Comments on: The U.S. School System: Welcome to the Dark Side

By: Daemon

Daemon — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 04:19:00 +0000

I live in Michigan and there is minimal involvement with parents and it is definately not a regular thing. Once or twice a year a parent may supply their elementary child’s class of 20-30 with fruit snacks or granola bars and if the parent wants they can go on a field trip and chaparone a few children. The PTA is always optional and is usually for the stuck up mothers who want to show off. All these things might I add are optional especially if you are a low income family. This is public schools (as in free) though which if you find the right school can be much more rewarding then private schools for your child. Also if you don’t know elementary refers to ages approximately 4-11. Also there is almost no volenteering done in high school and middle schools.
Just a little bit of clarifying that I thought I should do.

By: John

John — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 20:58:00 +0000

The reality is that there isn’t enough parental “influence”. Involvement is another thing. Our education system stinks because it praises academics far too much. Get real. How many parents and students are going to flock to an institution that is hell bent on filling minds with algebra but no common sense or life skills? I raise my kids to get a real honest job. Not a corporate one. A job that allows them to keep the stress low, get married, and raise kids. I have no interest in triple figure jobs for assholes or a PhD in physics. Save those for the foreigners. Public school has become a broken mess. And it explains why there are millions of parents homeschooling now. This includes me.

By: bohemond

bohemond — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:50:00 +0000

The Dark Side is the *only* side to US public schools. Unless there’s a charter school in your district, be prepared to take the financial hit and send your children private; it’s borderline child abuse to send them to the public Penitentiary Prep.

By: Lavina Lavina

Lavina Lavina — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:08:00 +0000

So does this mean in Britain the parents do not get involved in school things at all. I find that hard to belive.

By: Mrs Baum

Mrs Baum — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:08:00 +0000

I’m not sure it’s automatic in the UK at all – though maybe among very rich people. We send our son to a private school (after he was allowed to do little or no work at the state school), but only one of my friends does likewise, and quite a few of my friends have more money than we do! We scrimp and save to do so though, and it’s just as well we only have the one child.

I liked the article – and I’m glad volunteering is very much optional at my son’s school!

By: Helene Lecuyer

Helene Lecuyer — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:06:00 +0000

I wish I had read your post the first year, it took me 4 years to understand what the PTA was about and I ended up … room parents…

By: emmakaufmann

emmakaufmann — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:38:00 +0000

I guess I have gotten lucky and cherry picked my volunteer jobs at my daughters’ elementary school. There is an amazing art teacher there and together we created all the backdrops for the theatre plays – it was a blast. I also volunteered as an art helper and on as many fieldtrips as possible apart from the one that involved wading waist deep in freezing water to ‘study the ecology of water.’ I have done some volunteering that was boring, going over spelling words with kids in the class etc but I must say it made me feel quite personally fulfilled that I was doign something worthwhile (for real!)

By: London City Mum

London City Mum — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 08:17:00 +0000

PMSL. That is all.
(And great article – love JH’s comment)

By: SmittenbyBritain

SmittenbyBritain — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:04:00 +0000

Toni, maybe your next article should explain the British sense of humour.

By: dw

dw — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 23:58:00 +0000

Sure — it “blows” in many places in the US. In the UK, it “blows” pretty much everywhere, except for the fake “faith” schools.