Why I’m Homeschooling My Kid in Science Next Year
It’s no surprise to me that Colorado’s public school system is not good. I mean, I’m a product of the Boulder Valley School District and I can tell you first hand that it’s not great at preparing one for college, or anything for that matter.
So, it shouldn’t come as a big shock to me that I need to pick up the slack for what my sons are NOT learning about science in school.
My first experience with just how bad things were occurred back in the early 1990’s. I was giving a presentation to some 5th graders when I asked the question: “When did the United States first land a man on the moon?”
No one raised their hand. In fact, most didn’t know we had ever been to the moon, and of those that did know, a substantial fraction doubted that we were there at all (parents were probably moon-landing-hoaxers).
And I have a TON of stories like that.
Fast forward to this last school year. My 7th grade son is a very good student, gets A’s in just about everything. He LOVES science, especially astronomy (imagine that) and he and I have great conversations about what the universe is like and what it’s like to be a scientist. He eats that stuff up so I know he does his best in his science class.
Yet, throughout all of last year, his grade in science was C-. In every report card.
Photo Credit: Lost In Scotland
Technorati Tags: astronomy education, becoming an astronomer, csap, homeschooling, no child left behind
He was devastated because he knew how important science is to me and he always thought he knew science better than all of his classmates (and I agree with him, I’ve met some of those kids. Let’s just say critical thinking doesn’t come naturally to them).
Getting that C- consistently really took a toll on him, he couldn’t understand what was going on. He really knows his stuff and always scored well on tests.
Naturally, I talked to the teacher to investigate.
It turns out my son IS a good student, DID understand the material and WAS way ahead of the other students in his comprehension of the material.
BUT, he couldn’t organize his science notebook.
“I’m sorry, he can’t organize what?”, I asked.
“His science notebook. He failed the notebook checks. They were worth 100 points each, almost 80 percent of his grade.”, the science teacher calmly explained with a huge smirk on her face.
“What does that have to do with science?”, I asked, but by then I knew what was going on and that I wasn’t about to get anywhere. I left the teacher conference furious.
I’m all too familiar with this kind of teacher. She was a stickler for organization. All materials had to be inserted in the notebooks EXACTLY and each item had to have the name in a certain place, with the information outlined EXACTLY as specified.
Now, I understand the need to teach kids organizational skills, I really do. But to make it 80% of a grade?
What this teacher really wanted was the students to do all of her work for her. She didn’t want to have to search through reams of paper to try and figure out what the student knew. She just wanted to open the notebook and start checking off the existence of items, each containing the proper words so she could get through the grading as fast as possible.
She wasn’t the slightest bit interested in whether or not the kids learned anything, only that the notebooks were in proper order.
This isn’t all though folks, not by a long shot. I mean, I could let that go if that were the only issue because he would get a different, and hopefully more competent teacher next year.
But in Colorado, all students are required to take the Colorado Student Aptitude Test (CSAP), as part of the Leave Every Child Behind Act. This means that all school year until March, but especially from January to March, my kids are getting immersed in that test. The teachers do NOTHING ELSE but teach that test.
Then, after March, when the pressure is off, the teachers pretty much coast through April, May and the first part of June. This is the only time when my kids have a real chance at getting a useful education, and it’s wasted because “Whew, we’re done with that test.”
The CSAP is the only thing that is actually measured, so everything else, like the actual education itself, is ignored.
I simply cannot allow my kids to come out of the education system in Colorado without learning basic science and developing their critical thinking skills. As a parent, I take full responsibility for my kids education, so I’ll do it myself.
So, every Tuesday and Thursday of the next school year, I’ll be pulling my then 8th grade son out of class for his last period (along with his friend and three other homeschooled students) and teaching them science.
How can I do this? Why would the school let me take the boys out like that every week? Because so long as the boys are in class for a certain percentage of the school day, the school gets the credit for them and they get paid. The principal told me that’s all they care about: getting paid. I could do whatever I wanted with them in science as long as they met certain minimum knowledge standards.
Standards they do NOT hold themselves to, by the way.
No problem though, I can meet those just by spending one hour in front a telescope with them.
The two days I’ll have them at home will be spent teaching, discussing and working on science topics with assignments to do on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I picked those two days to meet because of the seemingly infinite number of three day weekends the kids get in school for ‘planning days’ and other holidays. This would minimize any missed days due to that bullsh*t.
So now, I get to spend the rest of my summer planning a science curriculum for my son and his friends. You can bet it’ll be heavy on astronomy, but I can guarantee you that, based on what I’ve seen so far, they’ll be WAY ahead of their classmates by the time I’m done with them.
And I couldn’t care less about the state of their goddam notebooks.
in high school my whole class nearly failed chemistry because of these stupid little 2 questions quizzes at the beginning of class (that was a large part of our grades) based on the material she was going to cover in THAT class period.
yet that same year I fell in love with history class because of the passion my teacher had for it.
