Purplehood wrote:
I could go on all day, but I am not in favor of limiting my son's horizons to a sheltered environment with his family. I want him to grow up to be a strong, independent and self-willed individual that is well-able to cope with society.
No disrespect intended to those that Home-school their children. That is their choice and it should be their choice.
As for the topic of this thread. A parent needs to be proactive and involved in their publicly educated childs education. You watch for this kind of ridiculous behavior and directly confront it by addressing your concerns to all involved. You don't sit and ignore it.
I hold a permanent teaching certificate and taught in the public schools, though I admit it wasn't in Texas or recently.
1. Public education today most does the opposite of what you want for your son. It stifles creativity, champions conformity, tries to force every child to learn the same way and, above all, discourages independent thinking. I'm not saying that all schools and teachers are like this but just that the preponderance of our education system across all States behaves this way.
2. The next situation that I hear about where a parent was happy about their proactive involvement in the public schools within the past 20 years will be the first. The zero tolerance mentality is far reaching and covers many more topics than weapons in a school. There may be an occasional school where parents can have some influence but, by and large, it is a topic government bureaucracy and they will tell you want is good for both you and your child. Good luck presenting a different point of view.
My wife and I are both teachers. She has taught recently and in Texas. We've both tried to be proactively involved in schools and understand the difference between approaching a topic from an adversarial point of view and a cooperative, helpful one.
Lastly, I'm lousy at Algebra, too. If the time comes when our granddaughter is taught Algebra in the same manner that I've observed, I'll drag out the Algebra materials and figure it out so that I can teach her. Your assumption that just because a school has an Algebra teacher that your child is better off in that class than with the individual instruction that he could get from you may not be accurate. Besides, the quickest way to learn something yourself is to try to teach it to someone else. Home schooled kids often have access to tutors for some of the more difficult subjects. There is a whole network of home school parents that have the same problems that you might and have built resources to help..
In someway, our educational system is much like the subject of guns. There are many inaccurate perceptions that have little to no basis in fact.
Edit: to include this link
http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/ as example of better ways to helping kids to be creative. My wife and I were coaches.
