accountable. There’s a great difficulty. The kid has been gazing at their belly button and their parents didn’t notice until it was too late, The parent was working their behind off and assumed that their child was too, but instead the kid was playing video games. What did you expect when you paid over $300 for that stuff? (Would have paid for a college chemistry book…) </p>

<p>But the parent expects their kid to go to university and pays the tab, because that is the expectation. Sometimes expectation and reality don’t jive. And MAN, do things not jive today!</p>

<p>The student that understands their skill set, interests, work ethic, and abilities, coupled with intent, will save the most money in their investment for college and life. Getting A’s isn’t always the answer. Figuring stuff out is more valuable. And it usually takes a bunch of people to help the student figure this out. But if they aren’t paying attention to the task at hand, a lot of money and time will be wasted.</p>

<p>What’s an entire generation to do? REINVENT. And man, they have to! </p>

<p>They will. </p>

<p>I’m hopeful…</p>

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Oh my. Just…oh… my. Did I really read that? Really? EK, I am sick to my stomach just reading that insult directed at your kids education. I am sorry you had to read that. Apologies to you on behalf of our fellow posters. Just wow.</p>

<p>I couldnt find more recent data, but found a table of the Median pupil/teacher ratios for the 100 largest primary and secondary school districts [Table</a> A-3. Median pupil/teacher ratios in public elementary and secondary regular schools in the 100 largest school districts in the United States and jurisdictions, by specified instructional level and school district: School year 2004–05](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/100_largest/tables/table_a03.asp]Table”>Table A-3. Median pupil/teacher ratios in public elementary and secondary regular schools in the 100 largest school districts in the United States and jurisdictions, by specified instructional level and school district: School year 2004–05) In some places the median for elementary school is as much as 7 students less than in HS (Long Beach Unified). </p>

<p>This table [Elementary</a> & Secondary pupil/teacher ratio statistics - states compared - Education data on StateMaster](<a href=“http://www.statemaster.com/graph/edu_ele_sec_pup_rat-elementary-secondary-pupil-teacher-ratio]Elementary”>http://www.statemaster.com/graph/edu_ele_sec_pup_rat-elementary-secondary-pupil-teacher-ratio) shows that the ratios range from 11.3/1 to 22.4/1, with a weighted average of 15.5/1 It would be interesting to see what the budget cuts have done to these numbers in more recent years</p>

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<p>And about parents/volunteers helping ALL students, YES, we should/must help them. Our future depends on it!</p>

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<p>I think we’ll see a turn towards entrepeneurship and small business if/when our country takes steps to make that viable. </p>

<p>This article killed me:</p>

<p><a href=“Solar Panel Maker Moves Work to China - The New York Times”>Solar Panel Maker Moves Work to China - The New York Times;

<p>Yes, the state of Mass was very generous with this country–but why can’t we make it viable and attractive for companies to stay here in the US? This just seems like a snapshot of everything that is preventing us from getting back on track.</p>

<p>I’ve pretty much accepted that I am not going to have the wealth that my parents had. And I suspect my daughter will also have less than I have. But she might end up with smaller credit card bills, a smaller mortgage, etc…the idea of wealth might change over this generation from who has the biggest house/most stuff to who has the most freedom from debt.</p>

<p>The world keeps changing! We keep trying to impact it and sometimes we feel that tiny bit of satisfaction that things have changed for the better. But really I think it will always be a combination of change for the better and the worse.</p>

<p>Unless we get hit by a fiery asteroid!</p>

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<p>That is PURE POPPYCOCK. There are PLENTY of volunteers (myself included) who had full time jobs…and whose husbands were NOT “well off”. And for the record…we had PLENTY of dads who volunteered too. Are you implying that these were SAHDs with wives who were well off?</p>

<p>If you have enough time to post 200 posts per day on CC (before bedtime), you have plenty of time during the day to volunteer at your kid’s school.</p>

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<p>Agreed. In addition, I find it disagreeable that this poster expects answers to HIS (plentiful and repetitive) questions…but NEVER feels the need to answer questions posed to him.</p>

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<p>Exactly, thumper. Besides, if someone doesn’t volunteer, doesn’t believe in it for themselves, and there are no volunteers at their kid’s schools, where would they “notice” who gives of their time and energy and volunteeers in activities?</p>

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<p>This tells me a lot. So…you don’t ever empty the trash at home…do the dishes…mop the floors…clean out the toilets? Oh…I forgot…silly me…this is a WOMAN’s job…that SAHM. I guess you must have hired help if you don’t do this yourselves.</p>

<p>I’m sorry for my biting comment but your offensive comments have really hit an all time LOW. You know…first of all…I very much appreciate the work that janitors do. They are quite important. Second…yes, I did help with such duties sometimes…but writing a grant for a choral group and presenting a power point presentation to the school board are NOT exactly janitorial duties. Providing clerical help or being a chaperone on a trip…again…not janitorial duties. Scheduling cultural enrichment programs, doing the layout for concert programs, selling advertisements…again…not janitorial duties. Going to the HS job fair to give some information about my vocation…not janitorial duties.</p>

<p>You have a VERY narrow minded view point of what parents can and do contribute to schools. I fully understand that this is NOT your thing. FINE…I think we all “get it”.</p>

<p>I would much rather have a parent volunteer who WANTS to be there and has figured out the value themselves, than one who can’t seem to justify volunteering and is only doing so because they “think it ‘might’” be the right thing to do. Stay home.</p>

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<p>^People here are expressing opinions, OP has asked for different opinions, offensive or not, we cannot judge, how do we know if one’s opinion is superior to another? We are just expressing our very different opinions about future of our children.</p>

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<p>Offensive remarks are reportable as problem posts.</p>

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<p>Then you have to report, calling it offensive will not report it automatically.</p>

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<p>I know that! :)</p>

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<p>Post #284 is spot on. School is not a place to socialize. It is a place to study. It is quite interesting to see the different perspective on this issue between the teacher and the parents.</p>

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<p>Yes, we do have hired help. And no, it has nothing to do with gender roles, as my wife doesn’t do it either.</p>

<p>Look, I found your repeated assertion that parents much volunteer or else they are scumbags to be very offensive as well. Why did you insist that?</p>

<p>Just for the record I didn’t report it as a problem post, however. I have more maturity than that.</p>

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<p>I NEVER said parents MUST volunteer…NEVER. In fact I said that if they don’t want to…they should NOT.</p>

<p>Please stop misquoting me.</p>

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<p>Never say never again.</p>

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<p>IP, why do you love to provoke and inflame? You are truly bored.</p>