Raising the Bar
Spitting in the eye of mainstream education
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-charter31-2009may31,0,6518091,full.story
“Not many schools in California recruit teachers with language like this: ‘We are looking for hard working people who believe in free market capitalism. . . . Multi-cultural specialists, ultra liberal zealots, and college-tainted oppression liberators need not apply.’”
“Three no-frills charter schools in Oakland mock liberal orthodoxy, teach strictly to the test — and produce some of the state’s top scores…”
“School administrators take pride in their record of frequently firing teachers they consider to be underperforming…”
“So what are they doing?”
“The short answer is that American Indian attracts academically motivated students, relentlessly (and unapologetically) teaches to the test, wrings more seat time out of every school day, hires smart young teachers, demands near-perfect attendance, piles on the homework, refuses to promote struggling students to the next grade, and keeps discipline so tight that there are no distractions or disruptions. Summer school is required…”
“(‘basket weaving,’ he scoffed). ‘You think the Jews and the Chinese are dumb enough to ask the public school to teach them their culture?’”
“There is no basket weaving at American Indian now — and little else that won’t directly affect standardized test scores…”
“American Indian’s administrators believe that one of the secrets to success in middle school is having one instructor teach all subjects except physical education. The goal is to have that teacher stay with the same children all three years — a policy that seems to be more theory than reality, given high teacher turnover…”
“There are no televisions at American Indian — no computers in the classrooms, either…”
About The Author
Did you see these uneducated, narrow-minded articles about homeschooling?
http://teacherrevised.org/
I have found teachers to be either VERY supportive of homeschooling OR very defensive of the public schools.
No wonder teachers are defensive. They went to university for years to learn how to “teach”. They earn their living doing something which homeschooling parents are certain they can do better. These teachers are likely insulted because we don’t think they are good enough for our children. We are rejecting them. We don’t want their advice. We don’t need their methods. We can have successful, highly educated children without them, and they don’t like it.
I think teachers have it hard. They get poor pay (although they do get enough time off to make up for it with a second job). Teaching a classroom of children can be an overwhelming and thankless job.
Teaching is like playing a game of chance with the lives of children. Some children do well. Some fail. Some fall through the cracks. More capable children don’t have the opportunity to advance.
When I meet a child who “failed” a grade, I tell him, “You didn’t fail. Your teacher failed.”
One thing I know for sure is that my children are MUCH more academically advanced because of homeschooling then they would have been in the public school system.