First Week of Public School Post Mortem

So far the venture into the public school system has been less than stellar. I can't say this has been easy or rewarding. It has been nothing but a hassle and disappointing. Let me start with a recap of the road traveled thus far. 

• Made the decision very late in the spring to go public school 
• Started the process by calling the school, found out that there is paperwork required - no surprise there 
• Found out that my son can start taking 11th grade classes, but must take tests to get credits for 9th and 10th grade - 10 in all 
• Found out that my daughter coult not just go straight to 9th grade as her birthday fell after the Sep 1 cutoff date 
• Found out she could take tests (of course) to go for a year's advancement 
• Signed up both kids for school 
• Made several expeditions to get all shots and immunization in order - it cost me $65 
• Finally secured all the medical stuff 
• Kids took the tests 
• Daughter did not pass 
• Son passed some, needs to retake some others 
• Neither took this seriously 
• Signed up daughter for middle school the week before classes start 
• First day of school, daughter's bus was late, she shows up at school, they have no record of her 
• First day of school, son forgets which bus was his, has to call for help to get a ride home 
• Bus continues to run late for daughter for 3 days - did not even show up on 3rd day
• Spent around 25 minutes on the phone with the man from the bus route supervisor's office that day 

And finally they made it through their first week.

So there you have it, a 3 month long ordeal that I underestimated completely. This has been a rough summer. This has been a rough start to a school year. And while the kids do seem to like public school, they are already under-impressed with the academic instruction. So from their perspectives and my own, here is our take on the Texas public school system in our independent school district: 

• The system is typified by chaos 
• There are literally dozens of papers to be signed by the parents in the first week for redundant reasons 
• The work is easy, almost to being ridiculous - my daughter colored a cow in 8th grade English class one day, then cut cows out the next 
• School lunches are better than they anticipated 
• The focus of classes has been stated to being centered on doing well on the standardized state tests 
• Discipline is not totally broken down, but there is little respect for authority

The system is nearly broken

Those are the perspectives from me and both kids each of which have had 4 years of home school following private school. Are we being unfair? Maybe, so far they have had a much different kind of education. And I will add that the depth and level of private and home school curriculum and education far exceeds the public school system as demonstrated by this first week. We shall keep an open mind and see what unfolds in the following weeks.


Copyright 2005, Kevin Farley (a.k.a. sixdrift, a.k.a. neuronstatic)