Public School FAIL: Video Clip That Will Shock, Sadden You
by Bob EwingOn June 5, Andrew Coulson posted a disturbing graph at Big Government:
He showed that public education costs are skyrocketing while student achievement remains flat. In another graph in the same post, he showed that the public school bureaucracy is growing TEN times as fast as the student body.
The bottom line: The growth and cost of the education establishment is out of control, while the quality of public education is in desperate need of improvement.
Regarding the latter, just how bad can things be? Check out this brief video clip:
“She went to the public school. They taught her nothing but the ABCs the entire year,” says the frustrated father to a news reporter. Then, looking down at his daughter: “Would you like to tell [the reporter] what letter you ended up with at the end of the year?”
The little girl responds: “W”
W.
The footage, just released online, was captured about 10 years ago from a local TV station in Ohio. The Institute for Justice was in the midst of a heated school choice lawsuit based out of Cleveland. In 2000, while the suit was in full swing, the Cleveland public schools failed all 27 state standards for student performance. The high school graduation rate was below 50 percent.
Here’s the kicker: Only 1 in 14 students entrusted to the Cleveland public schools graduated on time reading and performing math at grade level.
The school choice program was implemented to give the kids a better chance. And soon after, the powerful teachers unions and their allies had filed suit against the program. At one point they argued that parents are “inconsequential conduits” channeling money away from public schools. IJ had stepped in to defend to the families, and took their fight all the way to the Supreme Court.
And we won.
As I posted earlier, IJ will return to the Supreme Court next term to fight once again for school choice.
Simply put, every child deserves a quality education. And every parent deserves the freedom to choose the school that best meets their needs.
Support school choice efforts in your area. Because the alphabet doesn’t end in W.
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132 Comments
A HA! This little girl is an Obama DNC plant!! Notice how she ends with the letter "W" which means it's all George Bush's fault…..Bwah ha ha ha.
You know what would really make everything all better? A $500 million dollar school. Yup, who needs to actually learn anything when you can "count the ABC's" with polished oak desks… sigh…
Both of my children learned their ABC's and were printing simple words, as well as their names, when they were three. They both were reading and printing simple sentances at four. All of their classmates in kindergarden were equally proficient. Why are the parents of so many children counting on "the school system" to teach their children tne basics? It hasn't worked for decades.
My oldest son knew his alphabet at 17 month's, and I've got the video to prove it. He was reading books before he went to kindergarten. Today, children are starved for knowledge, and public schools don't provide a quality education. Home school, or if you can afford it, private schools are the way to go. My friend is sending her son to a private kindergarten this week………total cost for the year, $2000…………….ouch. I'm glad my kids are all grown up.
Home School your Children if you REALLY want them to be educated.
The Department of Education & Public School is a jobs program for union goons with a political agenda to brainwash your kids.
Opt out.
And palm trees! It has the loveliest palm trees! Who needs an actual education when you have an enormous new school with PALM TREES out front!
Two words: HOME SCHOOL
Laziness and the desire to "keep up with the Joneses".
The reason why we keep pouring money into public schools with no impact on student achievement is because the amount of money teachers earn, the quality of the school building, and even the quality of the education the students receive in the classroom has little to do with academic achievement.
It all boils down to two things: 1) natural ability and 2) parental involvement. If you've got a school full of students with room-temperature IQs and whose parents don't care, no amount of funding is going to have any positive effect.
Love it! Too awesome!
That is an excellent point. Why have so many parents handed over the reigns of raising their children. All too often, daycares and schools are left the task of completely rearing and educating children. Some of the blame does lie with the parents. And parents who leave the task of raising and teaching their children to others should not complain with said children learn things they dont agree with.
You forgot #3.
The child's attitude and willingness to learn.
Where are our progressive "friends" to argue this?
Liberals ALWAYS scamper to hide like cockroaches when facts, data, and logic is invoked. All they have is raw negative emotion. Just piss and hate, trademarks of leftist philosophy.
