117 posts shown.
Charles Murphy6 said:If I were in your shoes, I would head straight to the State Department of Education inspectors. Reading through this thread feels like watching some twisted horror movie unfold right before my eyes.
You can file a formal written complaint—even an anonymous one—providing a complete, unvarnished account of exactly what is happening in that classroom.
By law, the inspectors are required to conduct a field investigation. Even if they don't find anything groundbreaking, they’ll give him a warning, and I guarantee the principal won't be happy about having inspectors sniffing around the school, which will force them to put this teacher under a microscope.
To be perfectly honest, I would have reacted the very second he struck that child with his notebook.
I am the type of parent who would go through literal brick walls for my kid. There is absolutely nothing anyone could do to stop me... no chance at all.
Sounds terrible and disgusting... but nothing new.🤷
Scenes of glasses being knocked off, slapping, hair pulling, and verbal abuse were happening back when I attended school in the States.
And everyone knew exactly which teachers were aggressive or physical.☕ If you ask the kids, they'll tell you exactly who people are "afraid" of.
But the parent has to act. Their actions will either help or hurt their child more than anything else.
In my community, nobody ever did anything about it, not even my parents.
It's that old-school authority the teaching staff used to have 20 or 30 years ago that people still long for.☕
Next time, call the police.
rowdyraven13 said:Most of these various "secessionist" movements—those groups that might be categorized as white-led, such as the CSA, Texas, Vermont, or the Pacific Northwest—are little more than local political folklore; they may be colorful, certainly, but they lack even the slightest hint of becoming a significant political force.
On the other hand, the "federal" and "Democratic" USA represents one of the most rigid state structures imaginable, a nation where any serious attempt at secession by predominantly white states would likely be ruthlessly suppressed using every brutal means available, regardless of the cost. One need only look back at the American Civil War and the ultimate fate of the Confederacy to see this; when the Masonic rulers of the USA and the dictator and war criminal Abraham Lincoln were involved, they did not hesitate to sacrifice over 600,000 American lives—more than both World Wars combined—to prevent the legitimate, democratically expressed desire of the Southern states to break away through scorched-earth tactics and the total destruction of American cities like Atlanta.
The only form of secessionism that seems not just plausible, but almost inevitable in the near future, is the concept of Aztlan—the formation of a new Mexican state spanning the American Southwest, including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California, along with parts of neighboring regions. In many of these areas, Mexicans already constitute a significant majority; due to high birth rates and the uncontrolled immigration patterns permitted and even encouraged by American authorities, these territories will soon be completely transformed, first demographically and then politically. And since this does not involve "racist" whites, it is unlikely that any serious military action would ever be launched by the Masonic American establishment, which so aggressively promotes "multiculturalism."
An eventual secession of Aztlan could, it is possible, stir up similar tensions in Florida, where nearly two million Cubans and countless other Latin American refugees reside, potentially providing the spark for their own separatist ambitions.
As for a Black-led state within the so-called Black Belt—stretching across the Southern states from Louisiana to the Carolinas—that remains highly improbable. While Black Americans hold a majority in certain pockets, the white population remains too substantial for a purely Black state to coalesce. Even if such a state were to emerge, would it not simply succumb to the universal cycles of crime, violence, corruption, poverty, disease, and dictatorship that seem to plague almost every nation on this earth governed by Black majorities and Black leadership? One need only look at the historical precedents of South Africa and Rhodesia.
That's just plain wrong. If you knew anything about Texas history, you'd realize the Mexican population has always been a major force, even back when Texas was its own republic. They were part of building everything there...
Emily Gonzalez51 said:I’m sorry if you took that personally, but teachers aren't meant to be surrogate parents, nor is it their job to instill basic discipline. That responsibility falls squarely on the parents, and they need to handle it early on, because once it's too late, the damage is already done.
Here's the issue... people who think kids are strictly a
problem, and that's actually
the problem for everyone else. Every single person working in education who thinks that way.
