Childproof locks

[PitbullMidwest]

<font color=blue>I don't like the idea of private schools</font color=blue>

dmccarty,

My kids attend a private Christian school and I just ended my 2nd term on the school board. When ever I hear someone say "I don't like the idea of private schools" or similar statements I like to ask "why?" Not in a confrontational way but to discover their reasons. This helps improve our school (since short comings are sometimes revealed) or helps clear up misconceptions others may have.

So if you don't mind me asking, "Why?"

 

[dmccarty]

Terry,

I can't stop talking either. Its one of the bugs spread by TBN! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Money is one of the big factors in sending a kid to a private school and I'm not sure if we can afford it. I know my cousin quit her day job and is staying at home to teach her kids. She got fed up with the local school system. I'm not around her kids that much but I certainly see the difference in the kids now that they are home schooled. Her oldest was coming home from school cussing and very violent prior to home schooling. Now he is a little gentleman. My cousin does not have a pot to tinkle into so this is a major effort for them to have her stay home to teach the kids. So I guess if she can do it so can we! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

In my area there seem to be lots of children being home schooled and they get togather to do things to provide socialisation which seems to me to be one of the big concerns with home schooling....

I'll save my other comments about private schools since PitBull asked.... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Later...
Dan McCarty

 

[TerryinMD]

Dan,

Oh my, there are a lot of families that home school in our area also. The home schoolers have an "association - lack of a better term" in which they exchange information, supplies, and provide a means for socialization. In fact one of my girls friends is home schooled and is one of the brightest, cheeryist kids I've met in a long time. Her family uses both the home school association and 4-H to round her out. My wife and I belong to a Contra (kinda like square dancing) dance club and a group of about 20 or so tweens and teens attend the dance. They are just wonderful kids.

Terry

 

[ejb]

Re: Childproof locks/homeschool

>>do things to provide socialisation which seems to me to be one of the big concerns with home schooling....

That does seem to be one area that public school advocates choose to play up (i.e. the fact that kids won't have socialization unless they go to a "real" school). My experience tells me that that is not really a concern, and is more or less just something that teachers use to put the fear of homeschooling into the parents.

The basic strategy of the teachers unions has been as follows:

First they claimed that students whom are homeschooled, would not learn as much as student in public schooled; but now there is ample evidence that on average home-schooled students do much better than public schooled kids, so they abandoned that tactic.

The second phase of the critisim that they resorted to was what you mentioned, i.e. trying to make parents feel that there kids would be socially inept unless they went to public school. This has been pretty much disproved as well since in general, home schooled kids still get to play with other kids their age, and more importantly, they get to interact with kids and adults of all ages more so than a public school kid who only interacts with kids the same age.

Now, the latest critism that is floating around in my particular area (now that the first 2 attempts to critize homeschoolers have failed) is teachers in my area are actually arguing that in effect, parents actually OWE it to the other children to keep their own kids in school because the best and brightest are usually the ones that either get pulled out for homeschool (or else for private school). The teachers figured if all the good kids left, and then those involved parents started voting down (or at least not actively supporting) the year after year after year of budget increases (well beyond inflation adjustments) that those students still in the system would suffer (and by the way , the teachers might not get their raises every year).

Anyway, that has pretty much been the progression of the home school versus public school battle around here.

Not everyone can or should homeschool, but if you are willing to make the sacrifice, most people would not be disappointed in their investment...after all, very very few people on their deathbeds say "...I wish I had spent a little more time at the office..."

Definitely not critizing anyone that chooses NOT to homeschool, but definitely give a big round of applause to anyone that does.



<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by ejb on 10/18/01 01:29 PM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[dmccarty]

PitbullMidwest,

I don't mind you asking at all.

When I was growing up, private schools where Elite Schools. The kids I knew who went to these schools had lots of money and there was a lot of snobbishness involved. I'm sure that this EliteIsm does not affect all private schools but it certainly was there for the schools I knew about. There is a school that was opened by the owner of SAS, which is a large software company in NC. The owner is one of the richest men in NC. This school costs big bucks. I can't remember how much but I would really have to struggle to pay for my kid to got there.

As an example of the schools wealth. They have a photography class. They buy their equipment from the same man I do. They ordered quite a few Nikon F5 cameras which at the time were around $1,800 a unit. They also bought 5 or so lenses that go for about $5,000 a piece. I wanted a certain flash unit that was in short supply that cost around $350. The school let me have one they ordered because they had enough to meet their needs until a new shipment could come in. Mighty nice of them to do that for me! I really appreciated what they did. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif But it shows the wealth, pun intended, of the school. I never went to a public school that could have bought this sort of equipment. I heard their computer setup is pretty awesome! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I just mentioned the photo stuff to illustrate the snobby component of SOME private schools. This school is most certainly not a normal private school. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Not with the kind of money they have. They ticked off they local school systems since they had money to provide teachers with better pay and the private school "raided" quite a few of the really good local teachers. Or so it was claimed.

So part of my concerns about private schools is the elitism. Another concern I have is that public schools must provide a good education for all children. If public education fails we as a country are going to have big problems. I'm afraid that if parents leave the public systems because of the problems in the tax supported schools then public education will just get worse and worse. It seems to be a vicious cycle.