My last two kids went to a charter school. The state (California) first tried to put their school out of business and then switched to just trying to turn them into a public school clone. (They banned the use of Saxon math–which I loved–and made them use the California State approved math books, which are confusing at best and full of errors.) But I know my kids got a better education than they would have if we'd have stayed in the school district, but not as good as if the State had allowed the Charter School more autonomy.
I am a substitute teacher and I know that 75% of the time in the classroom is spent on discipline–"please be quiet. Please stop hitting your neighbor. Don't do that. Don't do THAT either"–and 25% of the time is spent on actual instruction.
I heard on KFI's John and Ken yesterday that the L.A. School district has built three new schools for a combined total of about one billion dollars. And did I mention the schools weren't needed?
"The reason why…"
Is that most want something for "free" or will take something for "free".
Like the income tax the school tax hits the wealthy the hardest.
The non payers will always vote for the other guy to pay the bill.
The solution is to rent and send your kids to private school. Avoid having to pay taxes for public school union thugs who care only about tenure and viagra, and send your kids to a place where the children come first and the teachers are accountable for their performance.
Problem solved, the unions will starve and your kids will be the wiser for it.
The only way to fix the school problem is to disband the unions and return control back to the parents at the local level!!! Until then home school them.
Between 1961 and 2005 real spending on tuition for primary and secondary public schools increased 247% (according to the Department of Education). You see what we got for it? Only 47% of black male children are expected to graduate on time or at all from high school. Our literacy rate is lower than that of the banana republic of Costa Rica. Our graduation rate is now the lowest it has ever been.
Public education is a failed experiment because government operates it in a vacuum where accountability is not allowed to be applied to the results.
Accountability requires context to be applied and the context for accountability is the comparison of the results of all means and methods – real competition (test versus control). Real competition is the only thing that will allow public education to actually work. This means we have to create an affordable private-pay system where accountability is applied on a peer-to-peer basis for all courses, all teachers, all grades, all schools and all outcomes (as these are objectively measured and not subjectively justified). There is only one system proposal available to us today that offers this approach and allows everyone to access the educational programs they desire and this isn't it.
You want your kid to go to medical school and you pay $1,500 a year to get it done? This way won't get you there.
You want an environment where schools fight for your kids to come there? This way won't get you there.
You want real accountability for teachers, administrators and all outcomes that cannot be corrupted by the teacher's unions and government? This way won't get you there.
We aren't just talking about the future of our children here people. Who do you think is going to have to work to create the economic growth that will support your future retirement? That's right, if you don't fix it now, get used to working until the day you drop dead.
You do have a choice: you can have the argument you are having now or you can have a new structure for public education that structurally eliminates these problems from ever being able to pop up again.
Choose.
Gotta be Bush's fault somehow.
Public school teachers and administrators should be imprisoned over their egregious inexcusable incompetence. These leftwing pigs aren't fit to train a dog let alone educate children.
Democrats: FAIL
The problem with Schools are the Employees, not the kids.
Unions are the cause of the problem.
The solution is to do away with the Union, and then fire most of the Staff.
It is why the Public at large does not have a problem with the United States Military, and does seem to have a problem with all other Government Employees…… the Military is Non-Union.
"Improve" public education? Flush it. Vouchers now, vouchers everywhere, and take the money right straight out of the public schools.
Everyone knows the solution to this problem is to redefine the alphabet. Do we actually need X,Y and Z? Anyone see the movie Idiocracy? This is exactly what's happening except in reality it's a deliberately orchestrated plan by the progressive elements of our society. The progressives know that you cannot easily control a well educated free thinking population. Dumb down society and you can easily control them.
Actually one of the major reasons for the recent decline in academic achievement is No Child Left Behind. Schools are given financial incentive to prepare students for the government tests instead of providing a complete education. Combine this with the federal and state mandated non-core portions of the curriculum and you have a recipe for disaster.
