Hello,
I don't usually post in this area, as I see most of you are certified
teachers.  I have a question for you though and would like an opinion.
I homeschool my children (let us not get into a discussion about that
as I believe it is off-topic in this echo) and therefore even though
I am not a certified teacher, I do teach.
Since I have children ranging from 22 years to 9 years, I have seem
many problems in our school system.  Some of which directly affected
my children.  I believe most teachers are very competent in teaching
children and that it is the school system or directors themselves
that have down-graded our educational system.  With so many children
in the classroom and the schedule of curriculum that the teachers
must follow, the children are not always getting a grasp for whatever
part of the curriculum they must learn.  Then they are hurled into
another part of the subject, only to end up getting lost.
Let me give you several examples:  Jonathon is learning disabled.  One
school district saw this, but could not put a figure on what the problem
was.  They were able to work around it and give him special ed.  Which in
turn, made his grades and understanding go up.  Later in another school
district, they could not (I have to say would not) put him in special
ed (we moved there in the middle of a year) because they were full.  When
they retested him they said there was not a big enough discrepancy to
put him in special ed.  Grades went down.  No matter how hard I tried to
help him.  As soon as he started to understand they were off on something
else.  Later I had him retested privately and he showed he was behind
two years.  Jonathon is very good at Math, but his understanding of Math
is Mental.  If you give him a problem, he can not explain how you get
there, nor does he really understand the concept involved.  My question is
shouldn't they make sure the child not only knows how to do the problem, but
understand all that is involved with it?  He is still practicing 
Multiplication
because he never really understood the concepts of what he was doing.
Second case:  Jeremy had reading problems from the start including phonics
and comprehension.  Being tested in this school district they came to the
same conclusion as with Jonathon.  So he continued to be passed, but
did not improve.  When it came time to learn carrying over and borrowing,
the concepts needed to do this he did not know nor understand.  All I
received from the teacher was the fact he had trouble with this.
Both teachers of these kids knew there definetly was a learning problem, but
the school district did not listen, and of course, they would not argue for
fear of their jobs (this had been told to me).
Now I understand that the class can not slow down for all children, but
when are the school districts going to give the teachers 1) More say in
how things should be taught? 2)  A uniformed decision making process
when children are tested?
If a child has a problem I think the teachers input should out weigh the
test results.  Borderline LD or SLD should be left up to the teachers
discretion.  Being that the administrators are not in the classroom
teaching, they seem to be more concerned with the children who do
well and the children having problems are thrown aside.  This in turn,
I am sure, leaves most teachers frustrated.  They are having to learn
how to teach special ed students who are not getting help from a special
ed teacher or how to discipline problem children.  Now mind you some
school districts don't have this attitude, but us parents can't always
choose where we move too.  Getting involved in the school usually doesn't
work either, this I know from experience.  Motivation to learn in school
has disappeared unless you are a top student who receives all the attention.
In turn, I have also seen the motivation of teachers go right down the tube.
Education should be the primary goal in this country.  These children are
our country's leaders.  If we don't put forth more effort in the educational
process than what is this country going to be like?  I believe one day we
could end up with a President who will have to hire someone to
read for him because he can't comprehend or worse yet, hire someone to
sign his name to documents because he can't write. Maybe this is going
too far, but you get the point.
Regina
... ERROR: REALITY.SYS Corrupted -- Universe unrecoverable
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