Tonight, just for fun, I asked my youngest daughter (4th
grade) if she had to give her school a grade what would she give it. “An A+!” she said enthusiastically!! When I asked her why, she said, “The teachers
are awesome and we get to do lots of cool stuff!” Then I told her some people think her school
is an F! “Those people are dumb. Have
they even been there?” she replied.
Unfortunately, the answer is probably not.
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| Making Friends Around The World! |
Several years ago, my kids switched schools away from a
wonderful campus and began a new experience in a much different, yet equally
wonderful school environment. We had
moved and I wanted them in the same school district in which I worked. At the time my oldest daughter was in third
grade and my son was in first. Now, I
will admit, they were coming to a school that was quite different than the one
they left. For one thing, over half the
students at their new school were what our state labels “economically
disadvantaged”. This was a new
experience because my kids had been quite sheltered and quite frankly, never
been around kids that didn’t have just about everything they wanted. I will never forget my son coming home the
first week and telling us about his new friend.
“He doesn’t speak English, but he is really good at math and building
stuff” he excitedly told us. I remember
telling him to learn all the Spanish you can from him because one day you may
need it. My son is in middle school this
year, and more often than not when I ask him who he sat with at lunch, that
same first grade friend is one of the kids he mentions.
The truth is, I couldn’t have asked for a better school
experience for my kids despite the fact that my 6th and 8th
graders go to a middle school that got a “D” on the just released “rough draft”
accountability ratings from the state and my 4th grade daughter’s
school got an “F” in one of the categories.
They have had some of the best teachers I have seen anywhere, and I should
know, I have spent the last 22 years of my life in schools of all shapes and
sizes. They have been challenged and
they have grown and learned more than I could ever imagine.
It is hard for me to believe that those with very limited
knowledge of schools could have the audacity to create a system that they can’t
even explain and give grades without providing promised support. If a teacher
did that to his/her class we would consider it poor instruction at best and
gross negligence at worst. If you think
I am being overly dramatic, you didn’t spend the last two days like I did
talking to principals and educators and trying to explain that places they put
their heart and souls into were deemed not good enough.
Enough politics. My
real point in writing is that I am thankful for some of the things
my kids have learned in these so-called failing schools. Our District and schools strive to provide a
dynamic learning experience and that is exactly what they have done. My kids learned to dance. Yep.
No one in my family can dance a lick, but when your friends are part of
the after school dance club that is so popular that they have one for every
grade, you sign up and show your stuff!
They learned to read and debate.
Have you ever seen a “Battle of the Books” competition? It is intense. You have to read and work as a team to determine
your answers as you compete against other teams. They have
been in plays. They have built robots. They have learned to
solve a Rubik’s cube. Learned to play chess. My daughter was a magician in a
talent show. My son and his friends traveled to a global problem solving completion
for Destination Imagination. My oldest was part of a team that placed second in
a STEM competition at Bell Helicopter and she writes her own blog. They
have collected things for Angel Tree gifts and later realized it was for
friends at their school. They have been so lucky to have the care and guidance
of so many wonderful educators. This is not a bragging list about my kids, it
is meant to point out that NONE
of the things above (and countless others) would they have ever experienced
without their schools.
What they have
learned in school I couldn’t have taught them.
Next year my oldest will start high school and all three of
my kids will be at schools that received a “D” or worse from the state. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