The grade school my 5th grader attends devotes a HUGE amount of time each year to teaching moral values instead of academic lessons. A Character Counts program? Really? How about a "Johnny learns to read" program?
All of the above is On Top of what you've already mentioned.
Proof parents need to get involved with teaching their children. Starting at age 3 or 4.
Hey you're not allowed to make the kids memorize, do paperwork, or practice work anymore. It has to be all group discussion and collaborative learning so the kids can learn 'consensus' building. It's all communist bullshit.
Bakagami, Most don't want to hear the true answer to your question, "Why have so many
parents handed over the reigns of raising their children."
W O M E N cannot 'bring home the bacon AND fry it up in the pan". It was a myth that was sold
to America by greedy politicians and societal planners who realized the economic potential of
increasing the US workforce by 35-40%. And the country as a whole bought it. Now we pay
the price of the economic BOOM. If we go into a old style Great depression I predict a backlash.
.
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You are so right. I entered first grade reading "Rikki Tikki Tavi" by Kipling! By second grade, I had read the "Flicka" series, ending with "Green Grass of Wyoming." My aunt asked me what I thought of the romantic parts – I told her I skipped those! Hey, I was seven!
I learned to read because I was read to and books were plentiful at my house. My grandkids all read because their parents don't have TV!
Amen! I've often said women's lib did nothing for me except add an extra 10 hours of work to my day! Instead of two jobs, wife and mother, I now have three!
I'm starting to become convinced that the Left does this on purpose, because if kids are properly educated, then they will be too intelligent to believe in the Left's idiot ideology. There's simply no other way to explain their blatant refusal to change such an obviously failing system.
I learned to read when I was three. Thank God. it meant I got enough of an education from books that I learned how to think and didn't fall for the drivel.
Maj Gen Jerry R Curry(Ret.) : Obama- America Is Too Important To Be Played With By Anybody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8-FygIOsRo
Get rid of the teacher's unions and install a program that will reward those who do a great job and get rid of those who do not perform.
one word: PRIVATIZE
All this BS about WHY, WHY, WHY……WHAT has caused our wonderful country to
fall SO far, SO fast???
Get far enough away from the problem that you can see the big picture, do the damn
math (what is it with women & math) and realize 65 or 70% of women who work
ARE NOT MAKING ONE THIN DIME AT THEIR JOBS.
They are merely trading off one task (motherhood) for another task (job). Yeah, yeah,
I know womens lib and all that rot.
They are trading a pair of mommy jeans for a tailored suit.
They are trading a ten year old hoopdy for a slick new minivan.
They are trading a softball game with their children for a trip to the damn mall to buy, buy,
buy.
Do the kids know the difference? Hell NO, kids will be happy doing whatever you
teach them to be happy doing. And all this shopping generation is gonna be mighty un-
happy campers if we do have a prolonged depression.
I predict many suicides when this current crop of teenagers reaches 30-something.
But now days we actually have families bringing in home-planners who make their living
teaching folks how to fit everything into their day. What a damn joke. You're trying to do
too much stuff, that's why you can't fit it all in.
Sorry Cardilover, I wasn't going off on YOU specifically. If memory serves you and I have
had this discussion at least once before.
.
"I predict many suicides when this current crop of teenagers reaches 30-something." Your a joke.
Your more than welcome to keep your kids out of public schools. I'm sure it would be much easier on the teachers if your children weren't there.
Gotta pay off the unions and destroy wealth
I agree that school costs are out of control, but I don't necessarily believe the problem of low student achievement/a high dropout rate is due solely to teachers and schools.
I came up through public schools (well funded but lightly regarded) and worked as a mentor for troubled kids for two years while I was an undergrad and in my experience the worst problem in school was kids coming unprepared, undisciplined and without the right attitude towards education (this problem was especially acute in the black community).
So yes, I'll all for school reform, school choice and home schooling, but I'm also for more parents sitting with their kids and making sure they understood the lesson plan and got the homework done and letting their kids know how important education is.
