Talk about a thread hi-jack. FW bridge closing to the education system.
I homeschool (thanks Shan for the positve note on homeschoolers-I'm not used to that), so I guess technically, I have no "dog in this fight", but having gone to school to be a teacher and lots of friends and family members in the public school system, I do have an opinion! First of all, as in ANY profession, there are bad teachers out there. I myself had a few in school. A person is generally in school for 13 years, including kindergarten, so though he or she may have a bad teacher from time to time, he or she would also have a good teacher from time to time as well. Teachers today are so much more than teachers. They are often times parents, counselors, mediators and so much more to their students. The number one complaint I hear from my teacher friends is that there are not enough hours in the school day to get everything done that needs to be done. The second complaint is having to "teach for the test". Unfortunately life is not about a test, but our school system seems to think otherwise.
Shan is 100% correct in it does take a village. Though sadly, in today's world so many homes are broken and kids come home to a Mom that works long hours to put food on the table and is too tired to go over a spelling list. Then there are families that think 20+ hours of baseball practice a week is much more important than learning multiplication facts. We live in a selfish world people...I have a family member who is more worried about going to the gym, getting her nails done, and swinging by the tanning bed so that by the time she gets home, her little one is passed out on the sofa. That little one is on a 5th grade reading level and is going into the 8th grade. She begs her Mom to listen to her read every day! If she didn't live 560 miles from me, I would let her read to me!! Yes, it does take a village, and the parent is (or should be) the top dog in the village. To say that it's a teacher's fault that a child is not learning is more than likely NOT the case. There's also examples of teacher friends who have retained students only to have their parents come up to the school and rant and rave over the "injustice". What humiliation for little Tommy to not be able to go to the 3rd grade with his friends. Well lady, little Tommy is in the 2nd grade and still doesn't know his ABC's, yet it's usually an administrator who passes little Tommy, not the teacher.
We definitely live in a world where the blame lies with anything or anyone but ourselves. (Sorry, this just brings up some ill feelings for me.) My children are a blessing from God to me. It is MY responsiblity to love, nurture and care for them, and to see to it that they are equipped for adulthood.
I personally think teachers get blamed for much more than is their fault and get far less credit than they deserve.
They are way underpaid for the responsibility they carry.
And just because I choose to educate my children in our home does not mean I am against the school system or teachers. So don't start flaming me! I also don't have a problem with extracurricular activites; it's people who think the activities are more important than an education that I have a problem with.