Tell me what you really think.
My brother's on the School Board now - want me to talk to him?
WF
It wouldn't do any good, Wes, they'll never go back to that way now. Too few people understood it, and they've invested too much money and construction (even as we speak) into making it into a completely traditional building. Every year it's worse. And THIS community would never stand for it. As long as they have two huge over-scheduled gyms, they're happy. They couldn't care less about the rest of the school, as long as it's easy enough for their kids to graduate from it. And be valedictorian even though they're plagiarists.
My son just started the 6th grade and I went to the orientation meeting for the new middle school.
In one particular class a major part of his grade his how well he keeps is daily organizer up to speed. In the math class no less. It was all I could do not to ask why they didn't consider the ability to rationalize fractions or something.
It's not necessarily that teachers fault, the school district here is infatuated with daily organizers and have been pushing them in every class since kindergarten. Needless to say I'm not necessarily on board.
AMEN Mamacita! I am fortunate to have 2 bright children and there have been more times then not that I have been frustrated with the rules forced upon them.
When they both attended a regular elementary they were not allowed to check out books that were rated above their grade level. Even though, they were reading them at home.
If they finished their classwork early they were left to sit and stagnate until the rest of the class finished.
When taking the standardized tests my daughter was placed in a seperate room with a few other kids, who the teachers knew would finish the testing early. This was done so they wouldn't "intimidate" or make the other kids feel bad.
When the kids finally had a chance to go to the Magnet schools out here, schools geared for accelerated students, it was a God-send! They were finally being challenged and allowed to work to their potential. It's too bad this isn't a regular practice in other school districts!
I WANT to go to that school! Why is being gifted or even of slightly above average intelligence something that we are penalized for? I am blessed to live in an area that understands many of the complexities of an intelligent mind and caters to it. But, oh, the horror stories that are passed on by parents from other areas! I am so blessed to raise my kiddos here.
I agree and I tire of the excess rules, regulations and programs that are forced upon the kids and teachers. Sometimes a good program is turned into a hated one because it is way overused...like our accelerated reader or the purple hands programs that seem to take over all extra time and take away almost if not all student revelry. What happened to recess and touch football and letting the kids run around, expend a little energy on the playground instead of the classroom?
Maybe that's just at our school...
Schools have been fussing with this for years and still don't have it right. It is almost a tragedy.
The latest SAT scores are out.
Indiana is crowing because the state average went up.
Shhhhhh, don't tell anyone they're still well below the national average. It'd be a shame to spoil the party.
-G
I'd be happy if they could find a way to challenge those kids who learn what they need to learn and then sit and wait half an hour to go to the next class. Boring!
I use to heart the smoking lougne. I didn't smoke but all of my friend just hung out in the puffy stench of cigarrettes. We sometimes brought our guitars. Kind of felt 70ish. We were a decade behind.
I linked here from BloggingBaby. Mod school story caught my eye.
I was in a modular high school from 1986-1990. 21, 19 minute mods per day - 7 day cycle (no smoking section though). As far as I'm aware, that school is still on the modular system and has been ever since the school opened in 1972. The rules have changed slightly since then. Campus wasn't open when I attended. Skipping class was punishable. But open mods were still open.
I screwed around plenty, but I was a drug addict anyway. No traditional schedule would have made any difference for me.
Oh, gawd, how I LOVED the mod system. Never heard of such a thing till I moved to Brighton (suburb of Rochester). I was always a poor student -- until, that is, I started at Brighton High. Made A's and B's. Then we moved again, and back to C's and D's for me.
My husband and I now live in Brighton, where they still use a mod-type method at the high school. My tenth grader loves it.
I went to a well-run open school until sixth grade, then we moved and I had to switch to a (well-regarded) traditional school. It was the difference between learning and rotting.
I resent it still.
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