The parent – teacher conference for my youngest daughter (1st grade) was last night. As most of you with school age children for whom there are still parent – teacher conferences know, the parents before you are always talking long past their time. If you’ve never noticed this, you’re those inconsiderate parents so stop it! Anyway, I passed the time by perusing the hallway walls which are adorned with the student’s class work and projects. Something bothered me about what I saw.
I blacked out the names just in case my blog is so popular other parents see their prodigy’s handiwork. So it’s clear I’m not picking on other kids, one of these is my own daughter’s work.
What bothers me is the horrendous spelling errors. Understandably, they’re only in first grade, I don’t expect them to write with the depth and clarity of J.K. Rowling. But I do expect words to be spelled correctly. After I was presented with my child’s writing classwork, there was more of the same: poor phonetic spellings — many misspelled words even for being phonetically spelled.
I decided I needed to ask why the spelling was so off the mark. I wanted to know if the allowance for gross misspellings were related to Common Core. My biggest concern is that children in these earliest learning years will have the wrongly spelled words ingrained in their memories thus making it more difficult to spell properly later on. In fact, my daughter still has to fight the urge to call a ‘snake’ a ‘stake’ because I misspoke the first time she saw one.
It turns out that the allowances are Common Core related. It seems that it is more important that the children feel like they ‘completed a task than it is that they completed the task correctly’.
I have less to worry about for math, my daughter is proficient in her math skills, for now. However, the teacher hesitantly admitted that the curriculum was not very good and she needed to create a supplemental curriculum to make the lessons understandable.
Other deficiencies in the Common Core curiculum can be found elsewhere online, if you’re curious. I’m hoping there are enough dedicated teachers willing to buck the system — even if quietly — to ensure children get an education whilst in their care.
Sifting Reality 
Another reason to abandon the government schools.
They need to be changed. I dont think we should abandon them, we need to get elected to school boards and administrative positions so that these programs can be scrapped. If we just walk away, students of these educational methods will only advance to create other public pooicies when they grow older.
Christians and conservatives need to get more involved in local and state government.
You can’t change them. They have a fundamental flaw in that they are established to provide drones for the government. Study the history of the “public” school system. They are nothing more than indoctrination centers.
We got very involved with our local schools and it was to no avail. By the time our daughter was in the 8th grade, and our son in the 5th, we were fed up with trying and spent a year at a private Christian school before home-schooling.
I’m not disparaging homeschooling. But I think it’s a mistake to wash our hands with a deeply broken system. There needs to be involvement in more than the one local school. We need to also be involved in the higher levels of government. That is how change is affected.
There is no “we” – and that is the problem. The vast majority of Americans couldn’t care less. Which is why those of us who DO care need to abandon the system. It can’t be fixed.
“Parents’ choice proceeds from the belief that the purpose of education is to provide individual students with an education. In fact, educating the individual is but a means to the true end of education, which is to create a viable social order to which individuals contribute and by which they are sustained. ‘Family choice’ is, therefore, basically selfish and anti-social in that it focuses on the ‘wants’ of a single family rather than the ‘needs’ of society.”
Association of California School Administrators, 1993.
And if the school boards and classrooms were filled with conservatives that mentality would be diluted.
I just dont understand how on one hand you’d say its better to abandon the system and on the other complain of the quality.
The quality is controlled by the state. The state has not had conservative leadership for decades, and especially since they kicked God out of the schools. There are not enough conservatives to change the government for the better, which means you will not be able to change the schools for the better.
Society will continue to decline as we near the end, as has been prophesied. Therefore, if we want to protect our kids as much as possible before the total societal collapse, then we need to get out of the government system. The system has only one goal, and you will not be able to change it.
God was kicked out of schools because conservatives and Christians tolerated it and said ‘oh well’ and retreated. And it has gotten worse ever since. It is conservatives and Christians fault that government and the schools are in the condition they find themselves.
I don’t deny that! However, the war was lost and the field cannot be regained.
