Thursday, March 30, 2006

Public Education

I've been thinking about this recently especially since we are moving to a new area. I'm disappointed with the education system in California, no offense to Californians, but I just don't think the public schools are all that great here. There are some terrific private schools, but they are outrageously priced. I just don't think the public schools get enough funding to provide a highly academic environment. This is just my observation from hearing other parents talk and from visiting high schools when I used to work in college admissions.

My feeling was the schools in Texas where we lived were much better. Of course, Texas schools aren't "all that" either, but I was looking forward to Olivia going to our neighborhood school in Texas that was ranked high for that state.

We are moving to a town of 250,000 and I'm worried what kind of education my girls will get there. I just want them to be challenged and given opportunities to excel in the areas they are good at and improve in the areas where they might be weaker. I also think about how we move so often that they might miss out or fall behind in subjects. This actually happened to me, I totally missed learning about fractions and never learned fractions really well.

5 comments:

Sraikh said...

I worry abt the same things. I hope to teach her some things during the summer, which I am sure she has missed out on her teacher being away so much!

4texans said...

Sunita-you are moving to a more metropolitan area and there are some good schools out there, I think where your dh will be working, too. I think the schools in CO will be better than the ones here.

Jen-We have been moving about every 2 years, just depends on dh's job and what he wants to do next. He wants to definitely settle down by the time they get to high school. I guess I will just have to work hard that they are academically challenged.

4texans said...

Thanks Walt, guess I shouldn't worry too much!

allison said...

I think a reality for the city you're moving to is the number of children who don't speak English as a first language. They must be mainstreamed as soon as possible, and unfortunately, it slows the English proficient kids down. That city has a high Spanish-speaking population and a high immigrant farmworker population. We have lots of challenges in California. Funding is a big one, but another and possibly bigger problem is how much value is placed on education by parents. Lots of us think "DUH" of course it's important, but the reality is lots and lots of families don't seem to care. It's so sad.

4texans said...

It is sad, it is such a shame people don't put more value on the education of our country's future leaders, teachers, workers, etc.