Anyone else feel like school fundamentally doesn’t work?

[Anonymous]

I have no idea what you are talking about. My kids (8 and 10) miss 1-2 days a year. Between holidays, breaks, and early release days my kids rarely have 5 full length days in their NoVa public school.

[Anonymous]

I am very happy with our schools. But, we supplement with other things- museums, extracurriculars in music and art, travel, etc. One had a tutor for LDs when younger.

[Anonymous]

Unlike the hygiene superstars on this thread, my kids were sick all the time in preschool and kindergarten. Mostly colds, but one kid got strep 5 times in kindergarten. Later figured out his bestie in the class was a silent carrier and the teacher told me at some point that no one was washing the tables in the classroom. It got much better after K and I look at it as building immunities. I don’t think more breaks would help bc people always go away or at least get out of the house, so the kids pick up airport or indoor playspace germs anyway. I think you have to just suffer through it in the early years.

[Anonymous]

Good thing you didn’t live in the days of MMR and Chickenpox!

[Anonymous]

I’m 50 - I did get chickenpox, as did all my friends at the pox party our moms put together bc it was so much safer to get it when we were little than get it as adults. But I did get shingles a couple years ago, I’m very grateful my kids won’t have to worry about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it doesn’t work but for very different reasons than what you’re stating. I think far too much time is lost to transitions and having every kid in the class wait for the very slowest or worst behaved kid. My DD could accomplish everything she does at school with two mornings of 3 hours’ of work. We send her to socialize and have fun opportunities, like learning new sports in PE and doing art projects that we wouldn’t be able to help with.

And she’s at a fancy private school.

My public elementary in the 80s worked far better than anything I’ve seen lately. Unfortunately I think it’s because it had standalone ESL classes, standalone special education classrooms, and leveled classes for reading and math plus entire semesters of pull-out work for gifted kids. Modern schools cannot do all of that without pushback from parents and legal issues. Nevermind that the 80s were probably the last years of truly professional, trained teachers. Many people who would have gone into education when I was growing up have been exposed to far more opportunity than there was back then, and they’re making other career choices. With occasional exceptions, my DD’s teachers have been not-bright and not talented at the art of teaching children or classroom management.

I agree with a lot of this-- widespread failures around classroom management make me so angry.

But I gotta push back against "the 80s were probably the last years of truly professional, trained teachers."

In the 80s, my teachers were the people who engendered the phrase "those who can't do, teach." The old fat guys teaching health and science between football practices. The mean old spinsters. The airheads whose MRS degrees didn't work out. They might have seemed respect-worthy to me at the time, but I was a kid, and wtf did I know? My parents gritted their teeth to present a respectful front to those idiots. My kid has way better teachers-- people with passion, who like kids, who pursue more information about their profession, etc. Sure, they're not all great. A couple have been actively terrible. But overall, as a profession, the quality has definitely increased between then and now. (And my kid goes to a DCPS!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what you are talking about. My kids (8 and 10) miss 1-2 days a year. Between holidays, breaks, and early release days my kids rarely have 5 full length days in their NoVa public school.

Mine don't miss much time either, but I do remember feeling like it was never-fcuking-ending when they were younger.

Chin up, OP, this won't last!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many trolls on DCUM these days.

There's the thread on the College Forum about whether kids will have a normal college experience, given current politics. There's a thread about Elon turning off Teslas remotely.

And then there's you, generalizing your kids' sickness in to a screed about the uselessness of schools.

My kids are in high school and college, and at no point, even in daycare, were they, or any other kid I know (and I know so many after 20 years of parenting), constantly sick. And one of my kids is immuno-depressed!!!!!!

You need to upgrade your family's hygiene routine, OP.
And if it doesn't get better, ask their ped about immune issues. They could have an autoimmune disease you don't know about if they're constantly sick. THat is not a. normal state of affairs.

Also, look into tutoring and learning disorders. A neurotypical child should be able to catch up academically in between bouts of illness. My kid who isn't immuno-depressed has ADHD/ASD/low processing speed, and he's in college now, after graduating with a stellar GPA. It's possible to be successful in school, even with special needs.

Schools will always be useful. What needs to change is YOUR attitude.

To answer your actual question, I would have year-round school: a shorter summer break to eliminate summer brain drain, and larger breaks at other times to allow kids to de-stress at multiple points in the year. It would be great for tourism as well: you could travel in every season (if funds and PTO allow), instead of restricting your big vacation to the dog days of summer. For working parents, it would be easier to schedule camps at 4 points in the year, instead of stringing together care for a huge summer break.

I haven’t commented on this thread. But we are sick at least 1-2 weeks a month. And I have 3 kids so it feels continuous. The year is better than last year. We are very healthy, eat very well, wash our hands well. I too don’t remember being sick like this when I was a kid. No clue why? Is it from not immunity due to vaccines? Post Covid issues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m all for year-round school, with 2-3 week breaks throughout the year rather than a long summer break.