Not if people run and hide it cant be. But the culture war is still being waged. I think its best to not be a draft dodger.
Be a realist, John. Look at our society, the culture. We can still fight to slow it down, but it is rapidly deteriorating. And, as I said, it is prophesied to be that way – “as in the days of Noah.” We conservatives can’t even get a hold of the national government, and it is the national government which dictates what goes on in the schools. The local populace had control taken from them decades ago.
Heres the problem Glenn. The Washington Post released a national survey that the political ideology of the citizens of all 50 states is more than half conservative. The conservative political ideology is in the majority in this country for the first time since the 60s. So why is the government so liberal? Because liberals dont give up and sit at home and play the defeated victim. They get out there and organize.
The country is in the staye it is because people of a conservative bent sit on their hands and do nothing all while complaining that nothing can be done.
DO SOMETHING!!!
Its like sitting at home on election day then complaining about who gets elected.
John,
It isn’t “draft dodging” any more than ten men being surrounded by 10,000 and surrendering is “dodging.” You keep forgetting that God said it WILL get worse, and there is nothing you can do to make it better. By way of the Bible, whose job is it to educate? The parents! If the parents choose to give someone else the job, the responsibility for what they are taught is still the parents. Either send the kids to a private school or homeschool. Otherwise, you leave your children at the mercy of the state. Don’t you pay attention to all the stuff I post of FB demonstrating the problems of government schools?
Polls showing “conservative” ideology don’t say to what degree one is “conservative,” and that can run the gamut. Look at insane McCain! I have done everything I am capable of doing: I was super involved in my kids’ schools, as was my wife. We challenged the status quo all the time. I have written hundreds of letters to my congressmen and senators over the years, at both state and national level. I don’t have the knowledge nor inclination to be a politician. I am a member of some organizations so as to be active through them. I have letters-to-the-editor of numerous newspapers. But none of it changed the school system. You really need to study the history of our governmental school system to realize you won’t win. That’s because even the conservatives think education is the government’s job. The unions are extremely liberal and have always controlled the educational system. And do you really think you’ll remove the violence from the schools without first removing it from society?
Education is compulsory, but public education isn’t. One can use private schools or homeschool.
Its only 10 vs 10,000 because 9,990 other conservatives around you have the attitude you do. That is what needs to change.
Of course things will get bad. But no where does God say lay down and take it.
John,
As I pointed out, I have personally done everything I could possibly do to change the system. There is nothing wrong with my attitude because I am facing reality and you stick your head in the sand and say everything COULD be okay if we just got together, regardless of the fact that there aren’t enough REAL Conservatives to offset the numbers on the other side, especially since they have had a century to get to the point where they are.
No where does it say in Scripture or in any law that we have to stay in government schools. Why continue supporting a failed system when you can help a better system? In my book, those like you who think they can fix a broken system rather than supporting good systems are part of the problem! Why SHOULD we continue pouring money into the black hole of government education when much better alternatives are available?
Glenn
Im not saying you have to keep your kids in government schools. Im saying that even if you homeschool you should work toward making public schools better.
Why work to rebuild a rusted out 100year old car which doesn’t work when I can have a new car which works better and does so for a whole lot less money!
Because people are driving that car full speed drunk through a neighborhood full of kids.
Wrong – they are PUSHING the car because it doesn’t work.
Lol. Ok, I’ll give you that!
Wow, John you have really piqued my interest now.
“Im saying that even if you homeschool you should work toward making public schools better.”
Why? It’s a socialist construct. It’s a liberal invention.
We homeschool, and not only do I not help improve public education I am outright trying to get a tax break for parents who homeschool.
Don’t we all do our part when we pay our taxes?
By the way, the idea that school is compulsory is a by-product of public education. A lot like the advertising to the masses that vaccines are compulsory, but in reality are not.
I say help the public schools because so many students coming out of them will some dau be in charge of the country. Id rather be a part of molding their worldview outlook rather than having a far left liberal ideology burned into their minds.
