Need your opinion about a problem with a school

[paigevz]

, it sounded like she was more concerned over that test than his education.

That's all many of the administrators are concerned with anymore.............



(I said MANY, not ALL )

 

[Mo-Yo]

CED Mom - I am with you.

I lived in Switzerland for a year, and my French was poor at best, but I attended school there, met a lot of interesting people from a lot of places. I traveled and I had a wonderful time. There were instances where locals were impatient with my lack of language skills and my ignorance of their culture. But for the most part, I was treated with kindness and compassion.

I caught on eventually.

I keep imagining what it might be like to be plopped right down in the middle of a foreign culture and being expected to know it all right away.

When my husband was in the Navy, a guy on his submarine married a Korean girl who spoke No English. It was so hard and lonely for her. She was trying to learn but it takes time. When they had kids, she said she would speak Korean to help her kids learn two languages.

I am amazed and saddened at the lack of sensitivity and compassion some people have for others just because they look or speak differently. Public schools are full of all sorts of kids, many "Americans" who have learning issues, family problems, disabilities, lack of discipline, brilliance, genius, etc. You get the picture.

Just because a teacher concentrates on the needs of individual students does not mean your child is getting shafted. If in fact, it is true that the teacher devotes "hours" of time to individual instruction ignoring the needs of all, I would say you need to contact your school board. I've been a classroom, though, and somehow I doubt it.

Seems to me your argument is more with the teacher making YOU wait and not giving YOU - an English speaking AMERICAN, the props YOU think YOU deserve, all the while serving the needs of a lowly immigrant family. Look lady, this country was formed by immigrants, and I can guarantee you virtually none but the English and the Irish spoke English upon arrival.

As for being off base - I think this is off-base.

You said: "Also- this is America, we do not speak Chinese, so therefore it is not up to the PUBLIC school to help her retain her "native language" If she lives in America, ENGLISH is the native language. If they want to speak chinese they should report back to China."

The school is not expected help her retain her native language. By this poster's description, however, it sounds as if the school is trying to teach her a second one - English.

I don't understand why it is not acceptable for this family to hold onto their language and culture and learn a new one. People do it all the time.

Have you never eaten in a Chinese restaurant? At our local place, the family speaks Chinese to each other and varying degrees of English to customers. They run a successful business and pay taxes. We get delicious food. It's a win/win. The big picture is hard to see through a little bitty lense.

 

[Longsx3]

Reading they do at home, they sit around and wait for her to finish. This is not a private school, it is a public school. If this child needs one on one instruction, she should have a private tutor. Also- this is America, we do not speak Chinese, so therefore it is not up to the PUBLIC school to help her retain her "native language" If she lives in America, ENGLISH is the native language. If they want to speak chinese they should report back to China. My children can sit at home and read....at school the teacher should be TEACHING. If she can sit with ONE child in a class of 20 children and ignore 19 of them for one child, who the H@LL is she to give me a hard time? Like I said, if they incorporated the rest of the class learning about chinese and involved everyone, fine. But it's the IGNORING the others by having them bring a book from home to read while she sits in a corner is WRONG. We are not talking about 5-10 minutes or even 20-30, it's and hour or more. We have now officially hijacked this post, so I am done explaining to an obviously off base person why it is wrong to put the needs of one (whose family does nothing to help the situation) ahead of the needs of many.

I have to give an opinion here: Because they live in America doesn't mean when they walk off the plane English becomes there native language, give the child sometime and she will be speaking english before you know it. Every child in public school has a right to an education whether or not the speak english is irrelevant. I find it hard to believe that the teacher leaves the other students for an hour or more to do silent reading, maybe you should volunteer for a day and see what is really going on.

Good thing the Japanese are far more tolerant or I would be in a lot of trouble.

