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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (276761)	10/26/2008 11:43:08 AM
From: DMaA	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793843

I would love to see special needs somehow removed from normal education curricula. Guess who fights that - the education lobby.

To: Rambi who wrote (276761)	10/26/2008 11:48:11 AM
From: jrhana	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793843

Some good points there IMO.

To: Rambi who wrote (276761)	10/26/2008 12:34:21 PM
From: ManyMoose	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793843

Get back to educating the educable. I recommended your post because it makes sense. When our kids were in public schools it was fashionable to mainstream those who were not educable. They gobbled up teacher time and attention for little positive result, and the rest suffered. As a consequence, our daughter was denied taking the subjects that would have interested her because she lacked the 'prerequisites.' The classes she wanted were a couple of grades above her age, but the school would have none of it. The school administrators told her "If you hate school so much, why don't you just drop out?" We refused to let that happen unless she could first get a GED. She was too young for that so we had to petition the State Superintendent of Education for a release. She passed her GED and later got a BS in Education. She taught in public schools until it became apparent that they were out of control. A math teacher taught kids about the difference between right angles and left angles, for example. Another taught PE from a chair because she was too heavy to do it on foot. She finally switched to teaching at a charter private school for Russian Immigrants, and it was heart warming indeed to see those children saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Now she tutors part time, and her last assignment was an autistic kid. His parents took him off his meds and he became impossible, so she is now inactive. She plans to adopt now, and says her kids will never set foot in a public school.

To: Rambi who wrote (276761)	10/26/2008 1:58:05 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 793843

I totally agree, Rambi....Your rant of the day is mine also. Somehow the schools, the unions, and thus the society, has, because of being so PC, believed that we can educate everyone as if all were equal. Fortunately, and unfortunately, we are not. Some kids need more care than others. We have had two teachers in the family. from 1935 through 2005. Both have had Masters, and one with more than enough credits for a Doctorate -- the other with multiple degrees. Both taught in public schools. One in a smallish community of about 10-15,000 people, with one high school. Her position of course was very visible. The other taught in the central area of a well known town in NY with a population of about 200,000 or so. It would seem to me that we look at what the private schools are doing that is turning out educated kids, and graduating them...compare the costs, and apply those standards to the public schools. There is a considerable difference in cost between the private schools and the public schools. We could half that difference, and apply that amount to the education and/or training of those who are special needs kids. The other half of the difference could be used in other ways as the community sees fit. A good friend of mine was a teacher in one of the best private schools in this area. If those teachers don't measure up to the expectations of the school and the parents who pay the bills, that teacher is no longer there. It should be the same for public schools. I think the taxpayers should be much more involved in the curriculum and the expectations of both the teachers and the students, as well as the expectations we have for the administrators of the entire educational community. How many administrators do we have for each school district and what is each expected to do? What are the results of those expectations.