School costs and parent involvement
 

Ok, so I was about to hit submit to a post in the "what is on your mind" thread, but realized that maybe it would get lost in the shuffle and the parenting subforum may be a more suitable place.

Please expand on this topic in any way you might like. Maybe people want to talk about school costs in general or parent involvement in general. But this is what was specifically "on my mind"...


So copy/pasting:

One thing I have noticed from talking to parents is that it seems like there are higher and higher expectations in school on the "projects" kids have to do. Like crazy high...out of their age range, so the parents have to do it.

Also, a lot of these projects seem to cost a lot of money for the supplies.

So, "what is on my mind is":

1) My client was telling me about this intense project that her 3rd grader had to do...seemed more fitting for a 7th grader to do. There is NO WAY that she could have done this project without a parent. What do the kids do who don't have parents that want to help them? Just fail?

2) Some of the projects now a days seem to include a lot of supplies that cost money. What do kids do if they have parents who can't afford these supplies? What about the kids whose parents have the money, but aren't willing to go to the craft store to get said supplies b/c they are just parents who don't care?

I went to public school. As I recall, the teachers always had available any supplies that were needed for projects if your parents couldn't buy it for you. And it wasn't expensive stuff. At all. A couple of bucks and one or two projects a year. And the projects were things that weren't outside of a kids ability level and they could do the projects on their own. Things seem to have changed.

What are these unlucky kids doing if they have a parent who won't help with a project or won't or can't purchase supplies? Are teachers "in tune" to these kids and their needs do ya think?

as both a parent and child development professional, i'm horrified at the way our educational system is going. there is what is called a "push down" curriculum in which children are expected to learn things earlier and earlier, BEFORE they are developmentally ready. often people making the policies, the people implementing them, as well as the teachers do not have any child development training. now to make things worse this no child left behind crap, the pressure is really on the teachers children are getting less and less of what they need in elementary school social skills, creative development, problem-solving, conflict resolution skills, physical activity, etc, and are instead overloaded with academics that they aren't ready for. the result has not been higher test scores and in some of the poorer schools the resulting decrease in funding has been devastating. the trend is to push it down even further so that children in preschool are going to start learning academics..it's ridiculous. so to answer your question, it probably was above the child's level and the teacher's reason for doing it probably had to do with required curriculum, and yes, at most schools due to the lack of funding and available resources, the child without parental help (for whatever reason, be it a language barrier, lack of resources, time and energy or simply disinterest) that child would probably fail. ...on the other hand, what are the children who's parent's complete the project for them getting out of it? besides a passing grade?

Canadian (and some other countries) education systems are vastly different--equal funding for all students regardless of location or neighbourhood or whatever.

No teacher here (my Canadian city) would dream of creating an assignment that is not accessible to all students--regardless of socio-economic status.

We would be called to the table if we assigned such a thing.


However, like I said, we have equal funding for all students--regardless of where families reside--they have quality education.


ETA: So, no, there would be no assignments that some kids could *afford* and others could not.

gotta say i'm feelin a lil jealous right now... that is not the way the us distributes $$.

That is because they (GOP and FOX News and their minions etc) label how we do it as SOCIALISM!!!!

sometimes i fantasize about moving there... too bad i don't have family there anymore.

Much of the time, it isn't the teacher being out of tune with this- it is what has been legislated in the US with things like "No Child Left Behind" which has been extended by the Obama administration. All has become based upon schools competing for federal funding and the districts that traditionally have had a higher tax base usually wins out. So, the developmental, financial and social aspects of students are just lost. In some schools, teachers get a financial bonus for higher test scores on national achievement tests.

Regular classroom teachers have been pushed in many ways to leave child development behind or lose their jobs. The politicalization of education in the US has rendered it out of touch with the real variables that enable students to learn. And makes teachers robots.

The whole damn system is out of touch with kids and their families.

The other thing that bothers me is that there is just not enough available in apprentice and trades programs for students. Vocational education is pushed back while college is pushed ahead as the only way someone can earn a living. Yet, how can a house be built without carpenters, plumbers, electricians? What about scientific glass technicians- they produce the test tubes and beakers used in experiments?! Who builds roads? The list goes on.

I am very thankful for having the opportunity to go to college and grad school. However, The US educational system needs to widen its vision and provide educational opportunities for all of its students including those that want to develop skills in non-college bound types of employment. And stop this crazy testing!!

This stuff was going on long before NCLB. It wasn't that way when i was in school, but i remember friends who had their kids in Ann Arbor schools who were supposed to pony up for things all the time. i recall a minor example -- students were supposed to buy green t-shirts for a field trip so that the kids could be kept track of. My co-worker was poor and had no time to go out shopping on the spur of the moment etc.

i don't teach elementary, but we sure don't assume that there is support at home for projects. i am not sure how this got started. A friend of mine whose kids are in Ann Arbor schools is constantly working on projects. She has the money and the time, but is it even good for her sons?

Another friend, her son calls from COLLEGE for help, sometimes on deadline. The kid is a junior. It's mind-boggling to me.

Another friend is a dean of a small college, and she says for some years colleges -- and professors -- have had many more parents calling to intervene when their kids are failing a class etc. Amazing.

So i think parents are a part of the problem. i think they are afraid to allow their kids to fail or flounder. And it keeps upping the ante.

i also think this doesn't have anything to do with high stakes testing. If we were concentrating only on high stakes testing, there wouldn't be any projects at all. Project-based learning is great. It needs good curriculum, cooperation among staff and administration, and hard work on everyone's part. It should not require much parental involvement.

