- It's amazing how much my boys can learn in two hours per day of homeschool. These kids are like sponges; they soak up the information, especially Brennan (in kindergarten this year). He's learning cursive and I believe he'll be reading well within months. My question is what on earth do the public schools do for seven or eight hours a day? It's not that well trained teachers don't exist (I know several). It's not that they don't spend enough money (they'll outspend me by several thousand dollars per kid per year). It's not that they don't have the facilities (we teach our kids in our little office at home).
- Panasonic announced that they will begin selling a 103 inch flatscreen TV for $80,000. I guess I'll have to wait for the price to come down a bit.
- Iran's deadline passed today. I guess the UN will wag an angry finger at them now. Maybe even issue a sternly worded rebuke. I'm telling you, DO NOT buy property in Tel Aviv, Israel in the next few years.
- The Chiefs' last preseason game is tonight. They'll be taking up a collection at the stadium for a ticket taker that died of a heart attack after leaving the most recent preseason game. He was the brother of a member of our church and we're glad to see the Chiefs make this gesture for one of their own.
- We're trying to decide what kind of musical keyboard to get for the kids. I don't care so much about the various bells and whistles (literally) that some keyboards have but the problem is that the little cheap ones (less than $50-75) only play 4 notes at the same time. So by the time a student learns to play with his left hand, the machine is useless. But bigger and better means more money, so we'll have to see. I'm especially enchanted with Yamaha's YPT-200, but I don't know.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Random Thoughts 8/31/06
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3 comments:
1 teacher + 21 students = 7 hours at school
as apposed to
1 teacher + 2 students = 2 hours
Oh, sorry I forgot to give my name.
David T.
I should clarify: It's not the teachers (at least not all of the good ones), it's the system. The teacher's union hurts our kids by protecting ineffective teachers. The system hurts our kids by not making schools compete – in fact, the worst schools may get even more money.
I'm not for everyone homeschooling – I'm for my family homeschooling. Different options are right for different families. But let's not fool ourselves, the longer kids are in public schools, the further they fall behind.
I hope public schools change, and change soon. If dramatic reforms were made (like abolishing the federal Dept. of Ed. and forcing the NEA to the margins) I would be all for it. I know several great teachers (and some administrators too) that would be better off in a different system.
How does it change? Let the money follow the kids. Allow parents to choose where their kids go to school. Public, private, religious, home, whatever. Our colleges work on a similar system and we have the best universities in the world. Some are public and some are private but only the good ones last.
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