Texas Schools..

[sports fan Matt]

In my mother's school district where she teaches, (Keller ISD) outside Ft Worth she said to me today in our weekly phone conversations: She teaches Austic kids in the district:

In my mother's school district..kids dont have to take standardized tests, she cant give them a zero either, its not allowed..and the wierdest thing is the kids can work for 1 entire project..and pass the grade (they have 9 weeks to complete the project)

Does anyone else see the oddness of this situation? I just waited for there to be a stipulation and there wasnt one.

Ideas and thoughts are welcome

[HotShotDJ]

She teaches Austic kids in the districtThis is the operative phrase of your post. Special Educational goals are necessarily very different from the goals of standard education.

[TeraDyne]

This is the operative phrase of your post. Special Educational goals are necessarily very different from the goals of standard education.

The question is: Do those goals reach the same level that standard education can provide? If not, then it's not fair for those being taught. They deserve to have just as much knowledge as anyone else.

[Tundro Walker]

Texas school system is pretty messed up.

When I was going to school in TX, they would seperate the kids into 3 ranks, the fast learners, the mid-learners and the slow-learners. The "troubled" kids, which were usually kids who weren't dumb, but just felt entitled or didn't give a crap, were stuck in their own group as well, to keep them from disrupting the kids who actually wanted to get an education. This worked out pretty good, because the slower kids could go at their own pace, and not hold back the faster kids, and they also didn't feel like idiots compared to the faster kids.

However, TX changed the schooling system since I've been out. My friend's mom is a teacher, about ready to retire. Speaking with her, they decided a while back to just lump all the kids together in the same class. And, the class only goes the pace of the slowest kid. The idea is a bit socialistic, in that they hope the smarter kids will help the slower kids along. However, what usually happens (making a generalization here), is that the faster kids are bored out of their mind, because they have to keep repeating the same crap until the slower folks get it. The slower folks feel pressured by the faster kids, and a lot sort of give up and just turn into the "school is for idiots" type kids that look down upon kids who are there to learn. This perpetuates, because some of the really troubled kids are left in the class to disrupt, and it turns into a tug-o-war between the teacher trying to influence the slower kids to learn, and the troubled gives who could give a crap trying to influence the slower kids to just give up and act rebellious. Meanwhile, the faster kids are not only bored, but usually picked on for being smart ... because mediocrity is the current fad, so being smart and good at what you do makes you a "loser".

It's pretty hosed up. The way they teach math, too, where the kids have to graph out even the simplest of fractions problems ... I'm just amazed kids are able to get into college these days.

One things for sure, we won't have a shortage of fry-cooks or gas station attendants here in American any time soon. 1950's ended with us being a leader in industry, then the 70's & 80's rolled around and we got selfish and greedy with business execs screwing over companies for short-term gain vs long-term profitability, cutting quality and service, and setting up programs that take away the workers ability to take pride in what they do. And, now the 2000's are here, and we've gone the extra step to just screw up our next generation by holding back the smart ones so we can focus our energy on the dumb ones.

It's basically a Social Darwinism experiment on a grand scale, because some school admin's can't educational theory from educational reality, and we're going to suffer the repercussions in the next 15-20 years.

But, hey, at least no child is left behind. #-o

EDIT:

I forgot to mention that my friend's mom, the teacher, is pretty miffed by all this. Her and the other teachers are not the ones that decided how this would go. It was passed down from the school admins, who don't really spend much time actually seeing what goes on in classes. Schools in the US usually have their own districts, which are pretty much the equivilent of dark ages fiefdoms, each doing their own thing their own way. The government passed down some mandates, and they each interpeted their execution in their own way. The school admins dictated how the "no child left behind" program would be played out without getting much teacher approval or discussion ... they pretty much just sat in their ivory towers and looked down on the teachers and told them how it will be. The teachers are all pretty ticked off, because how the admins think it will work and how it actually works out do not coincide. The admins had this altruistic, pink-skyed utopian idea of how things would go. They neglected to factor in the social factors that drive a lot of child development these days (IE: kids teasing each other, and the current trend of rewarding mediocrity).