Parental pareticipation should be be about helping kids review and, if necessary, stay organized. The point of homework is building toward mastery. Sitting down with their kids, checking homework, helping kids with their planners, checking planners, staying up on what's happening in the classroom, and perhaps volunteering -- that's what parents should be doing. But they should not be going back to school themselves.

***begin rant***

i may sound a bit irritable here. But all the armchair folks who talk about what's wrong with the system, 90 percent of them don't have a clue. They read about it or listen to pundits on the radio, but they are not professionals. i understand that all of us are stakeholders. The students are our kids and future leaders. We all should care.

It's fine to read and research and have opinions. But i hear all the time, well i subbed fifteen years ago, and . . . Or my daughter teaches in San Jose, and she says. . . . i just want to say, get back to me when you are a fully credentialed experienced teacher, counselor or admin, when you have had real responsibility for children's educations.

It's not just the notion that teachers are the problem and that somehow "fixing" us would solve all the world's problems that i abhore. i think most of us here would object to that and object to the teacher-hating legislation that has been going on.

But the idea that every retired old fart at the donut shop feels qualified to tell you what is wrong -- at length -- with public schools is part of the problem -- the problem that is not respecting teachers and the mission of public school education.

Man, it makes me tired.

****end rant*****

Oh no! I think I am part of the problem! But I am okay with that. I work full time and do not have the opportunity to volunteer in the classroom or much at all.

We just finished a super fun project on birds. This was the culmination of a year of study for my daughter's third grade class. We had to make a nest for a Northern Pygmy Owl. My daughter came up with the concept and picked out the supplies at the store. I did help and so did Grandma because my daughter loves when we all do crafts together. It was so fun!! A hot glue gun was involved and so my Mom and I did that and burned ourselves! We made homemade clay eggs and got twigs by walking on the street and collecting them. My daughter came up with the construction of the tree we had to make and then told me how to assemble it.

I don't know. I don't think this was necessarily too difficult for her age. I really appreciate the projects where I get to help. It lets me see what she is doing and learning and it is an opportunity for us to do something together. I dropped her off really early and actually came in to school and looked at the other nests kids had made and talked to her teacher and it was good.

I think there is a happy medium between doing the project for your child and doing it together. I am grateful for the opportunity. I am also lucky and privileged to have the time to help her I know.

Awwww. That's wonderful! It sounds like it was the best of both for her -- she learned a lot and got to do something with Mom and Grandma.

LOL re the gluegun. i wouldn't put one of those in the hands of a kid either, BUT in reality their young hands are often more dextrous than our own.

Having the time and energy for parents is difficult at times. Especially single parents. Put a lack of resources in the mix and it is tougher.

I am very happy that I was with a LT partner when I took over parenting for my son. She also joined in projects. Although, he was in HS at the time. That interaction is valuable.

I do, however, feel that teachers, especially those that are not parents themselves, may not get how hectic life is with kids and all of the things outside of school that takes a parent's time and energy having to do with their kids. With taking on parenthood, my whole internal structure as a teacher at that time changed- I saw and felt for myself some of the challenges parents had tried to explain to me that I really did not "get." Parents don't get to take a vacation from being a parent or go home to a home without kids after work.

I was lucky also that my son's Dad left a trust for his care and education. and as it turned out, things like therapy and extra help in academics as he has ADHD and perceptual neurologic problems that just could not be addressed in the shools available to him. There were no special education mandates at that time. Many parents do not have this kind of financial back-up at all. Many are trying to go on with their own higher education.

I have a bit of a problem when parents get blamed by teachers- even though I taught at the HS level, then community college and state universities- part time along with a full time therapy practice and the responsibility of a teen and later young adult getting through college. Be responsible for a child and them getting a good start in life and there are many fears that go along with this which are part of package.

Short and Sweet
 

Yesterday I was at wall mart and already they have school suplies out,I looked at the suply sheet for the school my son had gone to ..OMG the stuff they needed was off the chart,im really glad im done with buyig school suplys for anyone cause I would have to take out a bank loan to do it these days

I know your pain.
 

my daughter's last school cut out just about all the field trips except for 2 to outdoor ed (one overnighter in 4th grade and 3.5 days in 5th) and a trip great america or six flags or some lame ass ish like that. :(

I am all for going on field trips...but so NOT down for spending mah hard earned $$ on crap trips to consumerville like disneyland. i want my kid to go to places i haven't, but i want the trips to have some substance too. i think it's important for our kids to get out of the box while they're still young. i plan on being on the school board next year to stir some ish up! ;) i dunno how that's gonna work yet (being a single parent, a student and a commuter) but i'll fig it out! :p

OK, I'm old, but the field trips of my youth were related to our studies. For example, going to the state capitol and sitting in on state assembly or senate proceedings. Visiting the nearest CA mission, going to a planetarium for a science class.

I think it is great for all kids to get out of the box, too- but I think school field trips should be to enhance what kids are learning in school. When we went to government related places, our teachers taught us about how bills are put through the state legislature before we went and then we talked about the processes we observed.

Can you tell us more about the project and what is considered a third grade project vs a 7th grade project? This just might be your client's perspective on the project. In terms of the district, the project probably complies with grade level expectations and learning objectives.

I have heard of teachers buying supplies out of their own pocket because budget cuts are preventing schools from buying materials. Perhaps this child's teacher is not willing to dip into his or her own pocket, or has spent too much and can't afford any more. My guess is that teacher's are very in tune to which kids can or cannot afford supplies and which kids have parents who are active in their learning and which kids have parents who can't or won't be involved in their learning. It could be that the project is mandated and the teacher has little control over it?

M