Why not burn into their minds the ability to critically analyze and think independently so that they aren’t brainwashed by the right or left? What if public schools were producing students who could operate autonomously, and could examine the machinations on their own and move forward independent of the culture war?
Some of us don’t want you to brainwash these kids anymore than the libs.
Yet it’s still a socialist construct to support with your dollars and time…..is it not?
Nash
That is what public schools used to do.
youre called to be salt and light in the world. Not just at church and online. Everywhere. Even in the political realm. Especially in the political realm where it affects innocent people.
Well I agree, for the first time ever with Glenn just a bit in tenor at least. PE is the place where children go to have their collective spirits broken, their imaginations dismantled, and learn to be intellectual slaves. Public school manufactures automatons and cubicle personnel and customers.
This is the crux of why we homeschool/unschool.
This is the end result of letting 2 unions dictate curriculum and syllabus for entirely too long. The scientific method would see the results as a failure. There is no other industry in which the union or workforce dictates all the policies and technical details for the end product. The teachers should have zero to do with input for the curriculum and how it is used in the classroom. This is akin to letting Joe down on the assembly line driving a rivet gun for the last 20 years, start telling the Board of Directors at GM how to sell cars in foreign markets. Teachers are meant to deliver a product. Not deliver a product that they have made.
Common Core is just the new face of a terribly bad product. It would be like giving a new paint job to a Yugo. It was garbage 25 years ago, and now it’s the same garbage in the landfill.
The unions had their shot for the last 30 years. They failed.
Question: Since education isn’t a right, how is it that any of you take part in such a socialist mechanism to begin with?
Because even though it isnt a right it is a requirement. Youre not allowed to not be schooled.
A requirement? Say’s who? I know in the liberal parts of the Northeast they sort of monitor the homeschoolers but outside of that little bubble the rest of us are completely off the radar. The state of Texas could care less about a kid being “not schooled.” Certainly not a requirement in many states. Certainly not a federal one.
A socialist requirement at that.
Well im under the impression you cant just not send your kid to school OR home school. I could be wrong, but that doesnt happen often so…
It’s probably a state to state thing.
Only 4 states have a system with the board of education that mandates you notify them if you plan to homeschool. Thats it, a phone call. Only 2 states, NY and NJ want to check up on you and your kids once a year. The rest of the country is still free to do as they wish.
Really… hmm. I am fully sutprised. How did I get the impression that education is compulsory?
This is one area where I agree with both John and Glenn. Like Glen, I believe the public school system is fundementally flawed and beyond saving. However, I also see a need for public education.
Personally, I think control of public education needs to be removed completely from the state/provincial and federal governments and returned to the parents and local communities, with flexibility for families who want their kids educated completely outside the home, completely home based, or somewhere in between. The problem with that is, it would require high levels of involvement from parents, and I just don’t see that happening.
Oh, and John, you don’t send untrained men to combat. In the same way, you don’t send untrained kids to public school to be the “salt and light” We are much better salt and light in our own schools – which is why homeschooling outshines the government system hands down!
You really sound like a teachers’ union man.
No. Id like to see teachers unions done away with, theyve ruined education. Im saying make the schools better so they teach a worthy education. Even if we dont use the public school system we shouldnt let it stay the garbage system it is. We should fix it so others arent recruited and corrupted by a duplicitous ideology.
Wow. Interesting bunch of comments. I’d have to say I’m mostly with John on this one, even if not wholesale. Yes, of course if you want to see improvements, you get in there and work for them.
Kunoichi…
I think control of public education needs to be removed completely from the state/provincial and federal governments and returned to the parents and local communities
I don’t know about everywhere else, but at least in Kentucky, local schools control themselves, with input and requirements and oversight with the local school board, with oversight and requirements from the state. But still, ultimately – unless the school is failing – the local school makes its own decisions.