Aye and agreed. It's a parents job to educate their children. And for all those who believe that both parents need to work, I suggest they re-prioritize their lives. Their kids are more important than whatever additional "buying power" they get from that second income.
Actually, I agree. I weep for this generation. How are they going to cope with disappointment an failure when they have never been allowed to experience it? The "real" world is cruel and out there, it is survival of the fittest. Sadly, most of these kids won't be able to cut it.
Public Schools are fantastic if you want your children to politically programed by left wing Progressives. This isn't new,when my kids came home from school in the 80s I'd ask them what they learned and when they told me what they were taught in history/social studies I was flabbergasted . I had more than one run in with teachers who were doing nothing more than feeding my kids left wing propaganda. It was called "The dumbing down of America" back then. If that was their agenda back then I'd have to give the Teachers an "A+".
Yep, we have had this conversation before! I have no excuse except that I was young and dumb and fell for the women's lib mantra. It was one line in a novel that hooked me. It was from "The Women's Room" and it was something about "why, when the whole family is sick, is it always me that has to clean the toilets?" Now, I was already working when I read this and I was making less an hour than the young boy they brought in on the PM shift, doing the same job (even taking into account shift differential – his salary was still higher than mine) and I was looking for a fight!
But it was my own mistakes and missteps that led to me having to work in the first place – I'm all grown up now!
"Everybody plays, everybody wins."
That's what I was taught in school, as far as grades went. And yet we continue to have sports teams….
Competition is life. My goal is not to get an A on that job interview–it's to beat the other applicants to the finish line. School does not teach that.
Mom and Dad need to get off their B*tts and start taking an interest in what is going on EVERYDAY with their daughter and her education, not just after a year of their daughters life has been wasted.
This clip points out how lazy and uncaring Dad is, as well as how hopelessly incompetent the teachers at that school are.
This is precisely why I recommend, to anyone that will listen to me a top notch Home School education.
Kudos to the Institute of Justice for fighting the unions on school reform and freedom in Cleveland.
MYTH: there is a correlation between SPENDING on education and the QUALITY of education. There isn't any!
Want proof?
Look at california. Even though the state has been bankrupt by the tax-and-spend death-spiral policies of the lunatic-left d-crat socialists that control the legislature, california spends MORE THAN ANY OTHER STATE ON EDUCATION (no matter how you count the spending: per student, per school, etc).
So is california education the BEST?
FACT: California ranks as the SECOND WORST STATE in education based on every test!
Just chalk up this matter as another one of the many, many lies, distortions, half-truths and propaganda that the teacher's union and their pals in the socialist media throw out to an uninformed public.
Me too Cardilover, I kinda bought into the con…..for a few years, but it was
the math, that damn math that I just couldn't ignore by the time I reached 25.
It took a few years after that to back out of all the STUFF we were on the
hook for, but once I had my eye on that goal I never took it off.
There were many times I felt weird when folks asked "what do you do" ?
That was waaaay before Dr Laura, or I would have used her answer, ……….
I AM MY KIDS MOM………. That's one of the few things she said I ever admired.
Frankly I don't remember what my standard answer was. But I DO remember
getting PO'd at their response when I answered.
Oh well, as you said we're all grown up now, and we'll 'cowboy up' and deal
with the lives WE made for ourselves. It's what conservatives DO!:-)
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Progressives can't be having our children become more enlightened than they themselves are.
What's also funny is most of the progressive EU governments have abandoned the US style of education over 20 years ago. They use voucher or other forms of parent choice. Sweden, for example, has a voucher system and offer parent choice. If the kid does poorly, the parent can move the kid. The schools have to compete and so they do better. Sweden had our system in the 1990s and had the same massive spendatures with the same abysmal results.
The fact is US progressives are clearly about 20 years behind EU progressives. EU progressives are abandoning a lot of the things US progressives are pushing today. They KNOW they don't work.
