By Donna Westfall – February 16, 2021
Last year I paid our property taxes by walking into the County Offices and handing them my letter of protest along with my check. Here’s the essence.
“I don’t like paying taxes when I’m not getting what I’m paying for. In this case, our children in public schools are failing. Obviously something is drastically wrong. Having reading and math proficiency at around 50% and 25% respectively, is UNACCEPTABLE.”
For the amounts of money we (taxpayer’s) are paying, we should have students that perform so much better.
What are we paying for? Undereducated children are not going to continue as long as taxpayer’s have a say. I’d almost encourage everyone to stop paying their property taxes if I thought enough would go along.
You know something, when Rosa Parks wouldn’t go to the back of the bus, and the town wouldn’t change their tune about discrimination, the Blacks boycotted the buses for over a year. After that time, buses became integrated.
If money made for better schools, our children would be performing at the top in the world. That’s not happening.
Teacher’s make a great living. Administrators make a great living.
Forget the pandemic. Even before the pandemic, students were failing and underperforming. What makes you think anything will change even when schools are back in session?
Those who can, teach. Those who cannot, administrate.
Funny thing about that, might have been that way at one time, but the need for large numbers of teachers has put paid to that notion. Back when I was in grad school it seemed that most who joined the teaching ranks were failures from other disciplines. Saw an Oxford University study in the late eighties that claimed 75% of American teachers graduated in the bottom 25% of their respective classes. Not very reassuring. Later, in the nineties, saw a California Department of Education report saying a significant portion of newly graduated teachers could not pass the certification test even after the third attempt. Seemed like the percentage was shockingly high.
What is your opinion of the Waldorf School and its methodology.? I was impressed when I toured their school in Fair Oaks.
As with any form of alternative education, some students will do well in a Waldorf School environment, others do poorly. The fact that it is a religious based school that limits technology and outside reading (separation from the outside world) it can slow the whole process down to the point that educational development lags. Students can become lazy or lackadaisical. No real assessment of how far or what the student has gained in knowledge. Can be difficult to go on to college or get a job. Certainly geared towards the arts and crafts, but science, engineering, and technology are not as important, neither is mathematics. No form of comparing skills learned, lack of competition. Requires heavy duty involvement from parents. Not saying it is a bad program, just be aware of what you are getting at a pretty steep price(private school) as not all students are cut out for this kind of program. There is a lot more to consider, beyond the scope of a simple comment, but certain students really benefit from this style of education, others not so much.