Jessica Howard5 said:Thanks for the link, Nicholas. It’s all laid out there plain and simple. Honestly, I don't see the issue here.
It’s just pure myth-making, plus there's more to it.☕ 🙂
That’s all there is to it... Thanks, Anne!
And then people blame the kids. Honestly, kids are just a reflection of us.😢 Whatever they learn at home, they carry out into the streets, their friend groups, and school.
As for suspensions, here in the States, we usually talk about "in-school suspension" for the younger grades. It's more about discipline—like if a kid can't sit still in class. Instead of playing during recess, they stay in the room with a teacher's aide to finish lunch or work on reading and math. Basically, the "punishment" happens that very same day.
Jessica Howard5 said:Greetings to New York City, and specifically to you.
Thanks for the deep dive into how your kid's school works. It helps people realize they don't need to reinvent the wheel; sometimes you just need to learn from those who've actually succeeded in making a school feel like a second home. Of course, I'm emphasizing the "private school" aspect here—the owner definitely cares about that school rating.
My little niece goes to a very similar school in Chicago (it's owned by a Jewish foundation) following an English curriculum. She takes classes in both English and American parallelly.
Wishing you lots of luck and success. Best regards.
Please.🙂
I think we have to clear one hurdle you mentioned first... that school should be a second home. Honestly, I feel like that's already happening to some degree, thanks to the sheer dedication of individual teachers working within the system.
Maybe try applying the "in loco parentis" doctrine. It treats schools as legal stand-ins for parents during those 6 to 8 hours kids spend in class every day. This shouldn't just be a vague idea; it needs to be a serious legal standard. Znachi, the school would hold the same rights and responsibilities as a biological parent while the child is on campus.
We need to find a way to identify people who aren't pulling their weight or contributing to the bottom line. It’s time to let them go. We should focus on hiring top-tier talent instead—people who actually deliver results and get rewarded for it. We have to fix this negative selection problem in the system.
Znachi needs to find a way to put education back at the top of the priority list.
Peter Doyle2 said:I pulled out a few key points from soks's post that I think are vital!
So, what is the biggest issue with our education system?
Sit down, listen, write, go home, memorize what was written. 🧐
It’s a completely, totally wrong approach 🙂 and, naturally, the root of all frustration.
Passive learning. It's bad. Learning should be active.
I am a Preschool educator, and even back in college, they constantly hammered this phrase into us: "children learn by doing."
The Preschool system works in a way where almost all frontal instruction has been phased out; there isn't that constant group gathering on the rug for storytime anymore.
The key is creating an engaging environment—meaning, we design tools for them to work with, spread them around the room, and then observe their play. We enrich those resources and add new content based on their specific interests. Children work freely, without being forced, in small groups, doing what they want to do.
They learn by doing.
And then, after six years of that approach in Preschool, those kids enter elementary school.
Where they MUST sit in a desk for 45 minutes, quietly, in silence, in the exact same spot.
Where they MUST do everything the rest of the class is doing.
Where they MUST listen to a teacher standing at the front of the room—purely lecture-based.
Is it just me, or does this seem like a massive disconnect that leads straight into frustration? 🤔
Let's go back to the beginning.
Children learn by doing.
Is it really that hard to mirror that in the school system? Is it truly that difficult to make teaching active? To give kids concrete problems, tasks, or projects—things where they actually participate and have to hunt for data themselves?
Presentations and reports are good things, but I get the feeling they still aren't being utilized to their full potential.
And for many things, you don't even need huge funding. You simply split the class into groups and let each group extract key information from a specific part of the day's lesson, then present it to the rest of the class. For example...
It's doable in almost any subject.
Sure, there are teachers who try to work this way. But I get the impression they are still deeeeeeply in the minority.
***
My child is still very young. Only 6 months old. But even now, I feel a sense of dread when I think about them having to lug a heavy backpack in six and a half years to an institution called "school" that is uninspiring and completely unsuited for active learning. Especially since they'll be coming from a different type of institution—Preschool—where things operate on a totally different principle. 🙄
So I'm wondering, what can we do as parents? Am I being naive if I think we can actually achieve something?