Women and Men can bring home the bacon and fry it up in the pan however it takes great personal sacrifice when raising children. The bigger myth that was sold was that one could have all the benefits and none of the sacrifice. I was a single father raising two children and know the sacrifice that is required of bringing home a check, making the meals, cleaning the home, teaching the children, driving to activities, etc. The sacrifices made were worth it!!!!!!! However they are long term satisfaction which is not seen until much later while today's society is more interested in me, me, me and no responsibility.
As a 30 year veteran teacher, I have witnessed the decline of the American Public School System. There are many reasons for this. While there are many things that prevent quality education from happening in our public schools, the most destructive have been Progressive entrenchment in university education departments and accompanying educational changes (aka Bill Ayers), bureaucratization of education at the state and federal levels, the culture of victimization that permeates society, parents who resist both educational rigor and personal accountability for their children, administrators who do not take the necessary measures to fire poor performing teachers, and teachers unions that care more about promoting a social/political agenda than student achievement.
Please remember that there are MANY great teachers who abhor slacking/ineffective colleagues, the NEA/AFT, and poor performing schools. We struggle every day to provide a rigorous, relevant, and rewarding educational experience for our students against forces that we have little control over.
"…..weep for this generation" Me too Caddy, I have three beautiful grand-
daughters being raised to be 'conspicuous consumers' and it breaks my
heart. If this country goes into the 30 year slide I believe we're headed I
truly do not believe my 15 y o GD will know what to do with herself.
She is a small town kid that lives 60 miles from the nearest mall, but that IS
all she and her friends talk about. I think it was those videos and Disney
Channel shows they watched that put that crap in their heads. Mary Kate
and Ashley, where are they NOW? And where are the kids that grew up
watching that drivel? ……….. OK, stick a sock in my mouth so I'll shut up!
.
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Absolutely! At least my daughters got the message. And their kids are better for it!
Ain't that the truth! Good for you, sir!
You Sir are a Hero……..how many other men did you know that were living the same
life as you? Most won't even try to do what you did. They have been raised to believe
they can't.
.
well come on,……..lets be reasonable
so they left out,……..XYZ,….big deal
27 letters and they left out three,………
give this little girl a test on the alphabet and,…
she will get 23 out of 27,……
that's a 90,..an A-,…….
now do ya see how public education works,……….
besides it was time for vacation.
Absolutely!
"At least my daughters got the message", Well congrats on that, I'm sure
your influence played no small part in their enlightenment.
.
Wow. That makes me sad for the kids and grateful for the private school education I got when I was a kid. It's still possible to fix this. I agree with starving the union school thugs and "teachers" and getting private education anywhere else. Too bad Obama's economy makes this even harder for families with children.
Although it gets a little tough when that "one" income loses their job…
Regardless, I do still agree with you very much.
I still choose "Home School" over buying power every day.
Yet if the public education system fails to teach children properly, they work it into an argument of needing more funding. Imagine that; they screw up, and get paid for it. It would be a joke if it wasn't for the stupidity and evil of it all.
"Every child deserves a quality education." Be careful when you use the word "quality". In Montana, quality turned into a dollar amount and the teacher's union used it to get more money.
THEY spend $578 million on a new school while asking the kids to bring their own toilet paper. There seems to be noone in control here. . . or the people in control are raking buck for themselves.
Not sure "impolite" is the correct description, photons. How else do you
make conversation with a new acquaintance? Oh well, women, or just
people in general are much more open now, and freely talk about their
lives with folks they have only recently met. Besides, NOW it is consid-
ered quite favorable to be raising one's own children, rather than farming
the job out to assorted and sundry nannies, babysitters, and housekeepers.
The worm turns. :- )
.
Colson is just putting the 'Big' in Big Education.
At the risk of sounding like a know-it-all, it's actually 23 out of 26 letters, so that's about 88.5%. B+.
Your sarcasm still wins though.
Appreciate the sentiment however I am just a Dad. I have known several families with couples, men and women that were more interested in their children's needs than their own wants.