I don’t even remember learning any science in middle school in Chicago Public School system. The only things we were tested on, on the IOWA test was reading and math pretty much. We had 1 math teacher for the whole school who would visit each class once in a while to teach us something new. In fact, I remember learning the same thing over and over again from year to year in middle school when it came to readin/english and math.
What about geography in public schools? It’s disgusting, majority of the kids can’t even locate their own state on the map. American public schools are a joke. At least those in urban settings are.
I started school in Russia, and there in 2.5 years of education I learned more in all subjects than I did in CPS.
When I moved to burbs and started at a “good” high-school I was so freaking surprised that all of my peers could actually read without stuttering. I
It’s very very sad.
Couldn’t your son still attend the Science class so that he can learn the skills related to being organized and also teach him for an hour on the weekend or in the evening after school?
It seems like you could get the best of both worlds. He would learn a valuable lesson in coping with unappealing responsibilities, and also the good that comes of freer quality time spent with a parent in the teacher role. It seems like taking him from class has more to do with your making a point then his education. I don’t agree with the teacher either but consider the latent consequences of your ‘example’.
Finally, fifth grade children aren’t lost causes because they don’t know the year of the moon landing. Think about the things they do know already. With the amount of media, social messages, and early exposures to concepts kids are having beamed into their brains these days their ability to sort through the ways of our world are well above those of kids their age 30 years ago. Information about the moon landing is good to know but those dates and numbers will be a click away for the rest of their lives along with a bunch of other trivial things like how to make change or state capitals. I’m more interested in hiring the kid that grows up and may not know the answer but knows how to find it and figure out why it’s important. Logic, application, adaptation, and making sense of complex systems are the skills that a good science/math education should impart. Love of these subjects is hopefully a side effect but not a requirement.
Middle school and high school teachers are aweful. I always hated busywork that we were forced to do because they were lazy and felt like getting on the computer. Oh, and you can’t question them because all too often their ego is the size of the moon and they don’t answer to anyone. The teachers spent more time disciplining and worrying about cell phones and the latest gossip than covering the material. I don’t remember ever getting through an entire textbook. Good for you, I hope the homeschooling goes well.
ps. Astrophysics!
Nate
(Can you tell I’m reading these from the bottom up?)
@Craig: I didn’t wait until the end of the school year to realize there was a problem. I stated above that I really didn’t care about the grades on the report card because I knew my son, his work ethic and what he knew. Grades aren’t always a good measure of what a kid knows.
The problem arose in May when he said to me, “Dad, I’m sorry about that C-, I know how important science is to you, I guess I’m just not cut out to be a scientist.”
That’s when I hit the brakes on this. You see, the problem was that the grade meant something to HIM. He was using it as a measure of whether or not he was good at science. I spent a long time trying to explain to him that not only was he GOOD at science (his organizational and notetaking skills notwithstanding), but that he had EXACTLY the right skills to become a scientist.
Last year, as now, he was at a critical time in his life. He is deciding what he wants to do, and that’s guided very much by what he thinks he can do.
When adults think back to the time they decided they were going to be what they eventually became, they remember fondly these years.
“I’ve wanted to be an astronaut since I was 10.”
“I knew at 12 that I would become a doctor, I was watching M*A*S*H…”
At this age, if he thinks he sucks at science, he’s going to give it up, possibly forever, and it’s all because of a silly notebook requirement.
I really, really, really don’t give a shit about his grades because I know the system isn’t perfect and doesn’t always reflect reality, often grades measure how well a student can take a test. Further, I know my kid, he is a good student and he takes pride in his work. The thing is, the grades matter to HIM and he uses them as a reflection of his abilities.
I just think that particular policy, along with a few others I’ve seen this year in his language arts teacher, set these students up to fail, sometimes with far-reaching consequences.
In my Pennsylvania high school, it was generally the math and science teachers that WERE ON TOPIC! In my previous comment I was ranting on the history, government, and elective teachers.
10 years ago, I visited a family in the US that was home-schooling their kids. I thought very little of them, because their parents focused on religious education, and pooled their 5th grader’s curriculum with their 8th graders when it came to maths.
Well, times have changed. Your idea is great and your story is shocking and saddening. I really hope your kid didn’t suffer any irreparable motivational damage, and I hope he doesn’t feel bad about being “special”.
