John Stossell on America's Public School

Last night on ABC, John Stossell had a documentary on the failures of American public schools.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338

I work in Hawaii's public school system as a substitute teacher, and do I agree with one major fact that's emphasized by John Stossell ------ ONE SCHOOL DOESN'T FIT ALL!

1) In Hawaii and most other states, students are required to go to the school of their districts. They can try to get into another school, but a lot of students dont get admitted under the Geographic Exception (GE) system!

In San Jose, CA, there is a district compliance officer checking if the student really lives in the district. That's so fuckin irritating! There was a time when I lived out of one school's district and used a grandma's address. That was because my parents moved to another district and I didn't want to go to a school where I knew no-one and where I might struggle to adjust. I was so mad at my parents for moving, MOSTLY BECAUSE OF THAT ONE ISSUE! I tried to talk to them nicely about it, but it didn't work! It was only after yelled at my mom and hit a pillow right in front of her that I moved back to my original district! (that's also proves that sometimes, you need to loose control of your anger in order to get results)

Having school districts is good in that you get to go to school with your neighbors, and you'll feel more close to your community. Problem with districts is for those whose district school isn't a good fit for them. Being in that situation can scar a person for life!

2) I see a lot of kids struggle with basic stuff, that they need a lot more one-on-one intervention than the school can provide. Those struggling to learn need more one-on-one intervention, otherwise they'll just fool around in class and irritate others!

I really think that if a student is struggling in one school, he ought to sent to an alternative school. That's because the current school is not a good fit for the student.

3) Some teachers say standardized tests are bad. I say they're good. If my students are doing bad on the tests, that means I'M SCREWING UP!

Oh, but some students are learning disabled, are recent immigrants, live in ghettoes, etc. Excuses, Excuses!


I occassionally work as a substitute at Central Middle School, which has a lot of students from public housing, lot of students who are recent immigrants. I may not work there as a regular teacher, but I know they're capable of learning! That school was falling behind in NCLB standards so now they're changing parts of the curriculum, hiring more Educational Assistants (EAs) to help with learning disabled students, recent immigrants, and behavioral problem students.


4)I just started working at Central Middle this past semester. I also worked at Washington Middle the previous semester, and worked at other schools.

I'm open to constructive criticism. If I need to try another approach, I got to do it!

My supervisors at Palama Settlement were good at constructive criticism. However, the type of criticism I've gotten from a co-worker there (who only got hired because another worker quit 3 weeks into the program) isn't constructive because it is just accussations yelled out loud, instead of a friendly talk about what needs improvement!