http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906 After returning from&nbsp;2 months&nbsp;in Iceland, I decided to stay off the Internet for a while and have been happily successful. However, I felt the need to share the message below. I received it today from my friend the teacher. My take on what she wrote is that schools will not change until parents in large numbers step up to the plate to support their child's education by regularly helping out at school. Student achievement is directly related to parent involvement. Directly. If you are reading this and are the parent of a public school kid, you likely already help your local school (if not, you need to!). Please encourage every one of your parent-friends to get involved with their child's school. That is the only way the &quot;public school problem&quot; will ever improve. &nbsp; -&gt;&gt;sometimes life stinks, so i need to remember how small i am in all of this, how small we all are -&gt;&gt; most who care at all would agree, i think, public schools are in deep trouble. the one i'm at now is staffed by hard, hard working idealists who put in long, long hours... yet despite the cheerful, intelligent, &amp; committed people i know my teacher friends to be, our district, the largest k-8 in ca, suffers terribly (except for its pet school, which unfairly has the king's share of the $$). leaving late from school, i just had terrible, terrible news, heard something that broke my heart for everyone involved &amp; saddened me deeply about the &quot;handwriting on the wall&quot; for public schools &amp; their students. -&gt; problems will only worsen as schools get bigger &amp; poorer &amp; monies are funneled twd standardized testing instead of meeting children's basic needs (love, safety, nourishment). kids have gotten much wilder, since i started teaching yrs ago; i correlate it w/the onset of internet &amp; video games, when kids' awareness of &quot;fame&quot; as the ultimate goal &amp; the &quot;necessity&quot; of having high-$ toys caused children to acquire the venal &quot;adult&quot; mindset of acquisition over everything. in public schools, &quot;highly qualified&quot; staff gets ever-scarcer, for who'd want to be a scapegoated teacher nowadays, overworked, underpaid, blamed for society's ills? hardworking idealists, that's who. people who love kids &amp; know they're the future. people who never give up &amp; can take a hit because they know what they do is good &amp; right. unfortunately, increasingly, we're not bred as a society to be hardworking OR idealistic, OR to think of much else besides buying stuff. 2 in 5 teachers quit in their 1st few yrs: your kids likely are taught by someone who's just learning the ropes, &amp;, just a few yrs from now, burnt out &amp; heartbroken, likely will give up before they have even reached mastery. the public school system is sick, hamstrung by evil governmental priorities (testing over children's well-being) &amp; societal &quot;norms&quot; that encourage sociopathy &amp; addiction. as the educational testing trend continues, less &amp; less adequately-qualified adults will pursue or stay with teaching. the ones who suffer will be children. today i am heartsick, but know on another level this means i must not give up because my job, tho i complain about it, is too important. After returning from&nbsp;2 months&nbsp;in Iceland, I decided to stay off the Internet for a while and have been happily successful. However, I felt the need to share the message below. I received it today from my friend the teacher. My take on what she wrote is that schools will not change until parents in large numbers step up to the plate to support their child's education by regularly helping out at school. Student achievement is directly related to parent involvement. Directly. If you are reading this and are the parent of a public school kid, you likely already help your local school (if not, you need to!). Please encourage every one of your parent-friends to get involved with their child's school. That is the only way the &quot;public school problem&quot; will ever improve. &nbsp; -&gt;&gt;sometimes life stinks, so i need to remember how small i am in all of this, how small we all are -&gt;&gt; most who care at all would agree, i think, public schools are in deep trouble. the one i'm at now is staffed by hard, hard working idealists who put in long, long hours... yet despite the cheerful, intelligent, &amp; committed people i know my teacher friends to be, our district, the largest k-8 in ca, suffers terribly (except for its pet school, which unfairly has the king's share of the $$). leaving late from school, i just had terrible, terrible news, heard something that broke my heart for everyone involved &amp; saddened me deeply about the &quot;handwriting on the wall&quot; for public schools &amp; their students. -&gt; problems will only worsen as schools get bigger &amp; poorer &amp; monies are funneled twd standardized testing instead of meeting children's basic needs (love, safety, nourishment). kids have gotten much wilder, since i started teaching yrs ago; i correlate it w/the onset of internet &amp; video games, when kids' awareness of &quot;fame&quot; as the ultimate goal &amp; the &quot;necessity&quot; of having high-$ toys caused children to acquire the venal &quot;adult&quot; mindset of acquisition over everything. in public schools, &quot;highly qualified&quot; staff gets ever-scarcer, for who'd want to be a scapegoated teacher nowadays, overworked, underpaid, blamed for society's ills? hardworking idealists, that's who. people who love kids &amp; know they're the future. people who never give up &amp; can take a hit because they know what they do is good &amp; right. unfortunately, increasingly, we're not bred as a society to be hardworking OR idealistic, OR to think of much else besides buying stuff. 2 in 5 teachers quit in their 1st few yrs: your kids likely are taught by someone who's just learning the ropes, &amp;, just a few yrs from now, burnt out &amp; heartbroken, likely will give up before they have even reached mastery. the public school system is sick, hamstrung by evil governmental priorities (testing over children's well-being) &amp; societal &quot;norms&quot; that encourage sociopathy &amp; addiction. as the educational testing trend continues, less &amp; less adequately-qualified adults will pursue or stay with teaching. the ones who suffer will be children. today i am heartsick, but know on another level this means i must not give up because my job, tho i complain about it, is too important. en-us Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:03:25 PST <p>There are good studies supporting the use of parent involvement studies to improve student achievement.&nbsp; The studies&nbsp;demonstrate improvements&nbsp;across all cultures and socioeconomic groups.&nbsp; It's a necessary component of developing a culture of learning that will support student development throughout the learning process.</p> <p>There are also many options for schools wanting to improve parent involvement.&nbsp; Programs that have been studied and seem to work, such as programs that use the net to communicate and require grade and assignment checks as well as those that build ties between teachers and parents.