Public Schools

[Cameramonkey]

My kids go to a great (out of district) public school. The district we live in is trash.

Never thought about homeschool because I doubt my ability to effectively teach physics and calculus. Everyone has to make the choices for their family. I would be selling my kids short if I did homeschool.

There are very good curricula out there. you dont have to be a genius to teach.

 

[Shadow01]

Our local school had a poor superintendent that had pet projects that had nothing to do with learning. Board turned a blind eye for years, money disappeared with no legitimate explanation and parents as a last resort have moved to home schooling or taking their kids to the school in the next county. Local registration has dropped by half. The school is struggling to stay open. They finally replaced the Sup. And are now after a few years starting to see a slow turnaround and with higher scores are seeing a slight increase in attendance. They struggle to fill teacher positions due to being so small and lack of proper entry pay. They came very close to being closed just for lack of funds to pay their operating expenses. Definitely the result of an administration that didn’t answer to anyone and a board that felt so entrenched that it almost closed a school. Will it get better? Don’t know. Will it happen again? Not sure, but one thing is for sure, parents won’t hesitate to make choices that are best for their kids. The school over in the next county has gone through 3 expansions in the last 20 years due to the influx of students. They also built a nice Auditorium that has summer concerts with their proper handling of their finances. I smile when I overhear our locals ask why we don’t have a plan for a nice Auditorium and forethought for revenue generation.

 

[bobzilla]

But your arguments are equally flawed that the anecdotal good teachers give the bad teachers and bad curriculum some kind of balance. They do not.

Oh I’ve never said that there aren’t bad teachers, out of control DoE and horrible curriculum being shoved out there. I’ll be the first in line screaming from the rooftops. But to assume that all teachers are leftist trans indoctrinated monsters is dumb, nay, idiotic, and it cheapens your position and makes you look stupid.

In over 2 decades I’ve known a lot of teachers. With the exception of about 3 they were normal people trying to raise their family and be good to one another like the rest of us. Not a single one thinks the schools are doing things anywhere close to the right way that I have met.

 

[BE Mike]

Like a lot of unions, teacher unions spend way too much time defending bad employees. Unless criminally charged, it seems hard to actually get rid of deadwood. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/study-its-far-too-hard-to-fire-bad-teachers/2016/12

 

[Ziggidy]

Sure sounds like more gun control laws for law abiding people because a few bad actors act bad.

Just asking.

Don

Apples and oranges. While I agree people may need to take a better stand, the public school system for the most part is dead, in need of complete overhaul. The teachers union needs to be dismantled, tenure redefined and school boards held liable for their decisions.

 

[Ingomike]

Teachers union expels whistleblower school counselor

In a move rarely seen, a local teachers union has “expelled” one of its members after speaking out in an interview with Alpha News.

alphanews.org

The good teachers will not be able to turn this crap around. As we have seen posted here many times the rot is in Indiana schools too…

 

[HoughMade]

I endorse all kinds of options for schooling. I don't think there is a one-size-fits-all solution. Indiana is a great state for educational choice whether it be public schools, private homeschool or a hybrid (which is what we used).

Our 4 kids were all "traditionally" home schooled through the 8th grade, that is, we bought curricula, my wife primarily taught the kids and they went to a once-a-week Co-op.

In 9th grade, they all started at a public online charter school and we continued with the Co-op. All 4 graduated from high school with accredited Indiana diplomas, not that it matters that much these days, 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2023.

The oldest did college in 3 years and is a Managed Services Engineer specializing in disaster recovery. The second completed her BA in 2022 and is back in school for a nursing degree. The third just completed her sophomore year in college and is thinking about medical school, which is well within her reach academically if she wants to go down that road. The fourth went to welding school, finished last month, is certified and starting a job next week building custom commercial trucks. We are proud of all of them.

I say all that to say this- in my career I have had colleagues whose kids took every educational path there is from homeschool like us to private to public and whatever. There is opportunity and education to be had for all. There are good outcomes from all. The vastly important differentiator is the parents being involved and not simply subcontracting education to anyone. Do what you want and let others do what they want. Homeschool really works when done right, but so do private and public school when done right. No need to run people who make different choices down.