For my daughter I want her to have the best education she can get. But education is not just books. I won't have a fit if she had a few bad teachers in 12 years. That is part of life. She needs to learn how to deal with those sort of situations since they are real world in many ways. But I'm afraid she will have more than a few bad teachers. And the more I hear about the local school systems the more I lean towards a private/home school. But I don't want to lean that way! At least towards private schools. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

My impression is that the private schools are not always financially/racially/ethnically mixed. That was my experience 20+ years ago. And that is not real world either. I work for a company where I'm sure over 90% of the employees have at least a four year degree. Its very Ivory Towerish. Its not a real world environment. There is nothing wrong with the company because of this but it is reflects a small segment of our country. So if my child went to a school where the parents work for my company or similar companies my kids education will be lacking.

Well, I have kinda wondered all over with this issue and I'm not sure I answered your question! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I guess I'm on a fence in some ways. Its like buying a tractor. Some brands(schools) have certain benefits over others. I guess I don't know what color to buy yet! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Later....
Dan McCarty

 

[TerryinMD]

Dan,

Yes, there is this sense of "elitism" attached to kids going to a private school. But what counts most is the how the parents raise the kids. One must educate their children to respect others no matter what social ladder they are currently occupying. Are children mean to each other? Oh my yes. The meanest creatures on earth sometimes. That is due to the fact that in reality that know no better. When I hear my kids or their friends pick on other kids, I just tell them to stop. Especially, when it comes to elitist issues.

Should I sacrifice lots of money to ensure that my kids get the best education? Tough question - first reaction is no! I would rather have the school system teach them the basics and then I hone those skills to suit my childs needs. If I think that the curriculum stinks, I let my kids know that I don't agree with it and why. It is surprising to hear them echo some of my and the wifes basic beliefs. This is due to the fact that I explain why I think the way I do. It is up to them to make the decision to accept or reject our thoughts. This is independent of moral issues. I'll leave that subject alone. I'm talking about environmental, political correctness, and local/state/federal/global political stuff.

I went to a private school and lived through some of that garbage. I ignored it and was always better off for it.

Terry

 

[bgott]

The kids that won the national spelling bee the last few years have been home schooled. The kid who got the perfect grade on the SAT was home schooled. Stats show that the lowest GPAs in higher education are in the teaching majors. Sure glad I don't have kids and don't have to deal with this!

 

[ERNIEB]

<font color=blue>I encourage you to take your kids right up to the school in your dump truck</font color=blue>
Terrry, I tried that last year, and before I could help the kids out, I was besieged by three teachers with walky talkys. I asked if I could use the bus driveway. No way. I talked to the head of the ISD police. No help. In fact, that guy told me he use to be the principle at the elementry school. For the kind of loot he is making, they might have been able to get Bird out of retirement, and had a real police officer in charge.
The vice principle told me I could just let them out past the school where there is room for me to pull over, and they would "find their way OK". I did a meltdown, for sure. I told her, " They are only 5 yrs old! Whats wrong with you?" She was highly insulted.
The kids love going in the truck. the boy climbs out onto the step and then jumps down. The girl still wants dad to help her down.

Ernie

 

[ERNIEB]

Dan, we have a Cherokee, and I think there is a small sticker on the rear door glass that says equiped with child safety locks. When you open the door, near the latch mechanism is a small tab that activates the safety locks. I think they are a great idea. The only draw back I can think of is that even when you have adults back there, you have to remember to open their door when you get out./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Ernie

 

[gws]

My son decided for himself. When he got tired of waiting for me or my wife to come around and open the door he figured out how to disable the door latch. Then would get very upset if we set it back.

Gary.

 

[dmccarty]

Terry,

One of my questions that has popped up because of this thread is really how prevelent is this Elitism in the private schools? I'm sure that is still present but I would guess it may not be as big of a deal today than when I was in school. There seem to be more private schools around than in my day so going to a private school just may not be a big deal anymore.

But sending kids to private schools then drives the debate on why should I still be paying taxes to go to a school system that does not have my values and/or an incompetent school system. Give Me My Voucher! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

But the real solution is to fix the public schools. I'm not sure how they can really be fixed.... /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Later...
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

ErinieB,

I'll check and see if the Jeep has the locks this weekend. I know there is a switch on the driver side for something but I think its window lock. Hopefully we have the child lock.

I hope the Jeep has the child lock or I'll start hearing about how we need a new car! Again! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Thanks...
Dan

 

[PitbullMidwest]

Dan,
I had a rather lengthy response to your earlier post about private schools (thanks for your reply ) when a big black screen and little red box appeared on the my monitor stating "all Novell Netware servers are unreachable".

Anyway, elitism isn't a problem here, actually public school kids tend to look down on our kids. I have many friends who home school, our school works closely with them providing curriculem, state required progress testing and has even set up a seperate "academy" so they can receive a diploma at graduation time. Having a diploma is important to the students as well as collages. We often joke with the homeschoolers that they really want their kids in private school but their pajamas don't meet the dress code./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

CAUTION: BRAGGING AHEAD!

My son is in 2nd grade, 7 years old. The curriculem we use is self paced, individual study focusing on the basic skills. He is currently doing 2nd semister 3rd grade math, 1st quarter 4th grade reading (125 words/minute with 98% comprehension on standarized testing) and is advanced in other studies as well. My 10 year old 5th grade daughter is doing equally as well.

Not sure what most consider "too expensive" but tuition at our school is $2400/1st student, $2100/2nd student, $1800/3rd student and if you enroll a 4th or more kids they go for the price of books ($250/student).

In the end, you as a parent must decide where your kids will be best educated. Many parent decide against our school because we do not focus heavily on liberal arts, others choose it due to the disipline and respect fostered in their kids. BTW, in the 20 years of our school, patriotism never went out of style, citizenship and love of God and country are just as important as other subjects.

I'm sure what ever you and your wife decide will be the right choice for your kids.