</p> <p>In some cases, improved parent involvement may not be possible but mentoring can go a long way in filling the gap.&nbsp; It would be nice to see the local schools working to improve the situation by examining such options.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_200773 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_200773 <p>There are good studies supporting the use of parent involvement studies to improve student achievement.&nbsp; The studies&nbsp;demonstrate improvements&nbsp;across all cultures and socioeconomic groups.&nbsp; It's a necessary component of developing a culture of learning that will support student development throughout the learning process.</p> <p>There are also many options for schools wanting to improve parent involvement.&nbsp; Programs that have been studied and seem to work, such as programs that use the net to communicate and require grade and assignment checks as well as those that build ties between teachers and parents.</p> <p>In some cases, improved parent involvement may not be possible but mentoring can go a long way in filling the gap.&nbsp; It would be nice to see the local schools working to improve the situation by examining such options.</p> <p>parents should speak out against the standardized testing madness. the board of education meetings are a good place to start - the fourth tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm at 1300 baker street.</p> <p>my friend's daughter goes to school with children who are homeless, from one parent families, are left unattended while mom works her butt off to keep them off the street. some parents are just gang-bangers. some kids seem to be abused. some parents simply are lazy. some are like me and should be more involved, but are not.</p> <p>with that reality, i think schools more realistically should be teaching kids how to be good people, who positive role models are, how to take care of themselves (safety/health), how to help other people and prepare for their future, and more. this trend used to be called character education. it got a bad name because people said the schools were trying to tell their kids what to think.</p> <p>somebody needs to!. i think that kids are getting most of their character development from faulty and questionable tv and movie and music personalities or from each other. the schools need to step in and offer some better role models and ideas. people say kids have to learn the basics first, but kids can't learn anything if they are hungry, lonely, desperate, or scared.  parents generally are not providing the support that would help kids deal with these feelings, for many reasons.</p> <p>we need to stop blaming the teachers, change the testing model toward something that helps kids more fundamentally, and get more involved, each one of us. as written above, the children are the future.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_200775 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_200775 <p>parents should speak out against the standardized testing madness. the board of education meetings are a good place to start - the fourth tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm at 1300 baker street.</p> <p>my friend's daughter goes to school with children who are homeless, from one parent families, are left unattended while mom works her butt off to keep them off the street. some parents are just gang-bangers. some kids seem to be abused. some parents simply are lazy. some are like me and should be more involved, but are not.</p> <p>with that reality, i think schools more realistically should be teaching kids how to be good people, who positive role models are, how to take care of themselves (safety/health), how to help other people and prepare for their future, and more. this trend used to be called character education. it got a bad name because people said the schools were trying to tell their kids what to think.</p> <p>somebody needs to!. i think that kids are getting most of their character development from faulty and questionable tv and movie and music personalities or from each other. the schools need to step in and offer some better role models and ideas. people say kids have to learn the basics first, but kids can't learn anything if they are hungry, lonely, desperate, or scared.  parents generally are not providing the support that would help kids deal with these feelings, for many reasons.</p> <p>we need to stop blaming the teachers, change the testing model toward something that helps kids more fundamentally, and get more involved, each one of us. as written above, the children are the future.</p> <p>That and the use of schools to&nbsp;indoctrinate, the&nbsp;children with&nbsp;special interest groups ideologies is just going to drive every loving parent who can afford to; out of the public schools and into private or home schooling.&nbsp; But then they will just pass a law that all kids must attend public schools and maybe house the in dormitories so they are not exposed to any contradictory influence.&nbsp; California Uber Allis.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff0000">P.S. Tell us about Iceland</span></p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_200802 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_200802 <p>That and the use of schools to&nbsp;indoctrinate, the&nbsp;children with&nbsp;special interest groups ideologies is just going to drive every loving parent who can afford to; out of the public schools and into private or home schooling.&nbsp; But then they will just pass a law that all kids must attend public schools and maybe house the in dormitories so they are not exposed to any contradictory influence.&nbsp; California Uber Allis.</p> <p><span style="color: #ff0000">P.S. Tell us about Iceland</span></p> <p>Great post, Carlalafong, and some good takes on our most puzzling dilemma.</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_201401 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_201401 <p>Great post, Carlalafong, and some good takes on our most puzzling dilemma.</p> <p>no puzzle</p> <p>liberal socialistic ideologies have failed all around the globe</p> <p>examples abound</p> <p>and yet while most of the world is trending more toward capitalism and increased individual responsibility, we are going the other way</p> <p>in 2009 I suspect this trend will be accelerated</p> <p>greatly!</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_201407 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_201407 <p>no puzzle</p> <p>liberal socialistic ideologies have failed all around the globe</p> <p>examples abound</p> <p>and yet while most of the world is trending more toward capitalism and increased individual responsibility, we are going the other way</p> <p>in 2009 I suspect this trend will be accelerated</p> <p>greatly!</p> <p><span style="font-size: small">Interesting post Carla~ teachers have my utmost thanks for the job they do and the sacrifices they make.</span></p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_201410 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/carlalafong/21906/#c_201410 <p><span style="font-size: small">Interesting post Carla~ teachers have my utmost thanks for the job they do and the sacrifices they make.</span></p>