For once Democrats are right: Parents are NOT the clients of public schools

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

though it is evident much of your education was lost on you, at least your education was BETTER than what you children received and your grandkids education is SORELY lacking.

Bullshit! You have no proof of any of your stupid assertions. Some schools suck! Most schools don't!

 

[Woodznutz]

“The purpose of a public education in a public school is not to teach kids only what parents want them to be taught. It is to teach them what society needs them to know.

They should be taught what they need to know. Just a brief glance tells you that 'society' has no idea what it 'knows' or what it's doing. It's even worse if they do because then the mess would be deliberate.

 

[Unkotare]

Schools are daycare. That's their most important function. Second is to indoctrinate the youth to accept being coerced to work in the system...

Untrue.

 

[Seymour Flops]

They should be taught what they need to know. Just a brief glance tells you that 'society' has no idea what it 'knows' or what it's doing. It's even worse if they do because then the mess would be deliberate.

Sure, that is what they should be taught. But that is not the function of schools, is the point of the OP.

Public schools will teach kids what the people who run public schools want kids to be taught. They don't care that "we are the parents," and they don't care that "we are the taxpayers." They can be made to care that "we are the voters," but then the voters may still vote in people whose views on education are opposed to the views of parents. Especially when heavily funded teacher unions use their money to support their chosen candidates.

This is the big difference between public and private education. No official at a private school would ever stand in front of parents and say, "we are the educators, so you need to stay out of our business." It would be financial suicide.

 

[Woodznutz]

Sure, that is what they should be taught. But that is not the function of schools, is the point of the OP.

Public schools will teach kids what the people who run public schools want kids to be taught. They don't care that "we are the parents," and they don't care that "we are the taxpayers." They can be made to care that "we are the voters," but then the voters may still vote in people whose views on education are opposed to the views of parents. Especially when heavily funded teacher unions use their money to support their chosen candidates.

This is the big difference between public and private education. No official at a private school would ever stand in front of parents and say, "we are the educators, so you need to stay out of our business." It would be financial suicide.

True. An important purpose of selective private education is to include or support the values of the parents in the child's education.

The bone of contention with advocates of public education is that those parental values are almost universally conservative.

 

[Woodznutz]

(The Center Square) – A weekend Facebook post by the Michigan Democratic Party ignited a hailstorm of criticism, prompting the party to eventually delete the comment early Monday afternoon.

“Not sure where this ‘parents-should-control-what-is-taught-in-schools-because-they-are-our-kids’ is originating, but parents do have the option to choose to send their kids to a hand-selected private school at their own expense if this is what they desire,” the deleted post read.

It continued: “The purpose of a public education in a public school is not to teach kids only what parents want them to be taught. It is to teach them what society needs them to know. The client of the public school is not the parent, but the entire community, the public[.]”

Michigan Democratic Party deletes post claiming parents aren’t ‘client of the public school’

(The Center Square) – A weekend Facebook post by the Michigan Democratic Party ignited a hailstorm of criticism, prompting the party to eventually delete the comment early Monday afternoon.

www.thecentersquare.com

They deleted that post, not because it was false, but because it was too honestly true. The client is always the one who is paying, and for public schools, that does not mean parents. Parents pay for public schools only in so far as they are taxpayers like most other people. People on welfare who may have never filed a tax return except to get a "refundable tax credit," send their kids to public school just like two middle-class parents who are shocked at the bite their local school district takes in property taxes.

The first "public schools" were funded by factory owners and guess what? The schools taught what factory owners needed the next generation to learn. Basic math and reading, of course, but mainly how to follow a schedule, follow rules and follow directions. How to tolerate eight hours a day in a crowded building with few breaks. Then they lobbies local officials to use taxes to pay for the schools that they needed.

Parent do not provide the sole funding for public schools so they cannot expect to have the sole say in what is taught. What the community pays for is children who grow up to be educated in the way that best meets the needs of the community. Parents are the sole providers of the raw product, i.e. the children to be processed through the community education center.

Don't like that? Send your kids to private school, or a small town public district that you can have some political pull with. Because even though the "community" pays the taxes that run the schools, decisions are made through political pull. In the big cities, the teachers unions finance their own school board candidates. So don't be surprised if school boards seem more interested in pleasing teacher unions than in educating your kids the way you want them educated.

How are those 'publically educated' folks doing these days?

 

[SweetSue92]

(The Center Square) – A weekend Facebook post by the Michigan Democratic Party ignited a hailstorm of criticism, prompting the party to eventually delete the comment early Monday afternoon.

“Not sure where this ‘parents-should-control-what-is-taught-in-schools-because-they-are-our-kids’ is originating, but parents do have the option to choose to send their kids to a hand-selected private school at their own expense if this is what they desire,” the deleted post read.

It continued: “The purpose of a public education in a public school is not to teach kids only what parents want them to be taught. It is to teach them what society needs them to know. The client of the public school is not the parent, but the entire community, the public[.]”

Michigan Democratic Party deletes post claiming parents aren’t ‘client of the public school’

(The Center Square) – A weekend Facebook post by the Michigan Democratic Party ignited a hailstorm of criticism, prompting the party to eventually delete the comment early Monday afternoon.

www.thecentersquare.com

They deleted that post, not because it was false, but because it was too honestly true. The client is always the one who is paying, and for public schools, that does not mean parents. Parents pay for public schools only in so far as they are taxpayers like most other people. People on welfare who may have never filed a tax return except to get a "refundable tax credit," send their kids to public school just like two middle-class parents who are shocked at the bite their local school district takes in property taxes.

The first "public schools" were funded by factory owners and guess what? The schools taught what factory owners needed the next generation to learn. Basic math and reading, of course, but mainly how to follow a schedule, follow rules and follow directions. How to tolerate eight hours a day in a crowded building with few breaks. Then they lobbies local officials to use taxes to pay for the schools that they needed.

Parent do not provide the sole funding for public schools so they cannot expect to have the sole say in what is taught. What the community pays for is children who grow up to be educated in the way that best meets the needs of the community. Parents are the sole providers of the raw product, i.e. the children to be processed through the community education center.

Don't like that? Send your kids to private school, or a small town public district that you can have some political pull with. Because even though the "community" pays the taxes that run the schools, decisions are made through political pull. In the big cities, the teachers unions finance their own school board candidates. So don't be surprised if school boards seem more interested in pleasing teacher unions than in educating your kids the way you want them educated.

I'm glad I saw this post. The PARENTS--the collective, the community--should have a lot of input into local schools. Sadly, some individual parents believe they can dictate the exact specifics of their child's education. Nope. To do that, you either homeschool or hire private tutors. We are not built for that.

For example:

In one of my teacher groups, witness a parent who insists that his children, 2nd and 4th grade, have ZERO screen time at school. This means not only individual devices, but projectors. No projected images, like document cameras and such. No instructional videos.

Sir, no.

We don't even have textbooks anymore. Most of our shared text is projected, which is a huge money saver. If you insist on living like it's 1950, then you must homeschool.