From the Trenches of Public Ed.

I have been having a discussion with Dennis from From the Trenches of Public Ed. He made a statement that I thought I would clear up. In one of his comments to my last post he says "You seem to be very unhappy with some of the teachers at your kids' school." Its not that we are happy with our teachers, we actually get along with and work well with all our teachers, but then again we are active involved parents. Having said that there are some issues or problems that we have come across. One of our 3rd grade teachers gives way to much homework, especially compared to our other 3rd graders class. An hour and a half of homework a night is way to much for a 8 year old, especially since it seems to be busy work and somewhat redundant.

The scariest thing we have seen, was in our 1st grade teachers class. I had stopped by the classroom to just say hi, and we saw three boys sleeping (when I say sleeping, I mean laying across chairs and snoring) while the rest of the class was having reading time. When I asked the teacher about it a few days later, she said that it happens quite often with those students and that she had contacted their parents. She also said that if she doesn't let them sleep they tend to be disruptive. Personally, while I have to question the system that allows this, frankly if having those boys sleep allows my child to get a better education then I'm not going to complain.

All and all, I tend to be pragmatic. While I disagree with some aspects of the system, I realize that I am not going to be able to change it. If it takes a few extra hours a week of my time to ensure my kids get the basics they need, then I am more than willing to give it.