CP7768 – You couldn't be more wrong. I know many older teens who are basket cases who can't take care of themselves whose parents shielded them from all things. Now they are just attitude-y brats who sit around their parents' basements smoking dope and eating junk food all night and sleeping in until 2pm. I see their friends who are now going to college and/or working, chiding them on Facebook, telling them "you have way too much time on your hands, man." It is truly pathetic.
Part of the Plan
The Democrats / Marxist / Socialist need dumb "Sheeple" to control ..
Just look at Cuba ,Venezuela and soon to be Europe…..And last but not least USA.
/spit !
I completely agree. Why would someone keep their child in this situation for an entire school year?
I think you chose the correct word, lazy…people are lazy. I know there are good public schools out there because my son goes to one (we live in small southern suburbia). My husband and I are very aware of what is happening in our son's school and classes. We are BOTH involved with his education. But this is a priority for us, our family.
No matter where a child goes to school (public/private), parents have to want to be involved and to be aware. Instead, I think it is much easier for many to leave their children's education to "others" and then complain when those "others" fail.
Lazy is absolutely the correct word.
"Public education is a failed experiment because government operates it in a vacuum where accountability is not allowed to be applied to the results. "
Failure in the eyes of those who believe that education should lead to an informed, thoughtful, competent citizen. However, public education has been hugely successful at mass-producing voters that are euphemistically referred to as clients of the state. It has produced a critical mass of looters and takers.
Every election, every office, every primary is important. Another misstep and we all work for Barry.
I gather the Regime is not your friend, comrade. We can improve this. Now sing The Internationale along with Comrade Barry Obamalev and all will be forgiven.
Whose fault is that? The school or the parent? According to your argument, the answer is obvious, "whose parents shielded them from all things."
Whose fault is that? The television or the parents who turn on that television?
I'm sure the teachers loved you. That's a great lesson to teach your child: just angrily confront the teachers whom you don't agree with instead of taking the time to supplement your child's education and letting them decide what to believe. I'm sure your kid is a real shining star because of you.
CP7768 – here is the comment to which I was responding:
"I predict many suicides when this current crop of teenagers reaches 30-something." Your a joke.
Did you not call the commenter a joke for predicting suicides? I was simply saying that they can definitely be expected – I know of a few attempts amongst these kids.
BTW when you want to contract "you are" you spell it "you're" not "your". And calling someone a loser is not intelligent in a debate.
move on kid, you don't even understand the conversation and I'm fresh
outta crayons and poster board!
.
What utter BS!
Did Andrew Coulson even go to school? His graph shows that costs rise from $40,000 to $150,000 for 13 years of education over a 36 year period! That's LESS than the rate of INFLATION!
And still only $11,500/child/year (although in CA my state its still only $7,500/child/yr)
What was the "Parent" in the video doing for the year? Apparently not parenting.
There are many problems with Public Education, but over-funding isn't one of them.
When I started Catholic School in 1948 I knew my A,B,C's and could count to 100 in both French and English, I could speak French better than English of course my Mother stayed home and my Father went to work, maybe this little girl's School spent a long time on the O's (for Obama) it was probable really hard to convince the children that he is a good President.
Are the Kids required to bring toilet paper for the teachers also? They really should, after all the sh*t that comes out of both ends.
The one thing that really annoys me is when a childs asks a question and he or she gets the reply "Because", I just want to reach out and bitch slap the parent.
You cannot control an educated person.
A lot of families don't have a dad and a lot of moms are in the bars spending the old welfare check.
An awful lot of electoral votes in California, not to worry the big O will bail them out.
Sorry,……….I went to the same school as that little girl
You poor thing. You want a hug?
As a public school graduate (in a non-union state), I agree with that 100%.
Parental involvement is key. The kids that did better had parents who cared. The kids that failed were kids with family situations (dad's in jail, mom's on crack, or dad's dead, mom works three jobs) that prevented involvement. Or the kids didn't care, but that's fixed with parental involvement + a hiding every now and then.
