Picking up the pieces - how do we address problems were are facing in education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

The pandemic happened. It sucked.

Trying to blame the fallout on teachers though is misplaced. Your anger towards them is irrational.

I’m not that PP but wow what an on-point example of the gaslighting that PP correctly identified.

It has to be a troll, right?

I hope so. It’s like that PP was trying to prove the other PPs point about gaslighting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

+1

Or you just opt out. I’ve become a huge supporter of vouchers. I solved the issue of the public system being unwilling to educate my disabled child by pulling out of the system entirely and paying an enormous sum for private education. My kid is now doing very well, thanks to the excellent private education that unwound the damage from public. But that’s not possible for so many other disabled kids. Obviously the schools do not care whatsoever about disabled kids, so it’s now time for vouchers as far as I am concerned.

Politically I’ve done a 180 on education. I could not have predicted that given how much of a supporter I used to be of unions and public schools. I used to be anti-voucher, and anti-charter. I now realize I was an idiot to trust the public education system the way I did.

So to answer OP: my personal solution is to politically advocate for vouchers and charters, anything to give parents more choices. I don’t trust the current system at all.

Why are you on this thread if you don't want to fix public schools?

I do want to fix public schools (particularly for disabled kids), and I am working on that by advocating for school choice. As far as I am concerned, pushing for education choice is the only way to fix public education at this point. All of the solutions people have talked about above will fail so long as there is no true parental choice.

I am very confused how you see school choice as the answer when most charters were behind public schools in the DMV area.

DP. The PP didn't mention school closures at all, just discussed how the public system failed her disabled child. Conceivably the parent wasn't referring to school closures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

+1

Or you just opt out. I’ve become a huge supporter of vouchers. I solved the issue of the public system being unwilling to educate my disabled child by pulling out of the system entirely and paying an enormous sum for private education. My kid is now doing very well, thanks to the excellent private education that unwound the damage from public. But that’s not possible for so many other disabled kids. Obviously the schools do not care whatsoever about disabled kids, so it’s now time for vouchers as far as I am concerned.

Politically I’ve done a 180 on education. I could not have predicted that given how much of a supporter I used to be of unions and public schools. I used to be anti-voucher, and anti-charter. I now realize I was an idiot to trust the public education system the way I did.

So to answer OP: my personal solution is to politically advocate for vouchers and charters, anything to give parents more choices. I don’t trust the current system at all.

Why are you on this thread if you don't want to fix public schools?

I do want to fix public schools (particularly for disabled kids), and I am working on that by advocating for school choice. As far as I am concerned, pushing for education choice is the only way to fix public education at this point. All of the solutions people have talked about above will fail so long as there is no true parental choice.

I am very confused how you see school choice as the answer when most charters were behind public schools in the DMV area.

I agree charters aren’t the best or only answer. Frankly many of them did worse, as you correctly observe. What I am advocating for most strongly are vouchers. People need the ability to withdraw out of public education entirely. But I will take any form of school choice at this point, and that includes charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

+1

Or you just opt out. I’ve become a huge supporter of vouchers. I solved the issue of the public system being unwilling to educate my disabled child by pulling out of the system entirely and paying an enormous sum for private education. My kid is now doing very well, thanks to the excellent private education that unwound the damage from public. But that’s not possible for so many other disabled kids. Obviously the schools do not care whatsoever about disabled kids, so it’s now time for vouchers as far as I am concerned.

Politically I’ve done a 180 on education. I could not have predicted that given how much of a supporter I used to be of unions and public schools. I used to be anti-voucher, and anti-charter. I now realize I was an idiot to trust the public education system the way I did.

So to answer OP: my personal solution is to politically advocate for vouchers and charters, anything to give parents more choices. I don’t trust the current system at all.

Why are you on this thread if you don't want to fix public schools?

I do want to fix public schools (particularly for disabled kids), and I am working on that by advocating for school choice. As far as I am concerned, pushing for education choice is the only way to fix public education at this point. All of the solutions people have talked about above will fail so long as there is no true parental choice.

I am very confused how you see school choice as the answer when most charters were behind public schools in the DMV area.

The voucher political hacks will latch onto any issue in education as an excuse to push vouchers/charters. Even if it doesn't make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

The pandemic happened. It sucked.

Trying to blame the fallout on teachers though is misplaced. Your anger towards them is irrational.

No one mentioned teachers. No one blamed teachers.

You must be new here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

The pandemic happened. It sucked.

Trying to blame the fallout on teachers though is misplaced. Your anger towards them is irrational.

I’m not that PP but wow what an on-point example of the gaslighting that PP correctly identified.

That's not "gaslighting" - you better re-read the definition.

You want an "apology"? Schools aren't here to manage your emotional state. If you want to express your irrational anger about the pandemic/schools then go start a new thread. This one is looking for solutions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1 - To rebuild trust, school boards and school districts need to acknowledge they were wrong and made poor decisions. This alone would go a long way to help alleviate problems.

Sure sounds like the PP is blaming schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

The pandemic happened. It sucked.

Trying to blame the fallout on teachers though is misplaced. Your anger towards them is irrational.

I’m not that PP but wow what an on-point example of the gaslighting that PP correctly identified.

That's not "gaslighting" - you better re-read the definition.

You want an "apology"? Schools aren't here to manage your emotional state. If you want to express your irrational anger about the pandemic/schools then go start a new thread. This one is looking for solutions.

Lack of trust =/= anger.

The only person who seems really escalated here is you. And the lack of trust comment that you are reacting to 1) wasn't about teachers, and 2) didn't call for an apology. You seem to be projecting a lot of stuff onto that comment that isn't there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

The pandemic happened. It sucked.

