Re: Public Education needs to be just that: Public

We all learn in different ways.Some children do very well in the public school system,others benefit from an alternate approach.I like the word homeschooling,not because I am for or against public school,but because we grow and learn so much more of what is important outside the faculties of education.Learning is a dynamicc process and unfortunately school can be the opposite,but not always.Some schools have tremendous momentum,and the passion the students have for learning is palpable,but not all children,or adults will have access to that kind of school,and not everyone will do well there.What I see is that information should be accesible to all,each child should be able to develop naturally(sometimes the whole idea of a curriculum just seems laughable),that we follow their learning curve,get to know your child,provide for them the foundation from which they can discover their world,encourage them as they develop by listening to what they have to say.There are libraries everywhere,make sure you have a card and take your children often.Reading to them introduce this wonderful world in all it’s glory and saddness.Encourage their interests,rent films,get books,visit museums,theatres,firehalls,the beach,a funeral parlor, the planitarium,whatever their questions are help them to find the answers,eventually they do this on their own,because you showed them they can.Learning is what keeps us alive.Feed your curiosity and only wonderful things will happen.Public schools are sometimes the only place some children have access to computers,or well stocked librairies,and in some cases a person who can guide them on their quest for knowledge because no one else is listening.Giving everyone the tools to learn is what’s important.

Re: Public Education needs to be just that: Public

Exactly, B.B.!  It's a variation on the old “Give a man a fish and he'll not go without his dinner.  Teach a man to fish and he'll never be hungry.”

That's exactly what I meant about respecting each child and making it possible for the whole village to help educate the children.

Re: Public Education needs to be just that: Public

I guess I was thinking of fear factor in a couple of different contexts:  first, which I think has something to do with your thought about parents' remembering their own public school experiences, is that sense that “schooling” is something better left to the experts; that you have to have had years of theory/training/certification to be qualified as an educator.  I know I've met parents who feel like they will probably mess up some magic process if they interfere with the way their children are being taught.  I've also met some teachers who feel like because they have that teaching license, they know better than parents how students are to be “managed” in the classroom.  Nonsense.  Education happens in partnership.  Parents can't just hand over their children at the schoolhouse door and then sit back and wait for primed little academic parrots to appear.  What I wanted back from the schools I sent my kids to was respect for each of them as unique learners, interested in a variety of things, who processed information and formulated questions that led to more thinking, more exploring.  I hated it when I heard, “I'm sorry, but that's just not in our curriculum this year,” or “Well, every other student in the class seems to be getting it.”  I even had a teacher tell my daughter once, “I just don't know how else to explain it to you.”  Excuse me?  School should be about opening all the doors and windows, giving kids resources, teaching them to think for themselves and explore infinite options.  If it's only about testing, measurement, competition, fitting into the profiles, fitting into the system, etc. It's definitely not about learning!

The second thing that was in my mind was the fact that a good many of our schools have turned into semi-prisons, where kids have to go through metal detectors to get in; where every movement is strictly monitored; where parents have to submit ID's just to visit a classroom.  Like a great many other institutions in our society, our schools' effectiveness has been constricted by fear of attack and/or litigation.  Schools now have lock-down drills as often as fire drills.  At the elementary school I worked in, we actually had drills where kids had to crawl under the lunchroom tables and learn secret escape routes just in case a shooter got into the school.  Every visitor was suspect.  Every person from the community not known by the staff was considered a potential child molester or abductor.   Even the school nurse had to limit the comfort she could provide!  No hugging!  Rubber gloves if any bodily fluid (including tears) was involved!  No, I can't call your mom to come and get you because you've already missed class three times this term.  It's mighty hard to concentrate on instruction or enjoy activities with this undercurrent of fear adding stress and complications to everything.

Sorry to rant.  This is obviously a subject close to my heart.  I guess I'm just sick of living in fear and furious about any system that is working to close minds, make us conform, limit our freedom, turn us further into brainless sheeple.  We can do so much better.