Here's a database of Illinois public K-12 teacher and administrator salaries, updated as of the last school year.
Illinois Teacher & Administrator Salary Database
The PE teacher at the local elementary school now makes over $130k/yr (and his wife makes over $100,000). He is out the door most day before the end of school (2:55 pm) because he almost always has student teachers helping him. He does private tennis coaching at the local country club after that.
And this is 9 1/2 months a year.
For an elementary school PE teacher.
When he retires in several years, there probably will be over 500 applicants for his job.
Oh BTW the union says they aren't paid enough.
Union teachers are gangsters
I'm glad I have you as such an authoritative source on all things grammar and debate. I am learning so much. Of course suicides can be expected, they are always going to happen. To expect that there are going to be "many suicides when this current crop of teenagers reaches 30-something" is a joke.
And your children obviously do not understand how to raise their your grandchildren.
HA HA HA,,,,,, obviously,,,,,BTW you don't want me to get started
on that subject, but I can tell you their mother is as beautiful as any
covergirl you ever saw……
.
A letter my dad (high school french teacher 30+ years) sent to every teacher in the district:
Last Friday afternoon a student I hadn't seen in close to fifteen years dropped by for a visit. A 1991 graduate of Person Senior High, he had taken French 1, 2, 3 and 4 with me before heading on to college. He had grown up in abject poverty. In his home there were holes in the floor large enough to fall through, the boards of the house that served as the outside wall also served as the inside wall, and the wind blew freely through the walls and crooked windows. This young man burned with two dreams: to secure an education, and to see the world. Here at Person, he was an honor student. As plans were being made for our 1990 French Exchange, he looked upon the trip as the first step toward one of his goals – a trip to France, this from a boy who had never been outside the borders of North Carolina.With money he had saved from part-time jobs for just this purpose, through cash donations from his extended family and his church, he was able to make the necessary payments, and in March of his junior year, it was Bon Voyage!
cont'd
For four days, he walked mesmerized through Paris. The next ten days he lived in the home of a French family, speaking only French while attending his host student's school or going on visits to cathedrals, battlefields, castles – field trips that the local school sponsored. It was at a café near the school that I saw him try to eat his first ice cream cone. Since he thought all ice cream was supposed to be eaten with a spoon and he was trying to use his fingers as a substitute, I had to show him the appropriate technique. He wasn't a bit embarrassed; you travel to grow, whether it's from a museum or from an ice cream cone. The look on his face throughout this trip was beyond price.
cont'd
The look on my face Friday was surely beyond price as well as I discovered that, since that trip to France, that incredible voyage of discovery, he attended UNC-Chapel Hill and earned a B.A. and a Master's degree. He is currently teaching English in the United Arab Emirates. He is still frugal, having paid off his college loans nine years early, and is setting aside a safe amount for retirement. The rest, beyond food and housing, however, he reserves for travel. He currently has stamps from eighty-one – yes, 81! – different countries in his passport. Every three or four years he has to visit an American embassy to add pages to his passport so he can continue to explore the world he's so deeply fallen in love with. But at least once a year he returns to Person County, where his roots lie, and to France, where his dream first bloomed into fruition, and where he continues to speak so well the French he learned at Person Senior High.
Not every school success story deals with EOC statistics. The best involve a self that is ennobled, a soul that perseveres, a life that is transformed.
You must be a philosopher who was educated in public schools and never learned to read. Those numbers are corrected for inflation.
Note the title at the top of the graph "Inflation Adjusted Cost…"
Good for her. I'm sure she's a real Sarah Palin. I would guess that's probably a compliment where you come from.
Both of my boys started school knowing how to read..They are both now informations technicians with high security clearances in the military. It really is all about Parents being Parents!!
It's encouraging to know that their are still those who care about their pupils success and not just their paychecks.
Thank you for fighting the good fight.
POUND SAND IN A RAT HOLE, JERK
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One day America will wake up. The only question is: will it be too late? "School-Stamps" now!
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