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Originally Posted by cmj
This broad brushstroke is so unfair. What public school district are you specifically talking about? I've seen a lot of curriculums and haven't found your assessment to be true at all. Having taught for 33 years, and my husband teaching health for 33 years, this was not our experience. In the district where we taught (a public school system) parents came for meetings to view, discuss, and sign a permission slip for their child to be in class or to opt out and not have any part of the program. The curriculum was written by parents, teachers working together.
The messages children learn in school are far less important than the messages they receive from their #1 supporter - YOU, the parent. The situation with Palin's daughter is a "teachable moment." Any parent who doesn't want a teen pregnancy for their child should take this as an opportunity to get a conversation going or to continue one.
As for teens who do get pregnant, please don't dump that burden on the schools. The last time I looked this up, research said the average father spends less than 10 minutes per day in meaningful conversation with their children. This doesn't include: clean your room, listen to your mother, do what I say. Hang-outs? If your child is hanging out where you don't think they're safe and the environment is healthy, how is that the school's fault?
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Where I have lived in Eastern Massachusetts especially this was the prevalence. Central FL counties are not much better.
It always goes back to -
why is the public school system trying to teach sex education and a host of other items that fall to parents? Where is the demonstrated need, and what objective criteria is being used tot evaluate the effectiveness of any instruction on these topics?
The public school system in the US has become a greater tragedy in the US than all of the wars, the economy and the health care system. Since 1960 the SAT scores keep going down and the curriculum keeps broadening, and the kids now leave school: 1) not really knowing enough basic math to balance a checkbook properly; 2) with grammar so poor that the text-message shorthand is considered acceptable writing skills; and 3) reading at no higher than the 9th grade level. The drop-out rate still is abominable and a high school diploma today is not regarded as being worth much of anything due to the high number of graduates who leave the hallowed halls still ignorant in the "3 'Rs."
There was a time when the public school system delivered an
education, and that was prior to the '60s. Teachers then were role models of the highest order. They came to work dressed as professionals, conducted themselves accordingly, demanded classroom courtesy and there was mutual respect. They really were the first "business" role models outside the home for kids, especially as to what would be expected post-graduation regarding job knowledge, skills and conduct. Nowadays, A visit to the average public school finds the teachers dressed like every day is "Casual Friday" and the classroom attitude ranges from fear-of-the-student to so-what-you're-here. The list of "electives in 7-12 grades is unbelievable, and why we have all of these electives is a mystery, as there are no objective criteria upon which to base their need. What happened? ? ?
Say what you want about "no child left behind," but it spoke volumes about the overall disappointment of with public schools in general from its customers - the taxpayers in general who deal with youth who can't read, can't do basic math, have no business deportment skills - but do have a diploma which says they passed "life sciences" and the like.
I've taught as well - at the undergraduate and graduate level. I've been an employer of the product of the public school system. In both situations I have been highly disappointed with the overall preparedness of these young people in their command of the English language and their ability to apply basic math skills to logic. Yet, they claim to be knowledgeable about sexuality, the sex act, pregnancy (and it's prevention and abortion), and apparently have just enough information to get it wrong - as demonstrated by the ever-increasing teen-birth and teen-abortion rate.
We hue and cry that jobs are being shipped overseas, but the sad truth is that many of the information technology jobs can't be filled by today's US-educated entry-level labor force because their math and language (English, specifically) skills are second-rate (or worse) in comparison to the younger folk in other countries.
No - I don't want the parental burden "dumped on the schools." Public school teachers are not social scientists, and nor should they try to take that role. The public schools are to teach those basic subjects necessary to academically prepare students for the academic (not social) rigors of collegiate life and/or prepare students to enter the American work force with reasonable competency in the national language and the sciences at the level necessary for entry-level employment in the region. When schools can at least do that job with demonstrated competency, then expansion of curricula may have merit.