Rainbow Troll, you are being ridiculous.
GreatTeacher, you are being a pollyanna. And what's worse, you are using the fact that some schools work to sanction and legitimize a broken system that deserves to be - and should be - totally destroyed.
I live in the suburbs where the schools are very good and have sent my own child to school here.
That's wonderful for you and your family, but most people don't have that option.
However, I work in an urban school (in Baltimore) in an extraordinarily poor area. 85% of our students live in poverty.
First, a lot of learning happens in my school. If students misbehave by bullying or getting violent, they are suspended. If they break the law, then they are reported to the police, and the judicial system takes over. They get their FAPE (free and appropriate public education) behind bars.
That's how it should be, but unfortunately not every school has that zero tolerance policy towards violence (Oh, they all SAY they do. But in reality it's much like the Governing Body's zero tolerance policy towards child molestors).
I bristle at the insinuation that my students aren't learning. I just recently got the results from the District Science Assessment, which is given to every pupil in the district, "good" school or "bad," and they were very encouraging. My students are learning.
Some of those students require extra parenting, though. We provide free breakfast and lunch, I have to teach them about the importance of getting enough sleep, washing their hands, and treating others the way they would like to be treated. We also have a school nurse who provides some of the only medical care that these kids get.
Again, that's wonderful but understand that not everyone is lucky enough to go to schools like that. I didn't learn very much at all at my schools. I think some of teachers really tried, but they had no actual power over the students. Those of us who wanted to learn were all but overlooked by overworked teachers who were doing all they could just to get a sixth grader to read a single sentence without making a mistake. Eventually, I accepted that my education was up to me. I brought my own books to school and studied, trying to mentally block out the incessant chatter around me. When I got to high school I realized that if I just showed up for roll call in the morning, I could walk right off the campus and no one would try to stop me. Once I discovered that little trick, I spent most of my days studying in the public library or at a McDonalds and finally got some real learning done!
Yes, it is harder to teach where I teach. But, to feel that universal education is an unworthy goal frankly bristles. Having masses of uneducated people is a nightmare for democracy.
To be clear, I am not opposed to universal education; quite the contrary! What I am opposed to is a school system that allows those who run the schools to get away with whatever they want while children suffer. If school is mandatory, then that takes away all the power that a student might have to change things in his or her school. When I finally got fed up with the apathy, violence, and fear I had had to endure at one of my schools, I simply told the principal one day that I was finished and would not be attending in the future unless things changed. I was then hulled into a private meeting with no legal representation and threatened by the principal, who said school attendance was the law and that if I didn't go I would be put in juvenile detention and my mother would go to prison for child neglect. Being a naive 12 year old, utterly ignorant of my civil rights, I believed him and caved.
So, sure, play the public school system: move to a nice suburb to get a great education for your kids. It was my number one priority when buying my home. We have a long commute, but it is worth it to us.
But, there are amazing things happening in poverty-stricken schools. There are principals with extraordinary vision and leadership and dedicated teachers who want to work with the students who need them most. I'm sorry you've never had the opportunity to see that.
You don't need to be sorry, it isn't your fault. I wish to god folks would stop being sorry for the millions children who have to endure hell five days a week and instead help them by withdrawing their support and their sanction from these deplorable institutions that have the audacity to call themselves schools. I want more parents to start homeschooling their kids; I don't care what their reasons are. If enough kids are withdrawn from the public school system, that system will be faced with an ultimatum: reform itself or collapse into ruin.
