It is now 2010, 2009 is history what will 2010 bring. Right now I am feeling like more of the same thing after reading one of my most popular posts “Teens Consequences for Bad Grades”** from June 2009. Since the report cards for the last semester are just hitting the mailbox, I could easily take that post and re-date it. So I guess I would have to say more of the same thing. The funny part is I “thought” things were getting better for him, but I guess he dug himself into too big of a hole at the beginning of the year. Here I am at the end of another semester with my head in my hands.
At first my husband and I thought he might have some kind of a learning disability. Why would our son be flunking out of high school, so the last few months we had him tested at school and it turns out he really is capable and does not qualify for any special needs. Now we have a kid that is capable and flunking out of school. Did we get phone calls from his teachers; does the school do anything about this? NO! He appears to be one of the kids that are falling through the cracks of our public education system. Granted maybe there is more that I can do, but I don’t think it is acceptable for our system to stand back and allow a teen with parent support (I am talking about real parent support) to be flunk out of school that does not have an apparent learning disability. Our schools are failing our teen’s big time; they are not pro-active.
At the end of last year when he failed two classes I made him go to summer school, amazingly this was not mandatory, I had to request it. I was hoping he would learn, get the message and therefore not want to spend another summer going to school. But I guess the message was not strong enough. Luckily, he did go to summer school and passed both of the courses he needed. I have heard due to budget cuts they may slash the summer school programs for the upcoming summer. An alternative that will not be there if he should fail his academic classes again this year.
Where is our education going? Where are our societies priorities? It appears to me when the bell rings – the teachers are done. We have called a few meetings with the teachers and counselor to see what could be done to get his grades improved. Out of 5 classes, two of his teachers showed up; at another meeting one teacher attended. We sat there with the counselor, reading the notes the teachers had written. The English teacher coaches Girl’s Tennis after school therefore she could not make it. Uhhh, she couldn’t take 15 minutes to meet with the parents of one of her student’s that is failing her English class? I have tried contacting her and she is very unavailable. What is her priority, Girl’s Tennis or a student that is failing her English class? The administration seems to be fine with it; in my mind I am thinking what message is the student getting from the school?
Our education system is severely broken. No Child Left Behind, what happened with that? The teachers are fearful of the testing, so most of them are excelling in how to fill in the bubble. The bubble has burst and our teens are paying for it. Today I read in the paper that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has a 50% dropout rate and shows no signs of improving. They are now converting 30% of LAUSD to charter schools. Whatever I am all for whatever it takes to shake up this educational nightmare we have created.
Where does all this put me now? Once again trying to come up with consequences and figure out how I am going to motivate my son in an education system that is not for the betterment of our children, but for all the administrators that are fearful of loosing their jobs if any real changes are made. What do we get; same – old same – old.
Hind site is always 20-20, if I had it to do all over again and I could afford it, I would put my kids in private school.
**Everyone that has commented on my post Teens Consequences for Bad Grades thanks so much for your input as you can see I am still in the game!
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When I wrote this blog post I expected to get comments from readers that would tell me how hard our teachers are working for such little pay and that I was an ungrateful parent. Well I do believe our teachers do work hard for little pay, but I am also disgusted with the quality of education our children of all ages are receiving. The answer really is not more money, more homework it is treating each child as an individual and teaching to their needs. I agree with you Beth with the square peg in a round hole. My observation, there may be 5-10% of high performing kids that the schools cater to. Those kids would do well not matter where they went to school. Let’s start looking at the other 90% and if we can reach 50% of them then we have a success story. Right now I feel badly for our kids that are struggling in the school system trying to make sense of their future. Most of these kids that are doing poorly in school really don’t want to do poorly and once again Beth you may be right when you talk about the mental health issues that many teens are suffering from. Currently this is an issue for my younger (and last of three son’s).
What are we going to do? Public education and literacy are the keys to the success of our nation.
As someone who has worked in the public education system for almost 10 years, I can tell you with certainty that all the schools care about is making their test scores so they can get a good API number. If your kid struggles, they will kick him to the curb so they can concentrate on those kids who they think will keep their test scores high. There is no room for our kids in public schools – square pegs that they keep trying to pound into those round holes. Why do you think there is so much more mental illness in kids these days? In my opinion, much of it is caused by their school experiences, where they are caught up in a one size fits all curriculum, with an over emphasis on standardized testing, where they are expected to become little drones who do not question. For some of them, the stultifying drudgery and the constant pressure to fit in, the bullying, and the mind-numbing and meaningless homework is too much for them. They cannot take it and they do “go mad.”
I assume this post is refering to your younger son. If he is old enough, and you think he can pass it, let him take the CHSPE and get a job. Working at McDonald’s is probably more intellectually satisfying than attending public high school if you are a “square peg.” You know my number – call me if you want any info on the CHSPE.
Good luck – I agree with everything you said in your post, and more.
The school my older son is going to is not economically feasible for us at this time. He only needed a few sporadic units to graduate since he was at a year around school before. We are paying almost $200 a day for 3 hours of instruction. He may end up going there if it looks like he has to make up some units. It is interesting that you are at a Charter School and I just read an article about Charter Schools in LA. I am not putting all the blame on the school; I know so much depends on the kids, but I think the schools need to be held accountable too.
That is so aggrevating. To have parents that want to get to the bottom of the problem and help their child succeed and then to not get the teachers and school on-board. Something is wrong there. Hearing your story makes me all kinds of thankful for my teens high school – it is a charter so perhaps there is more incentive to listen to the parents. If there is anyway you could have this son go to the same school as your older son would that help?
Even though this is in the state of Washington, I think he makes good points about education overall in this country. If you don’t view the entire video watch the last 60 seconds.
Wow, it feels like you can just read my mind! I actually have a meeting set up this week with the school concerning my daughter and her failing grades. She has just finished being tested for everything under the sun and it’s time to see where it got us. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t qualify for special ed, but we are hoping she qualifies for special services with her history. We’ll see who shows up for our meeting. It is supposed to be her principal, counselor, teachers and the school psychologists. Wish us luck…she needs so much help I hope we can get it for her.