A friend of mine forwarded this thread to me to see what I think. As a public elementary school teacher, it is incredibly discouraging to read all of the comments about how teachers beat students down, are lazy, are only interested in a paycheck, etc. There are hardly any supportive comments regarding teachers in this thread. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from a private university, subsequently went into international marketing, left that position because I truly wanted to teach and work with children. I earned a Master’s Degree in Education in a very rigorous graduate program. (I know the meaning of hard work, so when I say rigorous I know what I’m talking about.) My first three years of teaching I worked anywhere from 60 – 70 hours each week, all while earning about $30K a year. Big fat paycheck for that much education and that much work, huh? Stretch the time out over the (unpaid) summer and I would still have been working overtime. I care about my students on a personal level, I plan my curriculum so that they are learning on many levels, I evaluate the needs of each student and try to meet those individual needs even while managing a large group (some of whom require extra attention for behavior issues alone). The few parents who are able to offer some time to volunteer in my room to do special activities with small groups(which I don’t expect but which I greatly appreciate when available) always remark that after working with only a few kids at a time, they “don’t know how I do it” working with a whole classroom of young ones. After reading this thread, my opinion is that if you think you can do a better job homeschooling your child, then by all means please leave your own job and stay home to do that. Personally I would prefer to know that the families of the children in my class have more understanding of exactly how demanding my job is, more recognition for how much I actually do care about their children, and more appreciation for how much of my personal time I put in because I want to meet each child’s needs.
80% for organization is just dumb. If it were a college level Analytical chem class, then you might have a reason, but even my lab book in such a class was not 50% of the grade!
Ever seen a field researchers guides? Sure, some parts are organized logs. Others are quickly scrawled down notes, ideas, and observations.
The teacher was being lazy and dumb.
And unless you ARE working as a Crime Scene Investigator, where your logs may be legal docs, your research books are rarely organized.
And every person is different. If anything, kids need to be taught to find out what works for them. Because college, and in the adult world, we’re all different, and what works for one will not work for another.
So get a grip. Some of you seem to be really bitter.
@the kids are alright: I know the kids aren’t lost causes (kids are rarely lost causes), I never meant to imply that. I was just very discouraged and frustrated that some really basic astronomy info wasn’t in their heads.
I was being very biased there, I admit. Every kid should know about the moon landing, right? The single most amazing thing we ever did? (Besides take the Hubble Deep Field?)
As to your question of teaching him on the weekends and getting the best of both worlds…
Looking back, and seeing who his teacher was this year, I can see that he would have gotten an adequate education in science, so he could have taken the science class and probably been fine (I also said that in my post). There’s still the CSAP business though and the fact that he really could benefit from some SERIOUS study in the sciences, particularly cosmology since that is his professed interest. I just felt like I should take some action now since he’ll be in high school next year.
This has turned out to be a great experience though. The time I spend with him in the afternoon has become very important to both of us.
As a teacher myself, trained in the US, but teaching in the UK, I dare say you are doing the right thing, but should also be doing something else:
Work to revoke NCLB, and get the Federal Govt. out of the classroom. States have historically been responsible for the education of their pupils, and chances are, the vast majority of your property tax dollars go to support schools in Colorado. Use your voice, and the voice of those who share your views, to make the changes that your son, your son’s friends, and those other children who are also having to deal with unnecessary pressure of these tests desperately need.
This is a great first step to homeschooling full time. Unfortunately if you look closely, many of the other content areas are lacking too, thus causing kids to fall behind or skate through at a minimal level. I will give credit where credit is due, many of the AP teachers I know in Denver do a high quality job challenging the kids, but we know the AP student population is not the average student ;-) . Colorado has one of the largest homeschooling constituencies in the nation so please utilize the CO homeschooling organizations if you have any questions regarding curriculum choices, or Colorado legal requirements.
Good Luck!
Wow … many comments. I’m sure mine will be lost in the sea of positive accolades, but I have to add my $.02 as well. I’ll be short, unlike many above me.
You’re blog has inspired me to take the steps necessary to begin homeschooling my children. I’m disappointed in the quality of science, history and civics education my children will be receiving (1st grader is the oldest of 3) and I thought my only recourse was bitching at the school board. Well, I’m going to bitch with my feet now; I will make preparations to educate my children in these areas and encourage them to learn as much as possible at school as well.
I’ll be learning right along with them.
Seriously though, the first moon landing was faked. We simply had to beat the Soviets at _something_ since they were kicking our butts in the so-called “space race”. (First animal in space, first man in space, first satellite in orbit) Our space program simply was not as advanced as the USSR’s.
All the other moon landings were real, of course.
80% of a grade from a notebook is excessive, I agree. The bulk of the grade should be weighted more toward tests and quizzes. But that doesn’t mean that organization and following a strict and prescribed formatting procedure isn’t important.
What would happen if you didn’t follow the formatting procedure on a college application? How about a job application? How about your taxes? … Well, at best, you just don’t get what you want. Your application gets tossed out. Or you’re fighting the IRS!
