Comments on: Soccer, soccer and soccer (and not just a little bit about education)

By: Al Jay Z

Al Jay Z — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 12:59:47 +0000

“Any parent who thinks a public school has the welfare of his/her own child as a goal is deluded.”

Indeed.

Our local public district (Pickerington Local School District, near Columbus, OH), which always receives high marks and accolades from the state, just pulled a big boner this year.

We’ve been trying to pass a levy to build new grade- and middle-schools. Failed 5x in a row. Meanwhile, our schools are adding small, crowded trailers as classrooms.

Guess what our brilliant school administration did this year? Added digital video projectors, with **motorized screens**, to each classroom.

Brilliant.

What’s wrong with pushing a cart? We survived.

By: jg

jg — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 17:36:07 +0000

“Any parent who thinks a public school has the welfare of his/her own child as a goal is deluded. The parent must advocate and be vigilant about that; the school’s goals are very different: mass “education” and crowd control, and staying within policies and avoiding lawsuits.”

A statement worthy of contemplation. It’s true for too many of us.

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 14:41:19 +0000

A funny game we had in 4th grade was that the teacher, Ms. Moore, would give out candy to the winner of a competition. That competition was a search to see who could pick up a specific piece of trash on the floor. It served the dual purpose of being a mental exercise as well as a way to clean the room. I figured out that there were 2 sizes of paper trash. Medium to big balls, and small itty bitty pieces. Me being who I was, I used logic to figure that if Ms. Moore was to adequately cover the entire room, then she had to see the trash. Given that I had trouble seeing small slips of trash paper even up close, obviously she can’t see it from all over the room, in order to pick that trash as the “One”. So that being that, I started going around the room picking up only big pieces or at least pieces that are obvious to the eye.

I kept winning the prize in a row, so obviously she didn’t figure out that I had figured it out, nor did my other classmates figure it out.

Children have an advantage when they can think logically, you know.

By: Zabrina

Zabrina — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 11:05:42 +0000

In my public school bribing with candy has become endemic. Clearly it is the current administration-approved, mob control behavior modification technique. So my well-behaved daughter gets candy many times a week, from her regular teacher, her (gifted class) teacher, the music teacher, art teacher, and of course every substitute teacher who is at a loss to keep control of a class.

Any parent who thinks a public school has the welfare of his/her own child as a goal is deluded. The parent must advocate and be vigilant about that; the school’s goals are very different: mass “education” and crowd control, and staying within policies and avoiding lawsuits.

By: Lulu

Lulu — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 00:32:30 +0000

There is no place for rambunctious child, and especially rambunctious little boy energy in school anymore. My kids attend public school too and it they can run and play at recess, just not in the halls.

By: erp

erp — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 18:19:42 +0000

… and perhaps not.