 

[barkley]

guess i'm the odd man out here-our school gets no public funding but chooses to do the standardized tests to determine the strengths and weaknesses the students have in various subject areas. they purposely do the test early in the year (they started a week ago monday and finish up this friday) so they can address any issues early on. the also use the data to 'tweak' the curriculum (if all the 5th graders are performing well above the level of the current math curriculum they may opt to move through the text more quickly and start introducing 6th grade math concepts). i should also add-our school is nice enough to provide all parents with the dates of the fall testing prior to summer vacation the previous school year

our teacher is'nt fond of the fact we usualy pull the kids out for a family vacation each year (generaly tagged onto a 3 day holiday so no more than 5 days out max)-and she's also not big on kids doing assignments ahead of time. so i look at their workbooks that i know they do one chapter a week on and figure out a couple of weeks ahead of time which ones they will be doing-i photocopy them and have the kids complete them ahead of time. so instead of doing ALL the missed worked during vacation, they may end up doing some math pages (again i photocopy so i don't have to schlep the books with us) and some handouts she know's will be assigned-but the spelling and handwriting and bible stuff is already done.

the funny thing is-9 times out of 10 they get back to school and find out the class never got up to the pages they already did so they use their regular class 'work time' to do the make up work and end up done the first or second day.

i'm a former teacher and while i value education and understand the importance of regular attendance i do take issue when teachers/principals make a huge issue out of 'perfect attendance'. i opt to keep my kids home when they don't feel well and as a result they may miss a day or two here or there but don't end up sick as a dog, flat on their backs for a week or two on end (like our school's previously reigning 'perfect attendance child' who came to school sick multiple times, shared it with everyone else and ended up out for 3 solid weeks because she became so run down). i also opt to take my kids out for up to 5 days in a row for a family vacation-which i balance out by doing my best to not schedual dr/dentist/other appointments during the school day (unlike some other parents who have their dd's hair weaving or sculptured nail appoinments schedualed such that they miss a full half day of school every so many weeks ).

 

[JPN4265]

well, I thought it over, and us leaving a few hours later (we are driving) won't kill us. (a 22hr drive is long no matter when you leave). He'll take the test and will leave once the test is done. We'll get to the mouse the same day we planned to, just a few hours later.

I understand the why they have the tests. I just wish the principal treated me more like a parent than a student when I initially spoke with her. I am not looking for problems with the school, nor my DS having any problems with them.

Maybe if the Principal was a Disney-holic like the rest of us, this would have been easier

So, its 9 more days until the test.. oops, I mean 9 more days until Disney!!

Maybe you should have let your 'A' student think of this solution before you started this tread. I can't believe that you didn't see this as an answer at the beginning.

 

[AKLRULZ]

Ah the joys of people on power trips - as if missing a few days of 3rd grade are going to impact your child for the rest of his life. I'd have gone over the principal's head as well.

Interesting timing of this post - I just sent off an email to all my children's teachers and 3 principals of 3 schools (elem, middle and high) informing them of our Europe trip in November (my kids are missing an entire week). So far I've had no flack.

I hope you enjoy your trip.

 

[yaksack]

I know a lot of districts get funding based on test scores. Also, is the testing tied to "No Child Left Behind". With all the various mandates I can see why a principal would not be happy with an "A" student missing the test but probably wouldn't give a hoot over a "C" student missing. Not saying it's right but it's just the reality of how the system works.

QUOTE]



I thought that a district's poverty level determined the amount of NCLB funding you get.

 

[noodleknitter]

Mo-Yo, very nicely said. Our pastor's wife is Korean. When her family moved here they immediately did their best to assimilate. Now she has 5 kids and is desperately trying to teach them Korean which they use at home. She hates that she lost all of that.

I can't imagine moving my crew to a land where they would have to learn the language. It is a huge thing to do. I sure am glad my ancestors did , though. You know, though the settled in with the Irish for quite a bit before moving off on their own. There is comfort in the familiar.

 

[yaksack]

CED Mom - I am with you.



Seems to me your argument is more with the teacher making YOU wait and not giving YOU - an English speaking AMERICAN, the props YOU think YOU deserve, all the while serving the needs of a lowly immigrant family. Look lady, this country was formed by immigrants, and I can guarantee you virtually none but the English and the Irish spoke English upon arrival.


QUOTE]

My Italian grandfather had to learn to speak English, America did not switch to Italian. He could either learn English or not become an American It was a matter of pride to him and nonna.

I think that if the topic is going to change, this thread should be closed.