This is how I think things should operate – decisions should always be made as locally as possible, but with oversight from beyond the local to ensure optimal results. That is, IF a local school has been running itself and the kids are all failing and the grounds are not safe or rights are being violated, then YES, I want some larger oversight to make sure that education is optimal. And if the city school board is not succeeding in education, then even larger oversight is a good idea.
I also think it is entirely rational to try to have some coordination between schools, so that we know that, by 6th grade, the students are ready to start algebra and that they’ve learned about American and World history, for instance, and not find that, when a child moves from KY to Indiana, they find that the child is not prepared for Indiana schools because they had a different schedule.
But ultimately, local schools do make decisions on how to run their school. At least here in Kentucky.
Richard…
Why? It’s a socialist construct. It’s a liberal invention.
Hmm. Historically speaking, did you know that one of the first advocates of public schools in the US was Thomas Jefferson? That the Puritans were amongst the first advocates of public education?
That Horace Mann, one of the leaders for public education – who helped us actually implement compulsory public education in the 19th century – said, “our system earnestly inculcates all Christian morals; it founds its morals on the basis of religion; it welcomes the religion of the Bible; and, in receiving the Bible, it allows it to do what it is allowed to do in no other system,— to speak for itself. But here it stops, not because it claims to have compassed all truth; but because it disclaims to act as an umpire between hostile religious opinions.”
I don’t see how anyone can seriously say something like that Richard. “A liberal invention…”? A “socialist construct…”? Seriously? Do you know how crazy that sounds?
The founders were the first to push for and establish public free to the population school. I dont think we could call them liberals or socialists in any terms. They were likely the most conservative self reliant people this country has seen.
Well Dan, in 1641 the Puritans were not advocating for public education. They were advocating the teaching of their white children with a rigid religious schooling almost identical to what was being as a model in England. The army of indentured servants that they had did not attend, and neither did their children. The caste system prevented them from attending this “public” school.
And the point of bringing this aspect up is that some of the best paternal citizen centered mechanisms that played a monumental role in making America superawesome were things like public education, which have direct roots in the old liberal/socialist christian ideal movements in the US starting around 1800. Up until around 1980 we had a high grade universal PE system and it’s genesis was the universal, care giving breed of christian that made that happen. These were utilitarian liberal christian ideologies that no longer have a place in the culture war. So yes it may seem odd when I use these terms out of context but it is the historical oxymoron that’s odd for me. At the root of public education were well meaning liberal christians.
And yes it is socialist to have it and to continue to support it with taxes and time. It is a planned governmental economy and construct. We give to a big central governmental DoE and they trickle standards and money down to the states and schools. All schools are federally supported. So in spite of your local school board thinking they have real power they in fact have little, thanks to NCLB and CC standards. If the schools opt out? They lose those federal monies………just ask Texas.
The problem here is that some of you have been brainwashed to believe it is the government’s job to provide education for our kids, and therefore we must support them. It is certainly not the government’s job – it is our job.
Nor is it our job to make sure anyone else’s kids are educated, yet that is the attitude projected here. Let’s take that logic farther and say it is our job to make sure every kid gets into college! Again the question has to be, why is it our job as a society to make sure everyone gets the education they want? Our job biblically is to educate our OWN kids; no where does it say our responsibility is to educate everyone else’s.
It is just plain silly to say we should keep supporting a failing system rather than starting our own. It is the ideology of the leftists!
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/christinerousselle/2013/10/17/sign-in-indiana-school-promotes-population-control-n1726172
Yep, let’s just keep supporting this garbage.
…Or get involved and prevent it.
John, As previously noted, getting involved doesn’t help. The ideology has been state-centered from the beginning. You can’t change that:
“The public schools exist primarily for the benefit of the State rather than for the benefit of the individual.”
U.S. Bureau of Education, 1914
Richard…
which have direct roots in the old liberal/socialist christian ideal movements in the US starting around 1800…
At the root of public education were well meaning liberal christians.
I’m not exactly clear what you’re saying: Do you consider Jefferson a liberal and socialist?
I’d suggest that a more historically accurate description would be that public education was supported by a wide swath of folk throughout history. The idea is not, by definition, “socialist,” although I don’t guess it exactly clashes with socialist ideals, either. But there is simply nothing definitionally tying public education to socialism, nor liberalism. Nothing that I can see.
HAVE some liberal and/or socialist types historically supported PE? Sure. As have conservatives, capitalists and others.
Did you know that there are a good number of liberals today in the homeschooling movement? Did you know that one of their primary reasons to opt out of PE was to get away from the conservative/overtly-capitalistic teachings going on in schools?
I find it funny that there are those on the Left and Right who criticize schools for exactly the opposite reasons. “It’s too conservative and fascist!” the hippies lament. “It’s too liberal and socialist!” the conservatives moan.
It can’t really be both, you know, and the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Nash…
And yes it is socialist to have it and to continue to support it with taxes and time. It is a planned governmental economy and construct.
Supporting programs with taxes (which we agree to have taken out of our capitalistically-earned dollars) is not socialism, you know? Not by definition.
Nash…
We give to a big central governmental DoE and they trickle standards and money down to the states and schools. All schools are federally supported.
From an PBS report:
It’s a little known fact that when it comes to the funding of our schools, the U.S. Government contributes about 10 cents to every dollar spent on K-12 education – less than the majority of countries in the world.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wherewestand/reports/finance/how-do-we-fund-our-schools/197/
Most schools are mostly funded at the local level with dollars raised usually from property taxes. All schools that I know of (unless they are struggling academically) are run by their local PTA/PTSA.
Facts! What would we do without them?!
And all of that, by the way, is not to say that I agree with every additional rule or mandate that might come down from the state level or the federal level. There was a good deal about Bush’s No Child Left Behind school rules that I disagreed with, for instance. But Bush was neither a socialist nor a liberal, was he? (I’m trying to recall my history lessons I had in school, but then, we didn’t talk about future presidents… ah, well!)
~Dan
Where do teachers send their kids to school?
http://www.humanevents.com/2013/10/17/where-do-public-school-teachers-send-their-own-kids/
“Education is is thus a most powerful ally of humanism, and every American school is a school of humanism. What can a theistic Sunday School, meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of the five-day program of humanistic teaching?”
Charles F. Potter, “Humanism: A New Religion”
“Conditioning is therefore a process which may be employed by the teacher to build up attitudes in the child and predispose him to the actions by which these attitudes are expressed.”
National Education Association, 1932
Glenn…
As previously noted, getting involved doesn’t help.
Wow. Is that your attitude towards every area of life, or only public schools?
I can imagine that conversation…
Jesus: So as you are going, therefore, throughout the world, make disciples, teach them what I taught you…
Peter: Ah, it’s futile. Getting involved doesn’t help things. The world’s going to end, anyway. Weh.
Jesus: yah, I guess you’re right. Good luck, then. See you at the end of time!
Peace out!
“In 1953 UNESCO published certain booklets entitled, Toward World Understanding. Their assumption is that the State, and not the parents should control the education of children, and that the State should aim at eliminating all religious differences among children. To do this they propose the abolition of neighborhood schools, religious schools, private schools, and schools whose pupils are of one sex.”
Gordon H. Clark, “A Christian Philosophy of Education,” p.190
This is from 1953 – the ideology is endemic to the governmental system. You will not change it.
Trabue,
As usual you decide for yourself what you want others to believe, and then you accuse them of that belief. You are a foolish person.
“Our goal is behavioral change. The majority of our youth still hold to the values of their parents and if we do not resocialize them to accept change, our society will decay.”
Dr. John I. Goodlad, 1970
cited in “Brave New Schools,” by Berit Kjos, p.59.
Note again what he says their goal is in the government school.
Glenn
Every quote you offer is yet another reason to adopt my position and not yours.