Showing what you know in a formal, formatted way is more than “making it easy” on the teacher. It really is important for kids. And if it makes the grading process smoother, then good. Most middle school teachers have between 180 to 200 kids to teach. Sometimes more. And that is Every. Single. Day. How would you like to grade every notebook? How would you feel when, notebook after notebook, you see kids who could give a shit on how they present their work? Think about it.
Why didn’t you help your kid organize his notebook? I’m sure the syllabus for the class told you that a large portion of the grade was coming from the notebook?
If you care about your kid’s education, you are going to be clear on his classroom expectations BEFORE he comes home with the C-. And you’re going to be there to help him with the areas he’s weak on every. single. day.
Hi,
I went to an American international school in Asia and it was the same thing there. They gave so many points for absolutely nothing and as a result many of the kids didn’t actually comprehend what they were learning. It looked like they were doing well on paper and thats all the teachers (well the American ones) and the school cared about. These kind of crazy grading methods were also employed for English classes! And if kids were too dumb to realize how easy it was to get a B by following simple procedure then all the American teachers would roll out extra credit, which is a concept that makes no sense to me what so ever. I think the American education system is a joke. I went to college in The States and in my freshman year I had to take an English class. This class was the equivalent of 9th grade English where I went to high school (Even though it was an American based high school we could take European standard classes if we wanted to) and the kids in my class still struggled. My teacher actually pulled me aside one day after class and asked me where I got my high school education! He basically said to me that I couldn’t have been educated in America!
I was astounded at the things my American classmates did not know when I went to college. Whatever about science I think someone should start teaching them geography!
I do not blame you for home schooling your kids in science. I cant say im surprised to me reading any of this. Good Luck :)
Thanks for your reply to my comments, Chris.
Eidetic memory didn’t make me UNABLE to keep a notebook–it was just a total waste of my time and effort. My point is that some of the brightest
students DO NOT NEED A NOTEBOOK. They do not need instruction in learning tools for those who do not have excellent memories. They do not need to learn to organize information–as their minds do that in their own way.
Nor do they need training in “observation, and problem solving”–indeed, they are probably better at such skills than their “teacher” in middle school. That is why they are already interested in science.
What they may need is SCIENCE instruction–not “generally useful life skills” ( useful to whom?).
But, most likely, they don’t need anything from
adults of the level of intellect of the average
middle school teacher–except to be NOT TORTURED FOR BEING DIFFERENT, AND NOT PENALIZED FOR FOR NOT FOLLOWING AUTHORITARIAN NONSENSE.
Creative people should not be penalized for being different, and for opposing authority, or for poor social skills–pretty much every important scientific discovery was made by such people.
This is especially true when they are young and more vulnerable to brainwashing and “induced failure” and ridicule.
Finally, to address other’s comments. Education is not “job training”. It is not about teaching conformity skills and obedience. It is not about teaching people to follow rules, turn in work as requested, or follow the boss. The root of the word “education” means ” to bring out”. It is about the unfolding of creative ability–the growth of the what some people might call the soul.
Training is for “animals”, as Henry Adams wrote.
It is sad that our society has largely forgotten the point of education.
We will pay a heavy price! Some might argue that we already are paying it–in spades.
Shut Up! Teachers suck get over.
I hope you and your jack off kid die in a car fire.
i thought the US was good …
if its like what you are telling us …
than its worse than i thought …
like ever …
lol, i hear you. its freaking bs
Run from anybody with an education “degree”. They’re all idiots.
See, for example:
http://sherifffruitfly.googlepages.com/educationdoesn%26%2339%3Btmixwiththegre
Wow, this is so great.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post your curriculum to an appropriate site and share it with the rest of the world. It would even be amazing if you would make a podcast of some sort of every lesson. Just a thought.
I’m 24 now, and I’m one of those kids who could pretty much ace tests but never did my homework (sometimes over 50% of the grade) thus receiving Cs, Ds, and Fs. At a certain point in highschool I didn’t care about it anymore because I knew that whatever I’d make of myself in this world highschool wouldn’t be the deciding factor of my life as from my perspective highschool was more of a holding pen of tribalistic non-thinking adolescents.
I eventually tried a charter school and when I couldn’t find time to study as I was working full-time at that point I decided to go ahead and test out of highschool all together. When I took my proficiency exam (I was 16) I couldn’t believe how little one actually had to know. And while friends were still in highschool I was travelling in India, giving myself a robust education in eastern thought and the harsh realities of the developing world.
When I finally learned about Integral Theory (Ken Wilber) and began to appreciate seeing history and all things being part of a 14 billion year evolutionary process everything clicked. I suddenly realized the interrelationship of all fields of education. The result has been an unceasing interest in everything. I’m now interested in every subject imaginable because I have a broader perspective that allows me to appreciate them.