+1

Same! Please year round school. I like to take a vacation in October/nov and Jan/feb. don’t want to travel anywhere in the heat of summer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it doesn’t work but for very different reasons than what you’re stating. I think far too much time is lost to transitions and having every kid in the class wait for the very slowest or worst behaved kid. My DD could accomplish everything she does at school with two mornings of 3 hours’ of work. We send her to socialize and have fun opportunities, like learning new sports in PE and doing art projects that we wouldn’t be able to help with.

And she’s at a fancy private school.

My public elementary in the 80s worked far better than anything I’ve seen lately. Unfortunately I think it’s because it had standalone ESL classes, standalone special education classrooms, and leveled classes for reading and math plus entire semesters of pull-out work for gifted kids. Modern schools cannot do all of that without pushback from parents and legal issues. Nevermind that the 80s were probably the last years of truly professional, trained teachers. Many people who would have gone into education when I was growing up have been exposed to far more opportunity than there was back then, and they’re making other career choices. With occasional exceptions, my DD’s teachers have been not-bright and not talented at the art of teaching children or classroom management.

I agree with this and I will add that there is so much focus on data now that is forced upon teachers who don’t get a ton of training in interpreting and using data so it’s very overwhelming at times and it takes away from other things that could be done to improve conditions in the classroom. Another thing I’ve noticed which is not popular to say is that parents are not learning English anymore and often come from a background where they have very little education themselves. I grew up in a working class town that had a lot of refugees and immigrants, but within a few years, they all spoke English and could help their kids with school if they needed it. Parents at my school have been here for 20 years and can’t even have a basic conversation in English.

[Anonymous]

Why is that? Unless they take English classes, where would they learn English? My students’ parents work multiple jobs and don’t have much opportunity to learn English. Life is expensive and basic needs come first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is that? Unless they take English classes, where would they learn English? My students’ parents work multiple jobs and don’t have much opportunity to learn English. Life is expensive and basic needs come first.

That’s true for some of my students parents, but there are others who don’t work at all and they don’t need to learn English because they live in neighborhoods where almost everyone speaks their language, schools provide interpreters for everything so there’s no real incentiveI think communication is a basic need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is that? Unless they take English classes, where would they learn English? My students’ parents work multiple jobs and don’t have much opportunity to learn English. Life is expensive and basic needs come first.

The difference is that there is critical mass among immigrants and they don’t need to learn English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is that? Unless they take English classes, where would they learn English? My students’ parents work multiple jobs and don’t have much opportunity to learn English. Life is expensive and basic needs come first.

This is a very small reason. There are much bigger reasons why some immigrants find English hard or the language of their new country. Some of the reason, few can even imagine.
I am the immigrant that worked multiple jobs with no time for ESOL classes. I learned English easily and Spanish working alongside Latinos.
There is something in my background that makes a new language and doing well in school a non-issue. Same for my countrymen.
I asked an acquaintance from Brazil if she spoke Spanish after being in US so long. She doesn't and I was very surprised. It is nothing for her to learn it, while Spanish is like Mandarin to me. Her co-workers were also Spanish speakers.
I know several people who know only ca 100 words after living in US for 30 years. How come? ASD, ADHD or something else. Their grandchild growing up in Spanish speaking household doesn't speak Spanish. It takes effort not to know Spanish after being raised by grandparents who speak Spanish and only Spanish. It has to be her brain not braining.
After 4 weeks in Russian hospital in the 80s, I was already picking up sentences at age 6. And Russian is like Japanese to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many trolls on DCUM these days.

There's the thread on the College Forum about whether kids will have a normal college experience, given current politics. There's a thread about Elon turning off Teslas remotely.

And then there's you, generalizing your kids' sickness in to a screed about the uselessness of schools.

My kids are in high school and college, and at no point, even in daycare, were they, or any other kid I know (and I know so many after 20 years of parenting), constantly sick. And one of my kids is immuno-depressed!!!!!!

You need to upgrade your family's hygiene routine, OP.
And if it doesn't get better, ask their ped about immune issues. They could have an autoimmune disease you don't know about if they're constantly sick. THat is not a. normal state of affairs.

Also, look into tutoring and learning disorders. A neurotypical child should be able to catch up academically in between bouts of illness. My kid who isn't immuno-depressed has ADHD/ASD/low processing speed, and he's in college now, after graduating with a stellar GPA. It's possible to be successful in school, even with special needs.

Schools will always be useful. What needs to change is YOUR attitude.

To answer your actual question, I would have year-round school: a shorter summer break to eliminate summer brain drain, and larger breaks at other times to allow kids to de-stress at multiple points in the year. It would be great for tourism as well: you could travel in every season (if funds and PTO allow), instead of restricting your big vacation to the dog days of summer. For working parents, it would be easier to schedule camps at 4 points in the year, instead of stringing together care for a huge summer break.

I haven’t commented on this thread. But we are sick at least 1-2 weeks a month. And I have 3 kids so it feels continuous. The year is better than last year. We are very healthy, eat very well, wash our hands well. I too don’t remember being sick like this when I was a kid. No clue why? Is it from not immunity due to vaccines? Post Covid issues?

1-2 WEEKS each month? Please tell me you mean days.

My 1st and 4th grader have only been sick 2 days this entire school year. And they are far from conscientious about hand-washing. I have to nag them constantly.