School's

[CattleHand]

I guess I'm in the minority because I strongly disagree that schools are slacking or have been watering down material.
When I graduated high school I had already completed my first semester of college calculus. I'm about to graduate from A&M next semester and have had the opportunity of really diving into some intense math courses as a result of my head start in college that I know neither of my parents did.

When my brother graduated high school (he was smarter than me), he had finished two semesters of college calculus and as a result will probably be able to surpass me in my college math courses as well as study more physics.

My sister is getting ready to graduate high school and has taken the same math courses my brother has and is already taking statistics, a course I would of really benefited from but have not taken and probably wont take for scheduling reasons.

All of us went to public school and there were definitely plenty of slackers and people who did receive watered down curriculum but I feel that is not the schools fault but the parents fault. Our parents reviewed our studies with us at home so we were able to progress faster at a younger age. You can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink. The public school system has a lot of water, but most kids haven't been taught to drink.

 

[Jalopy]

Good Post Cattlehand. Thanks.
The OP was concerned about declining student populations and tight budgets. I do not know what the future will bring on that front but I wonder with all the high priced land sales now won't that help eventually? As land increases in value and fewer and fewer families stay in rural settings there should come a time when there will be more property tax dollars available and fewer students needing the services. I know thae in reality that won't happen but in theory it should. Just a thought.

 

[TexasBred]

Cattlehand, good to see a fellow Aggie on the board. Glad you got a headstart on college too. As I said in previous posts, "those that want to learn can". You seem to be one of them. I have no idea what your major is but I hope you find a use for that calculus and physics. I never did.

 

[TexasBred]

Good Post Cattlehand. Thanks.
The OP was concerned about declining student populations and tight budgets. I do not know what the future will bring on that front but I wonder with all the high priced land sales now won't that help eventually? As land increases in value and fewer and fewer families stay in rural settings there should come a time when there will be more property tax dollars available and fewer students needing the services. I know thae in reality that won't happen but in theory it should. Just a thought.

Jalopy 4 years ago I bought the "jungle" next door...and that's all it was too was a jungle..checked and it was on the tax rolls at $1,000 an acre...finally had to give $3750 to buy it...within a month central appraisal had raised the valuation to $3750...4 years latter it's up to twice what I gave for it and all I did was clear it, fence it and plant grass. Got one more year to go on it before it even qualifies for ag exemption. School taxes are most of it and I don't have kids in public school and never did. Hope someone is enjoying it.

 

[VanC]

I guess I'm in the minority because I strongly disagree that schools are slacking or have been watering down material.
When I graduated high school I had already completed my first semester of college calculus. I'm about to graduate from A&M next semester and have had the opportunity of really diving into some intense math courses as a result of my head start in college that I know neither of my parents did.

When my brother graduated high school (he was smarter than me), he had finished two semesters of college calculus and as a result will probably be able to surpass me in my college math courses as well as study more physics.

My sister is getting ready to graduate high school and has taken the same math courses my brother has and is already taking statistics, a course I would of really benefited from but have not taken and probably wont take for scheduling reasons.

All of us went to public school and there were definitely plenty of slackers and people who did receive watered down curriculum but I feel that is not the schools fault but the parents fault. Our parents reviewed our studies with us at home so we were able to progress faster at a younger age. You can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink. The public school system has a lot of water, but most kids haven't been taught to drink.

Excellent post. Some people hold the misconception that you can't get a quality education at a public school. That's nonsense. My wife and I and our kids all went to public schools and we're doing just fine. Our grandchildren that are old enough are going to public schools and I've no doubt they'll be just fine, too. Yes, some public schools are better than others, but that's no different than private schools. Some are better than others.

As CattleHand and others have said, a lot boils down to whether the child wants to learn and whether the parents care enough to get involved.

 

[Lammie]

You still can get a good education in most public schools, you just have to be interested in what you are doing. One thing they do offere that they did not when I was in school, a million years ago, is dual credit. My son can take classes in English and Math and get college credit for them. That's great and I'm all for it. Kids don't always know what they want, though, so parents have to get involved and know what their school is offering, to take advantage of that. No only can he get dual credit for some classes, he will finish school as a vet assistant. His school has a great vo-ed program. Why would you NOT take advantage of that?