So if I were to offer an piece of advice I’d say while you’re teaching astronomy and science connect it to the 14 billion year evolution of the universe so you’re kids can even foster a greater appreciation to history, the mysterious emergence of biological organisms, societal and cultural development, and so on. Make the connections that help give value, meaning, and purpose to understanding. The irony of education is we never talk about the value of knowledge, why we pursue it in the first place, how it helps give meaning and purpose to our lives. And anything a kid doesn’t value, they won’t remember in the long run. Of course, the other problem is that kids take education and everything else for granted because we’ve been indoctrinated by our culture (and parents) to be narcissists..but that’s a wholly different subject.
Good luck!
Darn, should have proofed that comment before submitting it…:)
A clairification: I did write that I was unable to keep a notebook or keep notes. What I meant was “Unable to be willing to waste my time and energy on technique that was WORTHLESS in my learning”.
It was an emotional “unableness”.
There are plenty of students in middleschool with excellent memories–and they should not be forced to pretend that they need to learn learning skills worthless to them.
As to teaching to the majority of the class: It very much depends on what the goal of teaching is. If one teaches much useful stuff to most of the class ( who are–by definition–average), and destroys even one potential Newton, Einstein, or Steinmetz–then, IMHO, you have committed a crime against human culture and progress.
Education is not a factory assembly line.
In the same way, some may object to my
orthography for “clarification”. I intentionally
did that: More french–more fun too.
It brings out the meaning. Our current school system is all about conformity. In the days of Shakespeare—orthography was not fixed. And, one result is that people were far more creative writers.
Creativity is all! Plodding is for insects.
Our school system is designed to create…..
termites!
“What is the closest planet to the earth?”
” The earth.”
“No, I mean, ‘What is the closest other planet to the earth?”
” When?”
“Draw a radio wave.”
” I can’t. I don’t have ten dimensional graph paper.”
” The electrons run down the inside of the wire at the speed of light.”
” Surely, you are joking.”
From my elementary school experience.
Maybe you should check out the Ontario curriculum? (That’s a province in Canada, for those who don’t know). You can find material on the Internet. Look for “Enriched”, “AP”, “IB”, and other advanced courses. I go to a high school with Enriched science, math and English courses that go far beyond the curriculum. It’s the most fun I’ve had in my life.
Way back when I was in highschool(an entire 3 years ago) I noticed one sudden trend.. Between the teachers that actually cared and those who could give a crap about their jobs. Those who cared actually took an interactive interest in class, leaving the less static HOMEWORK to those rare occasions that they could not finish in class. The other teachers as mentioned here, would often times hand out simple worksheets, and pile on the homework… Even assign a ‘notebook’ such as this.
FYI, the word goddamn has an n in it, as in god- damn. I am writing here to tell you that I do not believe a human has walked on the moon. I also see clearly that 9/11 was a high-tech inside job and three buildings were blown up. If you do not know this, you need to look into it. As far as Apollo, I now believe they circled the earth while the video tapes were played. The videos were made at Area 51 in Nevada which is now viewable with satellite images, craters and all. The US space program was a wreck circa 1961. The aged astronauts act strange today. A high number of them met premature accidental deaths. There are a lot of government killings including Pat Tillman and General Patton. After 9/11 and the parade of lies, I now see it. And it is a shame. The Germans made the Hasselblad cameras used for Apollo. The camera makers say it is a fraud, cameras mounted on a frame on chest of spacesuit, astronaut can not look down to see the viewfinder and all those magazine gorgeous perfectly focused and framed photographs. And in 2007 “Al Queda” runs the world? We are so mind controlled and dumbed down it is a bad thing, can not hold up. As far as home schooling, you sound like a control freak. Maybe you need to find a private or independent or charter school. In a local school system, schools have academic reputation, some are very bad and some function. Good luck. FYI I am not some kook and have attended some of the top schools in the US. Apollo was a fraud. 9/11 was a catastrophe. I am still stunned if not damaged from the quantity of lieing under BushCo. And they’ve stolen practically everything in sight and run the government credit card up to the moon.
Thats nothing. The school system here in Australia is rocketing into the toilet. Its the same here, teacher unions are unchecked and the government allows aristocrats from private schools to rewrite the public school system/curriculum at will.
My advice is to run and run far away from these pits of humanity we call 1st world countries and their deplorable education systems.
I suggest Norway or New Zealand
I did very poorly in high school. All I wanted was to learn the material and move on to the next thing. I had little patience for “busy work”, and tended to ignore exercises (homework, labs) that covered subjects I thoroughly understood. I found it infinitely frustrating that teachers spent most of their time dragging along the bottom 10% of the class instead of charging forward into new areas.
One year, on the advice of my guidance counselor, I dropped a chemistry class I was failing to keep it off my report card. I was enjoying the class, but I had a 30% average. The grade was calculated on 35% labs, 35% homework, and 30% tests and quizzes. I had nearly perfect scores on every test, and the second highest score on the midterm exam. But that’s not how school works.
Unfortunate, isn’t it? I graduated with a C average (if that). My first semester in college, I got a 4.0. (My favorite class? Astronomy.)
I’m in 8th grade in Maryland, and my grades are often 5 or 10 points lower than they should be because of ‘Notebook Checks’ and crap like that.
You really should home school. My wife and I started home schooling our kids nearly 5 years ago and it has been a fantastic experience. We made this decision for religious reasons as we wanted our children to understand that discussion of God should not be limited only to Church on Sunday, but should be saturated throughout the entire educational career. Our kids score much higher on state tests than kids that go to public school.
It’s a big time commitment. We are able to do this because my wife is a stay at home mom and does most of the work. If you can’t spare the time, then don’t try it.
Also, keep in mind that ultimately, you are going to be held responsible for the education of your kids. So if you choose to leave your kids in public school, you will still have to pick up the schools slack to make sure your kids education is complete.
Good luck.
I just would like you, before condemning Colorado public education, to consider a few things. My wife taught for several years in Colorado (Adams 12) before we moved to the Bay Area. This sounds like a bad teacher. Just like every job there are people who aren’t that good. Its annoying, but it happens. Others upthread blame the teacher’s union. It isn’t the union’s fault that some people aren’t very good. And it certainly isn’t impossible to fire someone. It is very difficult to find science and math teachers right now because smart people with those skills don’t want to work for $40k a year.
Colorado has been underfunding education for years. You want good teachers, you need to pay them more. I would also like you to consider that although you have the luxury of taking matters in your own hands, many parents do not. Parents with only a high school education or less often don’t have the knowledge to teach this on their own. And you are right CSAP is a total waste of time and makes things worse.
Bravo for you! That school system sounds pathetic. I pity the 30 other kids left behind in that science class.
Aside from the school system like you’ve described, we as parents have to understand that we are still the primary instructors in our kids’ lives. School is supposed to teach them the basics (sorry yours isn’t), and we need to fill in the gaps. That’s why I take my daughter on field trips, get her to cook with me, or explain things to her as we do the gardening together.
This is exactly how my middle school and early high school science classes were. Students who are able to copy templates get A’s while students who actually comprehend the information but don’t write on the correct side of the notebook paper (cant write on the backs, that’s unorganized) get C’s.
Oh well I guess it beats the only really educational thing we did in middle school science: dissect frogs. To get us comfortable working with dead animals the teacher made us peel off the frog’s skin, cut it into a costume of sorts and put it back on the frog. We then had a silence of the lambs style frog fashion show complete with music, runway walks, and awards. The winner got extra credit and the unit was over.
Good-old midwestern educational system. (Iowa)
“Why would the school let me take the boys out like that every week? ”
LET you?
Let’s be clear on just whose kids you’re talking about. NEA bureaucrats may believe that they’re entitled to override a parent’s choices, and it’s the job of a citizen to correct that belief whenever it rears its stupid head.
-jcr
I agree and disagree with this post. Here are my points of contention: I went to high school in rural Western Kentucky. Boulder Valley has a much better school system that would leave a student adequatley prepared for college. The date of the moon landing wasn’t on an college entrance exams, so I think he’s okay. The most alarming thing of your post was its overall self-righteousness, but that is to be expected as you are a Boulder native. You said your child consistently got C- before you talked to the teacher.. seems like the first C- would have rang your alarm bells.
Anyway, my story: I got out of high school with a 2.003 GPA but with my SAT I was automatically accepted to the best state university. When I got there I knew more about computer science than any other freshman I met.. more than a lot of the upper students I met. But! I failed out! How was that? I couldn’t manage to get things turned in even though I would do them! I had such terrible organizational skills along with a contempt for a system that simply made you jump through hoops to complete your grade. I failed out repeatedly and showed them!
Then, a few years later, I realized.. I have to get a degree, therefore I have to keep a notebook if and only if the professor tells me to. My greatest professor made us a keep a lab notebook and he would check it for a big grade at the end of the year. Your son will be screwed because he will have been taught to laugh in the face of that kind of authority.
I’m sorry but, being a grad student in biology, I can tell you that if your kid can’t organize his notebook, two things will happen: He will not get good grades in college and he will not be able to get a job in any research lab. Really, it seems like if your kid is the bright young lad you say but he can’t organize his stuff in the same way that all of the other little windowlickers did, perhaps he is slacking off. He had the requirements and he knew what they were, he just didn’t follow them. I’d say he deserves a C-. This isn’t about science. It’s about being in 7th grade and learning how to follow instructions to build a base for later laboratory science so when he works in an Organics lab someday, he won’t blow himself up.
Great story. I’m from Israel and I don’t familiar with the US/Colorado education system, but I can assure you that such flaws exists here too. Just making me mad that I wasted 12 years of my life learning the wrong way/wrong things.
I have a comment about grades and GPA. They mean garbage in the real world. What should be doing in the public school system? We should be aiming for competency levels. At my university, Western Governors University (http://www.wgu.edu/), they do not issue a letter grade or a GPA for a course. All they issue is a PASS or FAIL. A PASS is defined as a “B” or 3.00 GPA. Get lower than that and you FAIL! This is how you make sure that teachers are actually competent in their field of study.
By implementing high standards like this for all public schools, we put less pressure on students to perform to a letter grade or a GPA. Some high schools in New Hampshire are already transitioning to a competency based system. My hat goes off to them for having the “you know what” to do this. I wish more school districts would see the light.
Seriously, other states are like that? Our education in West Des Moines, IA is a very comprehensive program run (mostly) by teachers that really do care. Our homework is challenging and every student is expected to do well. It’s not that unusual at all to be enrolled in two or more AP classes simultaneously, and these teachers do a thorough job of explaining the material.
We also have all the science materials one would ever need at our disposal. It doesn’t matter how expensive a piece of equipment is if the district decides it will further our education experience, science or otherwise. Every classroom is currently being installed with a ceiling mounted projector and a desk camera. Teachers will sometimes integrate this with a touchscreen smartboard we can interact with while working in front of our school laptops.
I couldn’t imagine living in a place like Colorado after reading this.
delete my comment please, I forgot that I wasn’t that worried about it as I wrote my comment.
Wow – this is amazing!! Apparently there is LOTS of interest in this common problem with education. I agree with THOM – 10/6/07 1:00AM. The Federal Government is not a good supervisor of teachers, and has created an atmosphere of fear and indifference in schools. Do you know that NCLB is all about 8% of any given school district’s money? You (parent) did the right thing to visit the classroom and give a presentation. More parents need to do just that – and teachers really appreciate it!
I’m a licensed teacher but have been substitute teaching because I can’t even get interviewed in Boulder (perhaps due to my age – 55). I’m creative and creativity is not what schools are looking for. Likewise with critical thinking. There also seems to be a lot of racism going on here against Hispanics. I see it in every school, every grade level K-12!!
Vote for Ron Paul – he wants to do away with the Dept. of Education and let states govern themselves. It’s a start!!
Good luck with the kids – but they will, sooner or later, need to learn some organization skills…
When I began my student teaching, I was appalled by the amount of emphasis on keeping notebooks, rather than on learning content. The class spent lots of time spent “taking notes”, which was actually copying the teacher’s summary of the current section of the book from a transparency projected on the screen at the front of the room.
Teachers at the high school complained bitterly that arriving freshmen had no clue how to take notes.
Textbooks in some classes were huge doorstops – they were too big for the students to take them home to use – the publisher trying to be everything for everyone, even though the whole book was badly written. So assignments from them had to be done in class, and study materials and assignments had to be photocopied.
In other classes, there was one set of textbooks for the classroom, so no kids could ever remove one from the class.
I swore to myself that I was not going to focus on trivial things like pretty binders, nor make kids copy down what ought to have been lecture notes for a lecture they never got.
The next semester I taught earth science to 9th graders. To my chagrin I found that students paid no attention to what was being said in class without a mechanism for grading them for listening right then and there.
Tell them to write down what they don’t know? They were utterly clueless about taking notes. They didn’t listen anyway, and figured that if it wasn’t on a piece of paper that they had in front of them, I couldn’t legitimately test them on it.
So I’d make a powerpoint presentation with the lecture outline on it and lots of illustrations, and of course they’d bitch endlessly that I expected them to write it down. But if I passed out notes, they would plan to use the notes to study from and instead spend the time chattering with their friends.
At the same time, since they were not being graded for keeping the notebooks, only the best organized among them even kept the notes.
How hard is it to take a piece of paper that you are told is critical to your grade on the next test and put it in your notebook? Apparently too hard, as lots of the kids threw any handouts away immediately.
The text was written at about the 5th grade level, yet they would not or could not read it – or they would skim once and give up. So basically, they had to have those notebooks.
A student who is motivated can learn almost anything from reading books, but students nowadays are not motivated to learn. They live in the short term. If they aren’t being graded on putting that piece of paper in a notebook, they won’t do it, even if it needs to be there the next day for another assignment.
What they learn is to determine the motions they need to go through to get a passing grade, and they just work the system.
Don’t get me started about “group work”. One kid in a group does the work, then they all copy it down without checking to see if it’s correct.
