[HSList] The Public School Experiment
Beth Bilynskyj
At 08:48 PM 4/20/98 EDT, you wrote:
>I just took my daughter out of public high school. I will tell you about a
>very recent typical day for her. She begins school with 1 1/2 hours of math,
>which by the way is about two to three years below her level. The assignments
>take her approximately seven minutes. [etc.]
I have experienced this as well. But instead of abandoning the public
school, I have been their gadfly. What would happen if more parents like
me spoke out, and protested such waste? What if instead of homeschooling
our kids out of their sight, we did it in their very classrooms? We have
insisted that our TAG child has a legal right to a free, public education
that meets her needs. We have seen to it that her curriculum is "upped"
and that we spend time with her IN THE CLASSROOM tutoring her while the
rest of the kids have their math lesson. Finally, she is released after
1:30 to come home for Greek Language and Literature with yours truly. It
CAN be done, but it does take time and energy to work the system. It would
sure be easier to just yank her out and completely home-school her. But
reform cannot be accomplished without time and energy; reform is never
easy.
We had to move our daughter to a different elementary school in order to
find the right teacher and principal who would be supportive of this
arrangement. But it has worked beautifully, and I feel that she has the
best of both worlds this way. I realize this is not the answer for
everyone, but what if more of us put forth the extra effort to still be
salt, yet not let the darkness overtake our light?
Beth
Dan Holsopple
JOY4all6,
Don't wast precious time, your daughter is growing up so fast and you
are aging!
You can do sooooo much better than the impersonal PS system. Your
daughter can
get a better education(and yourself....never stop learning, ya know!).
Parenting never ends,
it just has different phases. Problems arise when the parent or the
child refuses to transition! Parenting's last phase should be
friendship, counselor, mentor, sounding board....and then we
become the child in old age. Then based on this relationship the child
has the intuitive
understanding to come to the aid of the ones who guided them thru the
difficult waters
of growing up. You can also impart this last value by going to the aid
of your parents.
Dan
wrote:
>
> I just took my daughter out of public high school. I will tell you about a
> very recent typical day for her. She begins school with 1 1/2 hours of math,
> which by the way is about two to three years below her level. The assignments
> take her approximately seven minutes. She then moves to geography, where I
> have to say, she enjoys the class and teacher. She then goes to P.E., where
> she usually runs around the track. Then she has lunch for 45 minutes ,where,
> although freshmen aren't supposed to go off campus, they do anyway. She ends
> her school day as an office helper where she spends most of her 1 1/2 hours
> sitting on a couch because there is usually only 10 to 15 minutes worth of
> filing for her to do. That is (was) her day.
>
> Debbie W.
Dan Holsopple
Beth Bilynskyj wrote:
>
> At 08:48 PM 4/20/98 EDT, you wrote:
> >I just took my daughter out of public high school. I will tell you about a
> >very recent typical day for her. She begins school with 1 1/2 hours of math,
> >which by the way is about two to three years below her level. The assignments
>
> I have experienced this as well. But instead of abandoning the public
> school, I have been their gadfly.
however
it is usually the case the parents have abondoned the children to the
PS. Most
folks find that "fighting city hall" is too big a task to add on to the
already
big job of HS. If you can do it...good for you!]
What would happen if more parents like
> me spoke out, and protested such waste? What if instead of homeschooling
> our kids out of their sight, we did it in their very classrooms? We have
> insisted that our TAG child has a legal right to a free, public education
> that meets her needs. We have seen to it that her curriculum is "upped"
> and that we spend time with her IN THE CLASSROOM tutoring her while the
> rest of the kids have their math lesson. Finally, she is released after
> 1:30 to come home for Greek Language and Literature with yours truly. It
> CAN be done, but it does take time and energy to work the system. It would
> sure be easier to just yank her out and completely home-school her. But
> reform cannot be accomplished without time and energy; reform is never
> easy.
[When the mindset of a system is darkness it needs resurrection, not
reform.
Sometime you might read the commendation given to Mr. McGuffy
concerning his
contribution to the public education system by the NEA(!). It will blow
your
mind. His life labor was to preemtively "reform" the system before it
went
immediately into secular-no-god-land. He single handedly, almost,
injected
the Christian religion into the system. This innoculation lasted quite
a while,
but in the end, the public education system ran out of gas.
When today's mythology is taught as truth with no other voices alowed,
it is time
for many to move on for reasons of faith and the minds of the children.
The system will "reform" when forced to by those it serves. It no
longer serves
the Christian....maybe it never should have(it is a public, not
Christian).
My children are too precious to be used in an experiment in reform.]
>
> We had to move our daughter to a different elementary school in order to
> find the right teacher and principal who would be supportive of this
> arrangement. But it has worked beautifully, and I feel that she has the
> best of both worlds this way. I realize this is not the answer for
> everyone, but what if more of us put forth the extra effort to still be
> salt, yet not let the darkness overtake our light?
[ Whether you choose a hybrid form like you did or to HS completely,
this is not
a choice of being light and salt! On the contrary, taking our children
as
seriously as our Maker has made them IS being light and salt. I have
many opportunities
to speak of this with strangers and friends alike, and the fruit of our
work is
shown in the children. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
>
> Beth
Dan
Beth Bilynskyj
At 03:14 PM 4/21/98 -0400, Dan wrote:
>
> The system will "reform" when forced to by those it serves. It no longer
serves
> the Christian....maybe it never should have(it is a public, not Christian).
