Lest it be misunderstood...

There's a saying about lawyers that I fear may be coming to pass about educators as well - that 90% give the other 10% a bad name.

In my last post, I didn't say that there are no good teachers, nor did I say that my own teachers were bad. There are good teachers, and I think I was fortunate enough to have had most of them. I don't have regrets over my own experience - I can really only think of one teacher I ever had who I felt would hold a grade over a student's head. I thank the Lord that my experience seems to have been the exception to the norm. The experience that my two oldest children have had has been very different than mine, and the evidence that I've seen leads me to believe that what they have experienced is all too common.

There are reasons that most parochial schools have long waiting lists (the usual practice in this area is that parents register their children for pre-K not long after they're born - 4 years in advance). I think the same reasons lead more and more parents to home-schooling. Parents get sick of what their children are exposed to in the public schools, and it isn't just what they're exposed to from the other students, but what they're taught (and not taught). If I had it to do over again, I'd have found a way for all of my children to have been in private school.