I’m a Junior in High School this year and I know the exact situation. Science education in High School is terrible. It is for this reason that I went to the Mass Academy of Math and Science. It’s a selective school (only 50 people get in out of the state), but it’s well worth it. If any of you have kids interested in Math and Science, check out schools like this in your area. Instead of notebook checks and tests, the students are taught advanced subjects (such as Mathematical modeling and Calculus I in one year) and have a lab-based science class where you learn hands-on, and the only organization that matters is where you put the data in official reports. You also have a chance to be nationally recognized as you are entered into almost all major math and science competitions. It’s really challenging and rewarding. So, any parents with kids who are interested in these subject matters, look those schools up! It’s the best thing that can happen to your child.
I agree with you on the Boulder Valley being a Shi*tty place to be. I grew up here, went to different schools here. I started in Longmont as a kid, at Burlington Elementary school. Turns out they were to racist that they tried to teach me my left hand was my right, and vice-versa. Then I went to Heatherwood. They didn’t have walls there. Just cubical dividers between classrooms. I went to Platt Middle School soon after. Those teachers were the worst. Almost every class I had a D or an F in. I repeated 6th grade because of it. All because of what you mentioned about “organizational skills.” It rang especially true for Math, Science, and English classes. I would all the time get marked off in English because what I wrote was not “perfect English.” My father is an engineer and a English minor from Standford and I kept on getting low scores. Math was a picky subject. Both my parents are engineers, and I kept getting points taken from tests and assignments because “they were illegible scribbles to show my work.” Fine, but I always got the right answer. To really add insult to injury, the math teacher gave me an award at the end of the year, “most likely to succeed.” I still have it framed up if you ever want to see it.
Then there was High School. That was just painful! We were using books from the 1970s. It was pathetic. There have been major advances in science since then. Half the tests we over materials that were not in the book, but had to be researched outside of class, online. The assignments were idiotic because they didn’t do anything except waste your time making you do busy work. “Fill in the blank” was an obvious copy and paste of the bold text in the book. I thankfully only had three classes that required “the notebook.” All of them were a complete waste of time. They also wasted resources.
I probably learned nothing in school. I retained some information but dumped most of it. Most of what I “learned” for the future in college didn’t even begin to apply. I somehow made it into college with a 2.76 GPA, granted not my first choices either. I decided to go into business and found myself completely lost. I learned nothing in high school. I was probably better off being taught by my parents, but they didn’t have time to do that.
I envy your son Tony. He’ll get something way more out of you than he will in school.
By the way, we live in Boulder, and everyone here is a complete “hippie.” I’ve lived with a ton of them. They probably smoked themselves into paranoia about everything from, the moon landing to why “organic” is any better for you than “non organic.” People here are weird. If you want to know more about my experiences through the BVSD school system, just ask.
Although I share your feelings with that particular teacher, I still think public schools teach a lot more social skills/interaction than home schooling. Not by teachers, but by the student community.
Maybe you should consider talking to the principal or whoever is in charge of those things in the U.S. about getting the teacher changed.
In any case, a child actually interested in learning should definately get the best possible teacher, be it at home or school.
Just my two cents.
“If at your job you knew the material but just handed in whatever you wanted would you get that far.”
Well, Ian, I suppose we know which kind of career you chose then;) Thanks for your armchair-quarterbacking from your little cubicle in that cold, dark building you work in.
Some of us actually chose career fields where we see the sun and don’t “hand in” our work to the authority figure. Have fun with that, do.
Alli
To all the teachers reading these responses who are up in arms… take a breath.
I dont think anyone is insinuating that ALL teachers are bad, or that all teachers just want to get their paycheck and go home. But please be honest enough (even if just with yourself) to admit that you have at least one or two teachers at your school who fit that bill exactly. They may have even started out filled with optimism and a desire to teach, and have since been crushed by the current state of our public school system. But lets not pretend that the teacher that Tony is speaking of is an anomaly in the system.
Im against home schooling, because it seems that many people who choose to home school are not the most intelligent people themselves, and are doing so due to some extremist religious belief, and are not going to be able to educate their child adequately. But that is just me, and I dont believe that EVERYONE who home schools falls into that category.
But Tony is not “home schooling” (IMO) by teaching this one class himself. He also seems to be properly trained in the discipline he is teaching and most important, he is passionate about the subject he will teach. I will never forget what I learned in school from the few teachers I had who actually seemed to be passionate about their subject. They drew me into the subject by their sheer love of it, and even if it wasnt something I personally felt strongly about, I learned and absorbed from them because of their attitude toward what they taught. Unfortunately, those teachers seem to be in the minority…
But I digress.
As nice as it would be to tell Tony to just fight the education system for change, we know how unrealistic that is. Most people in the U.S. would rather just “not make waves” and let thing go on as they are, as the days of getting involved for change seem to be behind us. Ive tried, and I was lucky if I could get a handful of people out of the entire school district to sign a petition, much less get anyone to attend a school board meeting in the evening. How can we expect our children to care, when we as parents cant be bothered to do so?
To everyone here complaining: Are you actually willing to help make a change, or does your concern about this topic begin and end with message board bitching?