Trying to blame the fallout on teachers though is misplaced. Your anger towards them is irrational.

I’m not that PP but wow what an on-point example of the gaslighting that PP correctly identified.

That's not "gaslighting" - you better re-read the definition.

You want an "apology"? Schools aren't here to manage your emotional state. If you want to express your irrational anger about the pandemic/schools then go start a new thread. This one is looking for solutions.

Clearly the solution is to give families as many ways to opt out of public education as possible since public education has demonstrated that is is uninterested in actually educating children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

+1

Or you just opt out. I’ve become a huge supporter of vouchers. I solved the issue of the public system being unwilling to educate my disabled child by pulling out of the system entirely and paying an enormous sum for private education. My kid is now doing very well, thanks to the excellent private education that unwound the damage from public. But that’s not possible for so many other disabled kids. Obviously the schools do not care whatsoever about disabled kids, so it’s now time for vouchers as far as I am concerned.

Politically I’ve done a 180 on education. I could not have predicted that given how much of a supporter I used to be of unions and public schools. I used to be anti-voucher, and anti-charter. I now realize I was an idiot to trust the public education system the way I did.

So to answer OP: my personal solution is to politically advocate for vouchers and charters, anything to give parents more choices. I don’t trust the current system at all.

Why are you on this thread if you don't want to fix public schools?

I do want to fix public schools (particularly for disabled kids), and I am working on that by advocating for school choice. As far as I am concerned, pushing for education choice is the only way to fix public education at this point. All of the solutions people have talked about above will fail so long as there is no true parental choice.

Because charters are known for being welcoming to disabled students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

The pandemic happened. It sucked.

Trying to blame the fallout on teachers though is misplaced. Your anger towards them is irrational.

No one mentioned teachers. No one blamed teachers.

You must be new here.

In this thread. This thread has not been slamming teachers for school closures, nor are the comments that you are directly referencing. I understand that people have indeed done that, but the only person that seems stuck on that is you in this thread. Perhaps you need to move on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

The pandemic happened. It sucked.

Trying to blame the fallout on teachers though is misplaced. Your anger towards them is irrational.

I’m not that PP but wow what an on-point example of the gaslighting that PP correctly identified.

That's not "gaslighting" - you better re-read the definition.

You want an "apology"? Schools aren't here to manage your emotional state. If you want to express your irrational anger about the pandemic/schools then go start a new thread. This one is looking for solutions.

Clearly the solution is to give families as many ways to opt out of public education as possible since public education has demonstrated that is is uninterested in actually educating children.

What is that way out? Surely you aren't referring to vouchers that are typically targeted towards for profit schools that rely on vouchers. Maybe you expect Catholic schools to quintuple enrollment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

The pandemic happened. It sucked.

Trying to blame the fallout on teachers though is misplaced. Your anger towards them is irrational.

I’m not that PP but wow what an on-point example of the gaslighting that PP correctly identified.

That's not "gaslighting" - you better re-read the definition.

You want an "apology"? Schools aren't here to manage your emotional state. If you want to express your irrational anger about the pandemic/schools then go start a new thread. This one is looking for solutions.

Lack of trust =/= anger.

The only person who seems really escalated here is you. And the lack of trust comment that you are reacting to 1) wasn't about teachers, and 2) didn't call for an apology. You seem to be projecting a lot of stuff onto that comment that isn't there.

If you don't blame schools then why don't you "trust" them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

The pandemic happened. It sucked.

Trying to blame the fallout on teachers though is misplaced. Your anger towards them is irrational.

I’m not that PP but wow what an on-point example of the gaslighting that PP correctly identified.

That's not "gaslighting" - you better re-read the definition.

You want an "apology"? Schools aren't here to manage your emotional state. If you want to express your irrational anger about the pandemic/schools then go start a new thread. This one is looking for solutions.

Clearly the solution is to give families as many ways to opt out of public education as possible since public education has demonstrated that is is uninterested in actually educating children.

No. Defunding public schools is not the answer to fixing public schools.

This thread is about how to fix problems, not how to destroy public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't trust schools any more. That means I don't trust that they will educate my child. Maybe I should never have trusted they would do that. But I also don't trust that they will stay open in the future and not repeat the damage that school closures did to my child and myself.

What does that mean for anything? Well, it matters to how I vote. It matters to whether I give money to PTO. It matters to whether I invest in anything related to the school beyond my own child's individual needs. It matters to whether I support vouchers and charters.

Does any of that matter? I suppose not.

PP, I understand where you are coming from. If you read any explanation of gaslighting, it's obvious that this type of psychological and emotional abuse is rampant in school discussions. It's not about whether the closure decisions were right or wrong - they are history. But it's hard to heal without acknowledging some of the fallout from the pandemic (and school closures). We are told to get therapy, called crazy, told that we are overreacting, and not credible. What happened to our kids was our fault, and if we were better parents, we would not have anxious, depressed, or failing kids. You can't be in a healthy relationship if you are being gaslit, and that's a problem.

The pandemic happened. It sucked.

Trying to blame the fallout on teachers though is misplaced. Your anger towards them is irrational.

No one mentioned teachers. No one blamed teachers.

You must be new here.

In this thread. This thread has not been slamming teachers for school closures, nor are the comments that you are directly referencing. I understand that people have indeed done that, but the only person that seems stuck on that is you in this thread. Perhaps you need to move on?

+1 Some of the proposed ideas directly support teachers, such as reduced administrative burdens and more planning time.