Maybe organize some kind of association? (Like how there's an organization like "Preschool for All" that fights for better conditions in Preschools.)
Should we send annoying emails to the Department of Education on a daily basis?
What?
I really wish I could do something, or at least try to change things... instead of taking the path of least resistance one day and telling my kid, "Just sit down and cram," when I know perfectly well that's a bad way to go, both as a parent and as an educator.🤷🙂
Elementary classrooms need rugs too. They should be surrounded by bookshelves and practice reading aloud regularly. The rug shouldn't just be a preschool thing.
Then people will wonder why kids can't read by a certain grade level.🙄
That sounds pretty individualized to me...
Basically, they use streaming here. Kids get grouped by their skill levels and what they've mastered. If they struggle or excel, they move up or down the ladder. They even bring in extra teachers if needed. The whole point is just making sure everyone hits those state curriculum standards.
Imagine there are three tracks, each with three grade levels... the bottom track is for foundational skills, and the top track is for advanced learners.
The faculty and the school itself undergo regular evaluations—I think it involves internal assessments and various standardized tests—plus there's an annual state inspection to grade the school against others in the district.
We live in New York City, in the US.
There are two parallel tracks here: public and private. Public schools are generally set aside for locals, though local kids attend private schools quite often too.
My little one goes to a private prep school—an international school with a heavy British curriculum. It’s tied to its parent school in Vicksburg. They’ve been doing IB and A-levels for years. Classes cap at 22 students, usually with one teacher and an assistant. In the upper grades, they have assistants spread across the whole floor to support all the classes...
Once they turn three, before September 1st, you can send them to nursery or FS1. The following year is FS2, or what we call preschool. First grade starts at age five.
I should mention that you don't have to send your child to school until first grade...and of course, you don't have to enroll in our specific school. There are plenty of options, so just pick whatever fits your needs and budget.
Sending them to nursery helps with continuity. The nursery and preschool are part of the whole setup; both educationally and physically, they're located right in the school...the junior school is physically separate from the senior school.
They start working seriously on multiplication tables in second or third grade (which is like first or second grade in America). Before that, it's all about the fundamentals (from FS2 through second grade) like even and odd numbers, addition and subtraction up to 20, and doubling or dividing numbers up to 20 or 30...basically, things like 10+10 or half of 10.
For math, they use a "mental math" method...I'm not sure what the specific term is back home.
English is taught using a phonetic "read, write inc." method.
Reading happens every single day. Kids get a few books a week from various programs depending on the current focus or skill being taught. For example, if they're working on uppercase letters, the books will be about that. These are usually little books of 10 to 30 pages, or more, depending on the student's level since they take an individualized approach. Right now, we're focusing on reading comprehension, so we keep the book for a few days until we work through the questions.
The classroom teacher changes every year. This helps prevent a lot of ethical or educational issues, and classes are reshuffled every two years...it helps all the kids get to know each other and builds a sense of community.
Naturally, some people find that weird or unacceptable.
When I think about it, it actually makes sense.😁There will always be kids, parents, and teachers who just won't see eye to eye, so this way you only have to "deal with it" for two years.😛
I wouldn't know, my experience was actually the opposite. You learn everything on the job...
jadetinker85 said:And why not just have lockers at school to hold all the books and supplies? Why does a kid have to lug around art kits, drafting tools, gym shoes, rulers, compasses, pencil cases, plus all those textbooks, music notebooks, and English readers? Just grab what's needed for the specific lesson or homework, and leave the rest at school.
Ideally, those storage spaces would just be built right into the desks.
I don't get it. Why don't schools just buy the geography atlases and hand them out during class, then collect them all at the end of the period?
Jason Ortiz5 said:Is that a little bit of nervousness I sense because someone doesn't agree with YOUR plan? 😁
Personally, I think the idea about using lockers and just keeping the books at school is actually pretty decent. Of course, since it's always way harder to squeeze money out of the federal budget than it is to grab some cash from parents' pockets, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
The younger kids at our local elementary school (grades 1-5) just keep their books in their home classrooms. They have those desks with storage compartments inside, so everything stays right in the desk.
Jessica Howard5 said:Hey everyone, and congrats to the new admins. I’ve been lurking on Reddit for a while now, usually just jumping in to see what you all think when I'm stuck on something. But I finally decided to register a few days ago so I could actually start sharing my own thoughts on certain topics.
To be honest, I'm mostly interested in hearing your takes and experiences regarding parenting. I'm just an average dad with three amazing daughters—well, teenagers now—all in school. My oldest is 16 and in her sophomore year at a local prep school, the middle one is in 8th grade, and the youngest is in 6th. All three are healthy, smart, and have totally distinct personalities. They couldn't be more different in terms of character or interests; they are true individuals. Their grades vary a bit too, though that's not the point. Interestingly, they all attend the same middle school and high school, seeing almost identical teachers. Yet, despite having the exact same upbringing and the same instructors, they struggle with specific subjects in a way that seems almost constant. It makes me wonder: is the issue with the kids or the teachers? I've noticed their study habits are worlds apart. The oldest and the youngest have already figured out how to learn and have this built-in sense of accountability, whereas the middle one struggles with motivation (she finished 7th grade with pretty good grades, though). I'm incredibly proud of my oldest; she's killing it in high school. With all three, I try to be a friend while maintaining parental authority. We handle everything through conversation. We try to solve problems by talking things through, using real-life examples, and guiding them so they can reach their own conclusions on how to fix a situation.
So, I want to hear your experiences and SPECIFIC EXAMPLES:
- WITH SCHOOL
- WITH A SPECIFIC TEACHER
- WITH OTHER KIDS IN THEIR CLASS
- YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SCHOOL AND STAFF
- DISCIPLINE AND UPBRINGING ISSUES
Basically, anything a parent would want to know to keep their kid on the right track, instill the right values, and prepare them for the real world.
Best regards 🙂
I could answer some of these and share my thoughts, but my little one goes to school outside of America. Not sure if you're interested in international perspectives.
Peter Doyle2 said:igzekli, I've actually asked this several times now, but I can't get a straight answer from any teacher... 🙂 🙂
It doesn't sit right with me, and I highly doubt it's actually part of the official curriculum... It’s fine to cover the material more deeply during class and then grade them on that, but giving a test based solely on what was seen at a movie theater, a play, or on a field trip—especially if it wasn't a mandatory school outing, or if there was an extra fee involved, or if not all kids could attend... 😳 it's just not going to fly!!
To me, it feels like they're just messing around.
Instead of kids getting excited about a field trip, they're stuck worrying about their grades. Particularly when those trips aren't even required.
They should just say, "Hey, let's talk about what we saw, like how bread is made, and then we'll make our own bread out of clay to take home."😁.
A field trip should just be a field trip.
Charles Murphy6 said:Regarding field trips...
Every school operates under its own Annual Plan and Curriculum for the academic year, which includes a specific schedule for field trips and senior graduation trips.
It outlines—with a few exceptions—roughly when these things will happen.
Personally, I think field study for the upperclassmen is a fantastic idea, though in my school, it happens maybe twice a year at most, where the kids actually get to visit places they wouldn't normally have the chance to see on their own. We make sure we aren't just picking "foodie" destinations; the goal is to find locations that genuinely spark some interest in the students.
In our district, field studies usually involve older students touring the city, visiting museums, or exploring various churches—and I don't just mean Catholic ones. From what I've gathered by watching the kids' reactions when they get back, they actually find it quite cool.
The younger grades typically go to a few theater performances during the year, which I’m perfectly fine with because, let’s be honest—as a parent, I have to admit that with this constant, relentless rush of life, I rarely find the time to take my own child to the theater... my shame and all.
Then, once a year, they go on a trip, like visiting a farm to see how bread is made or something similar.
The most important thing in this whole process is that the teachers at my school stay mindful of the parents' financial situations. For instance, they recently scrapped one particular idea because after crunching the numbers, they realized it would have been a massive burden on families.
Everything is always debated at the PTA meetings. As for those big graduation trips—where they actually go isn't decided by the homeroom teacher; instead, the parents work directly with the travel agency to pick the destination.
The Department of Education doesn't dictate the rules on where or when these trips occur.
There was this one ridiculous situation in Washington, D.C., when an order came down that every school had to gather, I think it was about 60 students per school, to go sit in Madison Square Garden to watch "Jack" (well, she was still riding back then) extinguish the Olympic flame... honestly, what kind of madness is that? To force teachers to essentially pressure parents into letting their kids attend such a massive spectacle...🙄
In that specific case, the city of Washington, D.C. actually paid for the bus transportation just so people could clap for Jack... absolutely pathetic!!!!!!!
I'm not a teacher, but I do work within the education system—so please, don't lynch me over my grammar... I know I can be quite stubborn about it, and I'm fully aware.
Wait, so parents don't have any clue at the start of the year about how many trips there are, where they're going, or even when they happen?
wanderinggardener12 said:Parents, and educators for that matter, ought to draw a much sharper line between the two: we aren't grading a child’s soul or their fundamental character, but rather their measurable achievements, the development of functional skills, and their overall academic progress.
If we could just grasp that distinction, perhaps there would be less of this constant, grinding frustration. Everyone needs to keep in mind that most teachers actually take pride in their work, and frankly, no one has any vested interest in withholding an A if a student truly earned it.
The real issue lies elsewhere: we deal with both subpar instructors and those overbearing parents who believe they can micromanage every classroom decision simply because they once held a degree in some unrelated field.
In other parts of the world, homeschooling is a perfectly viable path. It is something we should seriously consider implementing here in the States. Even though I work within the school system myself, I don't think the idea is inherently flawed—at least, not for certain children and families who might thrive under different circumstances.
I honestly think things would be easier if we just said, "Hey, your kid mastered about 55% of the math curriculum this semester." That's not a win. Their knowledge has gaps. You can see it because they struggle with xyz. They need to work on mastering xyz, so here are some materials, links, websites, and books to help. Here is the schedule for the tutors at school who specialize in extra support and study techniques. Just reach out to xyz.
You already see the curriculum being taught—you get a detailed list every week, every month, and every semester of what's coming up. They need to master it now because next month depends on it.
😳
northernfox12 said:Secretary Primorac actually set us back significantly...
Just look at where our performance levels were fifteen years ago. ☕
Exactly... always someone else's fault.😢
northernfox12 said:I honestly can't believe what I'm reading...
It’s just a collective smear campaign against our entire education system...
At this rate, we might as well just scrap public schools entirely and let every parent teach their kid whatever they personally deem useful.
The quality of teaching shows in the results... and what are we seeing?
SAT scores, state exams, you name it... pick one. Let's see how it goes.
Nobody has an issue with teachers who actually do their jobs right... those people deserve extra rewards (bonuses, specialized training, etc.). Generally speaking, my kid would be happy if the school system worked, and the staff needs to be happy too.
Are the teachers even happy with their pay, working conditions, or career growth?
Honestly, homeschooling shouldn't be off the table. Let parents teach their own kids... but we’d need objective testing and actual academic standards in place first (which even the local teachers here seem to mock), just to check in on them every now and then.
what's the issue?☕
James Perez54 said:That they don't yell at them or make fun of them in front of the class.
And that they're fair when it comes to grading.
This is exactly what my son wanted back when he had his teacher.
To make things actually fair, we need to overhaul the entire grading system.☕ Here we go again.
It looks like nothing in our school system has changed at all.🙄 And that was right when I finished school.😳😁 Someone even mentioned that rapid tests are still being used around here.