> My children are too precious to be used in an experiment in reform.
<snip>
>Whether you choose a hybrid form like you did or to HS completely, this is
not
>a choice of being light and salt! On the contrary, taking our children as
>seriously as our Maker has made them IS being light and salt. I have many
>opportunities
>to speak of this with strangers and friends alike, and the fruit of our
work is
>shown in the children. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
Dan, you wrote a wonderful post on carpenters and warped wood and limited
instruments. Let me put what I was trying to say this way: what if some
of us feel called to try to help the carpenters? To try to show the warped
wood that it is indeed warped, and point it to the One who knows how to
straighten things out? What if some of us feel called to help provide more
tools, in fact, to offer ourselves as tools? True, we may never make a
Chippendale hutch, but some of us believe we are called to show the wood
that there really are such things as Chippendale hutches! That is all I am
trying to say.
I too believe that a city on a hill cannot be hidden. God help us to
build as many of them as we can, wherever we can, as often as we can, in
whatever way we can! You see, I just want to try to build more of these
cities on hills, and I know a few folks who are called to this project as
well; it would be nice to have some more help. Dan, I am NOT arguing that
you are *not* being salt and light. I AM wishing that somehow the salt
might be broadcast and the light might shine in some darker corners where
there is comparatively little of either. What's wrong with that prayer?
That said, I resent your implication that we am using our daughter in an
experiment, and that I am not taking her needs seriously, and that she is
somehow less precious to me than your children are to you. I assure you
that she is precious, not only to us, but to the Lord, and that therefore
we have a responsibility not only to her, but to Him to train and educate
her in a manner pleasing to Him. Perhaps I have completely misunderstood
you in this. I trust that is the case.
In Christ,
Beth (who remembers hearing somewhere that tetanus innoculations need to be
renewed every decade....could the analogy hold for those of us who are
McGuffey's heirs? "God has no grandchildren." )
>
>Dan
>
>
>
Jean Riskus
I too tried to change what was happening at the school. If nothing is
changing and the child is suffering for it, to continue fighting would be
sacrificing the child for a principle. I was not willing to do that. If you
have made progress with your school, I think that's great. Not everyone is
that lucky. Parents could try to change the school for the 12 years that
their child attends, but if nothing is changed, what has been accomplished?
The parent can look back and say, my child didn't get a good education, but
at least I put up a good fight.
Jean
----------
> From: Beth Bilynskyj <bet...@efn.org>
> To: homes...@wakko.efn.org
> Subject: Re: [HSList] The Public School Experiment
> Date: Monday, April 20, 1998 11:04 PM
>
> At 08:48 PM 4/20/98 EDT, you wrote:
> >I just took my daughter out of public high school. I will tell you about
a
> >very recent typical day for her. She begins school with 1 1/2 hours of
math,
> >which by the way is about two to three years below her level. The
assignments
> >take her approximately seven minutes. [etc.]
>
> I have experienced this as well. But instead of abandoning the public
> school, I have been their gadfly. What would happen if more parents like
> me spoke out, and protested such waste? What if instead of homeschooling
> our kids out of their sight, we did it in their very classrooms? We have
> insisted that our TAG child has a legal right to a free, public education
> that meets her needs. We have seen to it that her curriculum is "upped"
> and that we spend time with her IN THE CLASSROOM tutoring her while the
> rest of the kids have their math lesson. Finally, she is released after
> 1:30 to come home for Greek Language and Literature with yours truly. It
> CAN be done, but it does take time and energy to work the system. It
would
> sure be easier to just yank her out and completely home-school her. But
> reform cannot be accomplished without time and energy; reform is never
> easy.
>
> We had to move our daughter to a different elementary school in order to
> find the right teacher and principal who would be supportive of this
> arrangement. But it has worked beautifully, and I feel that she has the
> best of both worlds this way. I realize this is not the answer for
> everyone, but what if more of us put forth the extra effort to still be
> salt, yet not let the darkness overtake our light?
>
> Beth
TIM BANDY
In a message dated 4/22/98 2:58:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, bet...@efn.org
writes:
<< what if some
of us feel called to try to help the carpenters? To try to show the warped
wood that it is indeed warped, and point it to the One who knows how to
straighten things out? What if some of us feel called to help provide more
tools, in fact, to offer ourselves as tools? True, we may never make a
Chippendale hutch, but some of us believe we are called to show the wood
that there really are such things as Chippendale hutches! That is all I am
trying to say. >>
May God be with you. Be ready for vicious attacks. The hardened hearts are
many and do not take kindly to being told there is another way. Of course,
bad has always out numbered the good. The reason is simple as I see it.
Being bad is the easiest thing in the world to be. It requires no effort. It
easily finds company. It has always been the good which is hard work. In
fact, Jesus's good news is that God understands and forgives and helps those
who are faithful and try to do what is right. ... Or so it seems to me
Tim B.
Bonita Sheffield
Darlin', for us...it's not worth the effort when I can concentrate on
schooling my child. The whole public school system needs such a radical
overhaul. How on earth can I make them do that? I voted with my feet.
Bonita
Bonita Sheffield
Well, and then there is that saying which says, "The only thing necessary
for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."
Bonita