As for teachers being underpaid, well, not to insult any teachers out there, but my take on it is this:

Where else is a 23 year old person with a Bachelor's degree gonna get RIGHT OUT OF SCHOOL and earn, what's the going rate around here, 40k? And that's not inlcuding any stipends he or she may get for sponsering clubs, coaching, band directing... That's a round figure. Some are less and some are more around here. And have spring break, Christmas break and yeah, some summer, although teachers these days have to attend training in summer. Gone are the days of lifetime teaching certificates. And good riddance.

I realize that isn't exactly breaking the bank for a salary, but it beats the heck out of what a similarly degreed person minus the teaching cert. would make in this economy, provided they can get a job at all. And they would be working all year for that two weeks off.

 

[TexasBred]

Sure beats going to school 7 years becoming a vet and going to work for less than $40K a year. And we wonder why there are not more vets.

 

[Black Coos]

I am of age to remenber when Black schools and white schools came to gether to become one , 40 years ago around here, and 15 % of my class that I had been with for 8 years , left reather quickly. The rich kids as most called them.. We did not have church schools around that I knew of..

 

[TexasBred]

I am of age to remenber when Black schools and white schools came to gether to become one , 40 years ago around here, and 15 % of my class that I had been with for 8 years , left reather quickly. The rich kids as most called them.. We did not have church schools around that I knew of..

Catholic schools have been around almost since the birth of the nation. And you don't have to be Catholic to attend. "Rich" had nothing to do with it so get off that crap.

 

[kerley]

I am of age to remenber when Black schools and white schools came to gether to become one , 40 years ago around here, and 15 % of my class that I had been with for 8 years , left reather quickly. The rich kids as most called them.. We did not have church schools around that I knew of..

Catholic schools have been around almost since the birth of the nation. And you don't have to be Catholic to attend. "Rich" had nothing to do with it so get off that crap.

Right on,Thank's Tex

 

[farmwriter]

Rich vs poor... seems to me most people can dang well afford what's important to them. If you're fortunate enough to live in a good school district, great. If not, what's the real cost of putting or not putting your child somewhere they can be safe (or at least safer) for seven hours of the day?

 

[TexasBred]

Rich vs poor... seems to me most people can dang well afford what's important to them. If you're fortunate enough to live in a good school district, great. If not, what's the real cost of putting or not putting your child somewhere they can be safe (or at least safer) for seven hours of the day?

Yep..even the unemployeed still have their smokes and cold beer.

 

[Jalopy]

Whether your students are homeschooled, public or privately schooled the land and tax base stays the same. If you experience declineing enrollment as we are in rural districts then the state aid is reduced, therefore more local funding (taxes) are needed to meet the criteria for state requirements. Thus it is possible to have to offer a class with a cerified instructor to just a few students in order to meet some guidelines in order to stay eligible for state aid. Even though property taxes are a sizeable portion of a schools budget the state aid is necessary for the school budgets to balance.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Keeping kids a learning is a parents job. Involved parents make better educated kids.

 

[Isomade]

Keeping kids a learning is a parents job. Involved parents make better educated kids.

:clap: I couldn't agree more.

As far as the talk about home schooling; I was home schooled till the 8th grade, I am 33 now and was in the top 10% of my graduating class, I didn't even have to try. I literally never took a book home from high school, it was just too easy. Home schooling comes down to one major thing, THE TEACHER! As does public school. But if you could clone a human being and put one in home school and the other in public school, teacher skill set and time spent being the same, the home schooler will win the smarts test every time. On the other hand when it comes to social skills, interacting with your peers, team sports, ect. The Public schooler will win every time. I believe I had the absolute best of both worlds. They each have there place. Very few parents have the time and patience for home schooling to be done properly.

 

[dun]

I know quite a few familys around here that home school. Most of them have the kids participate in sports/4H/FFA with the public school kids. One kid from each of 2 familys went on to play pro ball, and the kids are really a pleasure to be around and work with. Then you get to our neighbors that home school, kids are dumb as stumps, no social skills and are just plain strange. But that may be genetic cause the parents are pretty strange too.