“[In 1973] the National Education Association, the twenty-five-thousand-member teachers’ union that did so much to advance the cause of multicultural education during the Columbian quincentennial, grandly proclaimed: ‘All whites are racists.’ The NEA said: ‘Even if whites are totally free from all conscious racial prejudice, they remain racist, for they receive benefits distributed by a racist society through racist institutions.”
“Dictatorship of Virtue,” by Richard Bernstein, p. 193
Yes, this is your great teachers’ union which runs the government school system.
John,
How so? I prove what the purpose was behind the government school system, and why it can never be changed, and yet you think all we need to do is have a rally and jump in and change it?!? Why must we even try? Why must we continue to expend billions of dollars into a failed system when we don’t even need the system to begin with? Why can’t we have our own systems instead of those controlled by the State?
If you want your kids indoctrinated by the unchangeable system, be my guest. But there is no legitimate reason, not even a biblical one, which says we should keep trying to fix what can’t be fixed.
Glenn
Would the educational system be what it is now if it were universally run by conservative Christians?
More proof of the NEA’s ideology which can’t be changed:
“[In 1973] the National Education Association, the twenty-five-thousand-member teachers’ union that did so much to advance the cause of multicultural education during the Columbian quincentennial, grandly proclaimed: ‘All whites are racists.’ The NEA said: ‘Even if whites are totally free from all conscious racial prejudice, they remain racist, for they receive benefits distributed by a racist society through racist institutions.”
“Dictatorship of Virtue,” by Richard Bernstein, p. 193
But it never has been run by conservative Christians for over a century! If it had been, it would not be what it is.
Thank you for conceding the argument.
“The purpose of education and the schools is to change the thoughts, feelings and actions of students.”
Prof. Benjamin Bloom, 1981 (“Father of Outcome-Based Education.”)
Is this the purpose you want for your children when you send them to school?
And again, if more people who hold views closer to ours that wouldnt be the purpose of public education, thus my point is made.
I didn’t concede anything. I already agreed that the reason the schools are in the present condition was because conservative Christians allowed it. But now that it is done, it can’t be fixed. And you have given me no reason why we should stay involved in a totally broken and unfixable system when we have alternatives.
John, what about colleges? Should we continue to support these liberal bastions of humanism and atheism or should we send our kids to private conservative or Christian colleges? After all, shouldn’t we just try to change the colleges instead of abandoning them?
“It is absurd and anti-life to be part of a system that compels you to sit in confinement with people of exactly the same age and social class. That system effectively cuts you off from the immense diversity of life and the synergy of variety; indeed it cuts you off from your own past and future, sealing you in a continuous present much the same way television does. It is absurd and anti-life to move from cell to cell at the sound of a gong for every day of your natural youth in an institution that allows you no privacy and even follows you into the sanctuary of your home demanding that you do its ‘homework’.”
John Taylor Gatto, “Dumbing Us Down,” p.27
Gatto was a school teacher in New York City for 30 years and won many teaching awards. I’d say he knows what he is talking about.
Not in a million years would I have ever imagined Glenn quoting from Gatto, who is the furthest thing from a christian conservative imaginable…..wow.
He may not be a Christian conservative, but he’s an expert in his field.
I agree Glenn. He is a major force leading the charge against the exceptionally poor quality of public schools.
Remember that G. Washington and Albert Einstein along with a slew of others were home schooled.
Given all the grief being given to public schools by some here, I was wondering if you saw this article about a new study…
http://m.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/Are-Private-Schools-Worth-It/280693/
…indicating that, all in all, public schools are doing quite well, as compared to private schools, thank you very much. Which touches on something I’ve always said: You can’t compare apples and oranges. Private schools get to pick and choose their students. Public schools have a duty to educate all children. Private schools are typically chosen by more involved parents, public schools have a duty to educate all children from all backgrounds – and parental involvement/support of academics is the number one predictor of student success.
Interesting article that seemed on topic here.
~Dan
That study seems biased to begin with, since she’s looking only at “religious” schools. It also contradicts many previous studies. Go figure.