Re: education/society

here, here!

David Franzman
A Touch of the Tropics
www.atouchofthetropics.net
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tchessie" <tchessie@comcast.net>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 6:48 PM
Subject: RE: [CHAT] education/society


> Ok- Melody- I'm moving to Iowa!  We have huger and huger schools, teaching
> to test, providing as little help to kids in need as possible.  Elementary
> schools have NO counselors at all in the schools, school psychologist are
> split between 3 school and test only.  There are BIG problems here with
> racism in schools, and increasing ethnic gangs and violence.  I'm pretty
> sick of my job and the politics and elitism. I hope that in a year or 2
max,
> that we can sell the house for a tidy proit, pay off the bills and move
> someplace smaller, cheaper and more caring to live and raise a family.
>
> Phew- I feel better now- thanks for letting me vent!
>
> Theresa
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net]On
> Behalf Of Melody
> Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 1:44 AM
> To: gardenchat@hort.net
> Subject: Re: [CHAT] New oleander now more education
>
>
> Ceres: I absolutely agree with you that big is not always better when it
> comes to school size. My kids go to one of the smaller schools in town,
> only about 300 students and we love it there. It's more like a tight
> knit community this way and the kids and staff spend a great deal of
> time working 1:1 with each other on a variety of projects including team
> building, mentoring, conflict resolution, volunteerism. The 4-6th
> graders all are part of a reading buddies project with the K-3 graders.
> Selected 4-6th graders are part of a Peer Assistance Team, designed to
> build conflict resolution skills. The school's theme for the years is
> the 3 B's: Be respectful, Be helpful, Be a good listener. Of course, no
> elementary school in our district is over 400 or so students and every
> Thursday classes dismiss an hour early (1:45) so that all teachers and
> staff in the district can attend mandatory inservices that help to
> achieve these types of schools. For a community with less than 80,000
> total population, we have 17 elementary schools and we're building
> another one, plus another Jr. High, a new alternative High School, and
> adding on to our two existing high schools, all in an effort to keep
> school sizes down. Obviously, smaller is perceived in the education
> world as better, at least here.
>
>
>
> Melody, IA (Z 5/4)
>
> "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious."
> --Albert Einstein
>
>  --- On Mon 05/17,  < Cersgarden@aol.com > wrote:
> From:  [mailto: Cersgarden@aol.com]
> To: gardenchat@hort.net
> Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 18:29:13 EDT
> Subject: Re: [CHAT] New oleander
>
> In a message dated 5/17/04 5:09:24 PM, jsinger@igc.org writes:<br><br><<
> -encourages <br>a kind of intellectual development that simply does not
> occur in other <br>settings. >><br><br>Jim, in some, I can't say how
> many but at least in the public school where my <br>granddaughters
> attend, there is a program where the older students go to the <br>lower
> level classes and help one on one, reading to the class, helping on a
> <br>field trip and such. The older students must apply and are selected
> by the <br>activities they have been involved in, grades, etc. It is
> prestigious to be one <br>of the team. I'm sure it is not as well
> promoted as montessori but in a small <br>community where montessori is
> not an option it is an attempt to build <br>relations and provide
> mentoring. The other reqmt I am impressed with is the hours of
> <br>volunteering that is rqd of each student annually from middle school
> thru hi <br>school. Graduation is not possible without meeting the
> requirement <br>regardless of grade point. This is a small rural school
> with less than 650 K-12. My o<br>ldest granddaughter, now a college
> student, has very strong feelings that she <br>had the best
> opportunities and campaigns for the small school existence. The
> <br>state is looking at forcing small schools to consolidate. Big is not
> always <br>better.<br>
>
Ceres<br><br>---------------------------------------------------------------
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