 

[Ryder]

Keeping kids a learning is a parents job. Involved parents make better educated kids.

:clap: I couldn't agree more.

As far as the talk about home schooling; I was home schooled till the 8th grade, I am 33 now and was in the top 10% of my graduating class, I didn't even have to try. I literally never took a book home from high school, it was just too easy. Home schooling comes down to one major thing, THE TEACHER! As does public school. But if you could clone a human being and put one in home school and the other in public school, teacher skill set and time spent being the same, the home schooler will win the smarts test every time. On the other hand with ywhen it comes to social skills, interacting our peers, team sports, ect. The Public schooler will win every time. I believe I had the absolute best of both worlds. They each have there place. Very few parents have the time and patience for home schooling to be done properly.

I'm sure no expert but I challenge this. I know two girls home schooled (not related) that went through three years of college and now in third year of a professional school. I see nothing lacking in their social skills whatsoever,

Know a family with three kids home schooled that are a real pleasure to be around. They are polite young gentlemen and very social. They are required as part of their educaton to have other interest. Church,music, martial arts, Boy Scouts, and cooking classes for one who wants to be a chef.

Don't know if you would call it home or private school now. The mother started with her kids, but the number has grown to twenty something. Kids she takes that are behind are soon testing out above grade level. Kids that are disruptive and refuse to learn are not tolerated.
If I had school age children, I would want this for them.

 

[HEREFORD ROADHOG]

My take, we test so much, and then you have to pay to train teachers to give the test, then you have to pay people to monitor the test, and then you have to use the curriculum that is needed for the students to pass the test, and you have to pay someone else BIG bucks to make sure that everyone can use the curriculum because it's so complicated.

And the new curriculum works almost entirely off worksheets, which is one of the WORST things you can use to teach. The worksheets use LOTS of paper, which makes that budget go up. The paper gets wadded up and thrown away in the parking lot.

The student passes the test and forgets everything he learned because the point is to PASS THE TEST and not necessarily to retain anything.

The schools, if they can get enough students to pass the test, get recognition for their success.

It's all about the test folks. I really don't think we care what happens after that. Some do, but if test goes badly, everything goes badly.

YOU HIT THE NAIL EXACTLY RIGHT ON THE HEAD ,LAMMIE. :clap: Most teach to the test......... :hide:

 

[HEREFORD ROADHOG]

You still can get a good education in most public schools, you just have to be interested in what you are doing. One thing they do offere that they did not when I was in school, a million years ago, is dual credit. My son can take classes in English and Math and get college credit for them. That's great and I'm all for it. Kids don't always know what they want, though, so parents have to get involved and know what their school is offering, to take advantage of that. No only can he get dual credit for some classes, he will finish school as a vet assistant. His school has a great vo-ed program. Why would you NOT take advantage of that?

As for teachers being underpaid, well, not to insult any teachers out there, but my take on it is this:

Where else is a 23 year old person with a Bachelor's degree gonna get RIGHT OUT OF SCHOOL and earn, what's the going rate around here, 40k? And that's not inlcuding any stipends he or she may get for sponsering clubs, coaching, band directing... That's a round figure. Some are less and some are more around here. And have spring break, Christmas break and yeah, some summer, although teachers these days have to attend training in summer. Gone are the days of lifetime teaching certificates. And good riddance.

I realize that isn't exactly breaking the bank for a salary, but it beats the heck out of what a similarly degreed person minus the teaching cert. would make in this economy, provided they can get a job at all. And they would be working all year for that two weeks off.

To add to that ,many schools will help pay for you to get your masters degree & then give you another $5,000. or so a year.And you didn't even figure in the insurance & retirement benifits that most schools pick up a huge majority of. They are doing just fine I would say, for working 180 days a year. I saw an article about a city school not far away where the AVERAGE salary was around $68,000. WOW. But they were also putting another tax levy on the ballot to increase revenue .......................

 

[curtis]

Very well said Mr. Ryder. :clap: :clap: :clap: