Schools that fail

There are a lot of parents out there who feel like Michael McBride does about the school environment and curriculum they want their children in…or out of…for the good of the child.

I am through. After this semester, I am pulling my daughter from public school. I won’t be enrolling her in private school either. It is pretty obvious to me that between the diminishing capabilities of teachers to grab students’ attention, and increasing social pressures for adolescents…that the high school environment is not the place to be “learning”…school related subjects at least.

In all too many towns and schools, this is the scenario and the sentiment. Those students are learning, alright, but not lessons and skills that are good for them. The faculty and administration are culpable for this, wherever it’s allowed.

For a number of years we went along with my daughter’s teachers’ recommendations. We have suffered through the mediocre dissemination of knowledge. We met indifference and incompetence, and worse, apathy and denial. We have encountered scant little passion, and even less competency. In short, it has been pathetic.

What a poverty of thought and academic experience to encounter scant little passion in the classroom, which should be an environment rich with it. McBride details his experiences with the school system, recounts his efforts to engage it actively to make a positive impact, and describes his logical and necessary conclusions.

To date we have not seen an iota of progress on any issue that we have brought to the attention of the School District. We have not seen any interest in working to resolve even one minor issue…the complex issues are ignored, as are we. We are the parents that the School Districts ask for…involved parents with sound critiques, but our efforts have largely been ignored and the district proudly plows ahead on its crooked row.

My suggestions to all districts…

Hire leaders as principles, not school administrators…you can have as many curriculum advisors as you want, but districts rarely make good leadership decisions…you don’t need a link here, wait a day, an example will show up in the paper.

Hire business managers as Superintendents…see above.

Start paying attention to the suggestions that are given by the involved parents, and stop paying them lip service. If you don’t, you will soon have a wholesale revolt on your hands that you are not equipped to handle.

Stop crying for more money and make due with the roughly $300,000 (at least in this district) per base classroom that you’re given each year. After paying the teacher and fringe, there should be over $200,000 left to do the job…put it to good use.

Audit your teacher’s classrooms for activity, progress, and efficiency…more can be learned if the teachers simply focused on getting the material across.

Focus on the education of children…the problems within your districts will then become self-evident.

Based on what I read in the news…I don’t hold out hope for this or any other district, or private school. I reject the idea of switching schools, because I get the distinct feeling that I’ll just unearth the festering problems in another district, or I will “upgrade” my problems if we send her to private school. Neither of which I intend to do.

So my daughter, exhausted by the ridiculous social pressures that are unduly prevalent in high school, and the inept and snail-like delivery of course material, is begging for us to home school her.

And so we shall. We’re quitting school.

Sounds to me like the school quit them, first. He lays out quite a noble goal in suggesting they look for leaders and focus on their mission of education. And he gives them a plan to direct that mission. It’s not surprising in the least that McBride is a retired Marine.