Pam's Ramble About the School System
I am frustrated that we have to pay so much to send our boys to private school in order to get the education that we feel they deserve.
These children are our future.
We are all paying our tax dollars for a system that has slowly declined and deteriorated. Just one item that bothers me - Why is Queen Elizabeth annex still open when the local school Southlands has seen declining enrollment over the last few years? Are the School Board Trustees afraid to deal with parents who like their sons/daughters attending a small school?
I think that when teachers became unionized they did themselves a great disservice. I was part of a union for many years and in the airline industry it was absolutely essential that we have a union.
A good friend of mine does nothing but complain about being a teacher. Yet she enjoys all
the holidays and the summers off. Her days are not even close to being as long as people Iknow who work in the private sector.
I agree with you regarding the teachers.
My younger son was in Grade 7 when I exchanged harsh words with his teacher outside the classroom. I insistedthat she stop yelling at the kids and that I would see to it that she never yelled at my son again.
Three boys, age 12, heard her say the f wordwhen she came back into the classroom. Great role model!
My older son had the same teacher when he was in Grade 7 and he was a nervous wreck. She approached us at sports day and asked us why we wereforcing him to attend a private school the following year. She informed us that he was very stressed out. It was about a year later that our son told us that the only reason he was stressed was because she yelled at the kids all the time.
He wanted to attend X School and he loved it there.I knew that nothing would be done so we chose to send our boys to private school where we can have a say in their education.What I saw over the 12 years of being affiliated with that school was pathetic. We lost the music program, the Christmas concert and by the time I left, the parents were running all but one of the sports programs and doing all the fundraising
9 comments:
Poor Pam. Uses ambush tactics at the classroom door. I wonder if she ever had the manners and courtesy to make an appointment?
David
My kids went to a local Point Grey elementary school. I raised a complaint about the Principal which was investigated by the school board. He LIED! I was almost banned from the school. HE LIED!My daughter is a special needs child. She is now in high school in a special class. The funding from the province for the group of special needs classes is supposed to be around one million dollars. Yet all the classrooms sees is $110,000.00 for the three classes. Where the hell is the rest of the funding going? This by the way does not include teachers salaries. As a special needs child we have to fight for her designation. Appear before a school board group and beg is what it amounts to.One teacher at the elementary school refused to teach math. No math was taught and nothing happened to him.Remember when their are budget cuts the school board always seems to pick on the ones who need it the most. The cripple kids.
Ambush tactics?
Must be someone from the executive of the BCTF.
Dear Anonymous,
Actually it was not ambush tactics - I was waiting outside the classroom to drive the students on a field trip! I was actually taking time off work to help out like I had many, many times before. The teacher sent my son out to tell me that since there was a considerate delay I should go home and retrieve the library book that was now overdue. He was visibly upset since she had yelled at him.
I asked her to come out and discuss this with me. I asked her not to yell at my son and I found a finger in my face.
I know it was hard at that school for the teachers as we (parents) were often around and so involved in the school. However, the flip side is they would not have been able to take the kids on field trips or have the funds to buy the items they required for the classroom.
My friend in the Richmond school district is lucky if a few parents show up for the Parent/Teacher interview!
We have now pulled one of our children from our local public school to home school him. We found the school and teachers he had inflexible to the issues (some health) he had. What issue? He was not being motivated or encouraged. My wife has now brought him up to grade level and in some areas, beyond.
Another child, we have decided to home school for one course because the teacher was so ineffective and was turning the kids off. His marks went from high 70’s to low 30’s in one semester. Another teacher at the school said "yes, we have many problems with this teacher" - THEY KNOW IT!
We have another child that we are considering home schooling for a single course. The reason? The teacher refuses to let any of the kids know how they are doing. He assigns daily current events work asking the kids to list 5 events / news stories on a sheet of paper, for each day of the week, must be two sentence’s long and he NEVER discusses these in class. Ever. Without any review or benefit to the student most students, including my son, now write down the headlines, without reading the story, to get the marks assigned to this task. It is teaching them how "to get by", that the story is not important, just the task and the process. Great way to motivate, teach great habits and encourage kids to learn what’s happening in the world around them eh! We were declined an interview with the teacher as "all his time was booked before they started booking appointments"
Again, another teacher has told us..."this is a normal issue for this teacher".
Now, we have two others in the system (yes 5) that are doing well, seem to be progressing satisfactorily and enjoy (as much as kids do from day to day!) their teacher and time and school.
Over the years we have been very pleased with the vast majority of our children’s teachers, however, there are clearly good teachers (who love what they do) and poor teachers (who seem to complain about everything the world has dished them) Stereo typing? Maybe. But it is what my wife and I have viewed and experienced ourselves. Then, there are those teachers, that you come across once in a while, that clearly hate their job, cannot stand dealing with children, and do more damage than good when they do what they are paid to do. (…and I don’t mean “just show up!)
Thanks David, sorry for the rant! Ya got me going!
Love the Blog, although I don’t agree with everything you write:-) …ever hear that before? !!!
Cheers!
Wow.
We have had experience with both the public and private school systems. My daughter was eight years at private (secular) school and my son has primarily been in public school (five of his seven school years until now). We live in Point Grey and our experience with public, while VERY far from perfect, has been no where near as, say, hostile, as Pam describes. My observation is that private is better for the junior/elementary years and public steps up quite well at the senior/secondary level, often with many more options for learning. We've had teachers in the private system that were, shall we say, lacking, and we have had teachers in the public system, two in particular, who were fabulous. I am not a fan of the teacher's union, and many of our complaints have been around the issue of teachers following in lock step with the likes of Jinny Sims. My husband, who is a professor, finds that the best students do not necessarily come from the private system. It's not always black and white when deciding what option is best for your child.
Mo.
Re ambush tactics. Just a comment on administrators sending parents down the hallway to confront classroom teachers just as class is about to start. It is a wonderful tactic by them to avoid dealing with an irate parent which usually ends up with the teacher being "the sacrificial goat." Again Pam was 'diverted' to the classroom door at exactly the 'right moment' and the administrator 'ducked and covered.' Did you know that School Boards hold administrator workshops on how to pass all problems back to the classroom teacher? Pam should have made an appointment plain and simple and was very rude and confrontational to do what she did. PERIOD.
PS. This piece is just a rerun of teacher bashing and is not worthy of your blog.
Gotta love the last Anon poster. Is s/he a member of the RCMP? How on earth did we get to the point in Canada where circling the wagons and PYA became more important than competence, integrity, and honour?
The notion that all people in an organization are competent just blows my mind.
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