Letter to Amanda Greene.. StarNews. ..

Hi, since I read your column about the ipads I thought I'd share an interest of mine.
 
K-12 Schooling for my kids. I home schooled my two oldest who are in their 30's.
 
I also have a 9 yr old boy and a 12 yr old girl now attending Sunset and Williston.

I've taught "slow learners" in reading and math for 5th and 6th grades. This was done while I was on turn-arounds from Vietnam in the 70's.
 
A week before the evening public meeting, I gave a copy of my observations to each of the board at an afternoon policy meeting.
 
Two school board members were kind enough to reply and encouraged me to let my views be known at the next board meeting. I accepted. 
 
I appeared before the school board during the February meeting about the Virgo school issue. During my presentation I quoted from the New Hanover County School Board Vision statement. In it, their goals never included Math, Reading, Writing or History, but it did promise to to teach our children to contribute to the global community and such nice things like "teamwork" and "problem solving".  I said that I'd rather their vision include contributing to their neighborhood, their community, their state, and then their country, before they contribute to any "world community".
 
2 weeks later I go to their website to review the vision again and it was gone. I  then called and asked the lady in charge of technology how I could find it. She said it had been taken down. That vision had not been changed since the new school board took office. They were reviewing it and voting on it soon. I was relieved, but I am curious what changes, if any, were made.
 
I was amazed at the racism exhibited by the supposed representatives of  the black community as I was awaiting my turn to speak. It was not shared by all blacks in attendance though. I told the school board that my children did not learn about Jefferson, Washington, and Franklin from New Hanover County schools, but they sure know who Rosa Parks was. They know about Martin Luther King Jr., they know about slavery.
 
I said it was a pity we aren't teaching our children all the good America has done for the rest of the world and for the freedom of mankind by our very existence. Individual liberty to own property and to prosper without government interference was our blessing  to share and we've tried.
 
 Our children's education system attempts to teach multiple different math concepts including algebra without knowing any basic computation methods thoroughly (adding, subtracting, multiplying and division).
 
3rd graders, who are just getting comfortable with reading, are being tested mainly in word problems, without knowing 3 x 7..They are failing their state tests but doing better in classroom testing when those tests are mainly straight number problems. This alone should tell teachers that children's minds are better suited for memory skills before conceptual skills. The Greeks had been teaching this way for centuries.  We needn't recreate the wheel.
 
I never saw such a waste of my child's time as in the last parent teacher conference. My son is bright. He remembers very well what he wants to remember. He struggled and was deeply embarrassed because he was blanking on all of the passwords and navigation he had to remember to show me his work in Power Point. He needs work on his multiplication tables too. So much time is wasted by our students in logging on and navigating, then typing in a word processor that has spell check. Spell check is no substitute for learning to spell. Computers are great for computing. Otherwise it robs students of the time needed to learn how to spell and to articulate through the written word with understandable handwriting. It would seem simple enough. How many millions are spent on toys for kids in place of manual learning? Is this robbing them of basic skills for the sake of the "newest, neatest thing out there"?
 
I spoke to of classroom environment where they incorporate study group tables scattered about the room, instead of the classic all seat facing forward toward the teacher and a black board. They claim that the "modern" student should be convinced he wants schooling and the best way to do that is to make if "fun and hip". Uh, sorry.. education takes dedication and sacrifice to learn. Focus is more important than study tables for problem solving. A 9 year old facing another 9 year old while the teacher's back is turned while speaking to another study group? It is bad enough to concentrate sitting beside each other facing forward, much less facing each other. Adults might be able to do this sometimes fine, but K-12.? This would handicap my ability to concentrate at those ages.
 
It has been proven time and time again, children respond well to orderly surroundings regardless of "culture". If they are given secure environments that are orderly, they feel safer and then they can concentrate better to learn. Yes humor and other methods are used to entice learning. Toys are more questionable. Smart white boards are questionable. The expense, learning curve, bootups, navigation all contribute to the loss of time and electricity are crippling learning. More confusion is introduced by these devices. Until that student is proficient in spelling, writing legibly, and math basics, keep them off the computer. I'm saddened to see these kids that can barely write or they barely know their math are being given an electronic baby sitter, while the teacher "multi tasks" somewhere else. My wife said they couldn't have destroyed a good learning environment any better if they had done it on purpose.
 
I ended my presentation at the school board by saying that as far as slavery is concerned I've taught my kids to be proud of our country because we did evolve, not embarrassed because we had to. There are other countries that have not followed our lead and it is obvious they have yet to evolve as we toward individual prosperity through freedom. It's not that they are less than we, but they are less free than we.
 
This can be a source of pride to any child in our schools. You want to keep kids in school? Let them be proud to be a free American in an American school. Educators would be surprised at the drop out rate decrease if we inroduced more pride in our development. We are loosing all those kids that don't get the "good stuff" about their country at home. 

No wonder they are so discouraged by high school. All the criticisms as a people they've had to absorb at such an early age would add to insecurity and frustration.

When my then 8 year old daughter came home one day and asked, "Why are white people so mean?", I knew something was wrong. This was done in "white bread" Colorado. I told her that all humans have been cruel, even the American Indian and the African. Africa had slavery before the first European landed and still does. So did the Indians. And then we both went to the library to prove it.
 
If you want a copy of the paper I gave each board member, feel free to let me know. If I come off as a nut case or a "radical" I apologize. I'm blunt at times.

If you wish to post a portion or all of this in any discussion forum at the paper feel free. If the editorial board wants the perspective of a parent that has home schooled, I'd be willing to add my voice to the "professional educators" they've featured thusfar. Maybe its time for a parent's perspective?
 
If you've stuck with me through this, thank you for your patience.
 
Kindest Regards,
 
Gary O"Malley