Where is balance Academic priorities 255

here,

Yes, the sound bites were intended to be critical expressions based on personal experience.

But you still do not have any "in toto" to work with so, you've repeated your error.

of

You've, again, decided that what's on the screen is all there is. Read the paragraph you've responded to again, and while doing so keep in mind that it's a three sentence summary of twenty years of dealing with the education system. A (little) more below about "where I was." for anyone who's actually paying attention to this.

couple

I didn't mention any of that because, again, it wasn't relevant to the subject at hand.

But, exactly how much of blame do you figure is my share? 10%? 90%? Can we buttume whatever number you apportion, you blame the schools for the rest? Or do you have someone else on tap for that? But if you do go with the schools, exactly what deficiency what are you blaming them for? Doing a poor job? Failing to report the kids progress accurately? Failing to bring the extent of the problem to my attention? And if so, at what point should they have done so? The first hint of trouble? After it was clearly established? Who's definition of "clearly" do we use?

As to "where was I?", I was paying close enough attention that we moved from one town to another after our first kid finished first grade to get him into a better education system. And it worked wonderfully the first few years. In fact, each of the kids did well in the early grades. Still, I continued to meet with the teachers the entire time. I checked on the kids themselves as well, and had some misgivings about progress, especially after grade six. But from the reports we got, the discussions I had, and the things I was told, all seemed to be going pretty well. But... In retrospect, had I known better how to interpret the jargon, I'd have known that things weren't going as well as they seemed. I came to realize that I'd made two specific errors. First, in believing that professional educators knew what they were doing, and could judge progress, better than I could. Perhaps, for what they viewed as their objectives (again, reread that paragraph above), they could. But for things I wanted to see the kids do well (reading and basic math, I mentioned... there were others) it wasn't good. Second, really an extension of the first, in believing that my own educational experience was not a applicable gauge in this "modern" world. The "Well, they do things differently these days." syndrome. I was wrong on both counts. Just paying attention doesn't do the job, unless you know what you're looking for. What I'd been told to be looking for was wrong.

And that isn't complete either. It doesn't mention the several wonderful teachers who did great things. It doesn't mention the couple of others who set us back. It doesn't mention the arguments I had with them, including the flawed reporting system. It doesn't mention the teacher who spent most of a school year "chatting" with the kids rather than teaching. It doesn't mention quite a lot.

But I've said far more than was in any way relevant to the original point.

And, in fact, paints the schools even blacker than I'd have intended. There were and are wonderful people there struggling against insufficient funding and wildly conflicting objectives. That they do as well as they do is amazing. That they do as poorly as they do is unsurprising.

-30-

- Bill