 

[kvogel11202]

I agree, this post should be closed. People are too thick to get what has been clearly explained to them. The argument is not about english vs non english. It was about the teacher giving me an attitude about taking my kid out of school for five days, when she thinks nothing of not TEACHING them for over an hour every day. I don't care that the girl was speaking Chinese, it was just one of the facts, but it's what has become the focus of the argument. Also- if her parent moved here they should hire someone to teach her the language we speak, not expect the public school teacher to tutor her during school hours. If someone wants to learn the language there are plenty of avenues open.

 

[kvogel11202]

CED Mom - I am with you.



Seems to me your argument is more with the teacher making YOU wait and not giving YOU - an English speaking AMERICAN, the props YOU think YOU deserve, all the while serving the needs of a lowly immigrant family. Look lady, this country was formed by immigrants, and I can guarantee you virtually none but the English and the Irish spoke English upon arrival.

And the ones who didn't speak English. learned it to assimilate to us, not expecting us to assimilate to them. Thanks for supporting my argument, however unintentionally.
QUOTE]

 

[CEDmom]

Who said they're not trying to learn English ? It doesn't happen overnight. If the teacher was spending time 1 on 1 with a learning disabled english speaking child would you have the same issue? Something tells me you wouldn't .

Someone else suggested you spend time in the classroom to see what's really going on. That would probably be a good idea or at the very least talk to the teacher about how the kids spend their day. Although my DD isn't one to lie I don't necessarily take everything she says about school as the gospel truth.

 

[Mo-Yo]

My Italian great, great grandmother came from modest roots, but spoke - Italian, Yiddish, English. While other immigrant families learned English, she advocated for them in local government, business dealings, etc. From some geneology my dad did she worked as sort of a substitute attorney in the blue collar neighborhoods of Philadelphia.

No one is arguing against whether or not it is beneficial to learn English in America. Obviously, it is.

What is NOT beneficial is an attitude of intolerance. Learning a new language and culture takes time. And hiring a private tutor is not necessary. Did generations of foreign language speakers need a tutor to assimilate??? I don't think so...they just needed time.

 

[DVC Sadie]

All I can say is wow. Maybe this teacher should have a lesson in tolerance and invite parents to attend ,

Thank goodness, I see a voice of reason!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Just a few notes here:
1) maybe the school with the Chinese student does not have an ESL tutor. Where I work we had one guy for a couple of years who helped tutor kids for the state tests 3 periods a day and tutored foreign language students for 3 other periods. This is at the HS level. In my experience they catch on very fast to math, science, and even history, but have trouble in English class. I have a girl from Thailand who has been here 7 years, and is a senior, but struggles. We don't even have our tutor anymore because of funding cuts. I'm sure her son's teacher doesn't want to spend so much time reteaching, but she can't just ignore the girl and let her fail without trying interventions.
2) as for 3rd grade testing not being important, it is in some places. In our district it determines who gets into the gifted and talented program. I don't want a big debate on those programs, but I can say my DD#2 who made it in is learning a lot more and a lot faster than my DD#1 who just missed the cutoff. I can only imagine how much better she'd be doing now in 9th grade if she'd gotten those extra 3 points on her cognitive test in 3rd grade. Again, though, in that respect each district differs. I know my 3rd grade DS has reading testing next week too, so maybe it is a national test.
3) Enjoy your time taking kids out of school without consequence, people! I've never been able to take mine out more than 2 days for a long weekend because I teach. We did that in 2001 when plane fare was really cheap (girls were in grades 1 and 4) and again in 2002--both in early December so we could sample some low crowds and see the decorations. But now that DD#1 is in HS, all bets are off. If she misses 2 days or less each semester, she gets to opt out of a semester exam. For her, this is a good thing. She already missed 1 day to get her braces off, so now we have to pray she stays healthy until January! In addition, she is a cheerleader and if she takes a family vacation during school time she has to sit out for games, etc. That policy is in effect for all athletes at her HS. So if your school is that way and your son plays basketball, taking him out for 3 or 4 days could mean a lot more time sitting on the bench. I know some people have said they take their HS kids out, but at least here it is next to impossible if they are involved in sports. I can here people saying "well I'll just tell the coach family time is important, that I pay his salary," etc, but every kid trying out for a team signs rules and requirements, and if the rule is no vacations during school time, your child will follow the rule or not play.
Robin M.