Sunday, November 21, 2010

HE:ED highlight: Teachers say "it's the parents"...but, is it?

After seeing Whitney Tilson's presentation 'A Right Denied' or Davis Guggenheim's documentary 'Waiting for Superman' its easy to become angry and/or depressed about the state of public education in America.

In fact, it seems to be that no matter how you look at public education in america, it's a fail. American students are not competitive internationally (and while other countries show growth american acheivement is stagnant).

Many students are still learning to read when should they should be reading to learn in or after the 4th grade. And these same students don't catch up to "where they should be" by graduation.

Now, teachers will say that it's not the schools that are the problem, "it's the parents". And since parents play a large part in a successful education, that may be partly true.

But, just a thought, if we ask ourselves what American children are actually learning in public school systems, can we say that active, involved parents would make all the difference? Are public school curricula addressing all the needs of american children in large cities?

And for argument's sake, if "it's the parents" than why isn't our President (an active, informed parent himself) sending his children to public school?

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