Parents are to blame, period. Good parents can usually overcome bad teachers, good teachers can almost never overcome bad parents...
Home schooling usually produces better students, simply because the children have a sense that their parents actually care about their children being educated. It almost always boils down to the parents...
I live in SC. I volunteer in a very poor school (98.6% below poverty level) 2-3 days per week after school doing math with kids. I've gotten to know a number of teachers. Every school (in the US) is different. So much depends on the quality of the personnel. The Principal here was brought in to turn this 'failing' school around. She doesn't tolerate mediocrity in her teachers. They've made progress and are no longer a 'failing' school. But it's a tough job to get things on the right track -- more parental involvement, kids being taught manners etc. at home. Many of these kids still act up in class and the time teachers spend on disciplinary actions detracts from true teaching time. And with all the challenges of such an environment most of these teachers come back to teach the following year. I've been volunteering 3 years here. I'm anti-union. Prior to trading I worked for one of the Big 3 in Detroit and saw firsthand how lazy some union members could be. And there was never any consequences. Guys slept on the assembly line. Called in sick to go hunting when the season opened. That said, there were union members who worked hard and were conscientious. So IMO it's a mixed bag; whether UAW or teachers unions. Another knock on the unions (for teachers) is that many retire as soon as they're able and then come back and either get a job as a substitute teacher (while drawing their pension) or latch onto a tutoring service (since they're certified teachers). I firmly believe in pay for performance. And I know of two 3rd grade teachers at the school I'm at who do have an incentives this year if they can get ALL of their students to a certain level by year end.
You've got to be pretty crazy to "conclude" that any one influence on kids is to blame. Of course as always its never that simple is it. I'd rest the blame of 3 months wasted a year on the teachers unions, at some point parents who never learn the value of education aren't fufilling their responsibility as parents and youth culture is so garbaged up that its up to the parents to filter the useless parts of it and quit using the excuse 'let them be kids". I always look to asian kids/parents as a model for how to do it right. Must be a proud moment for a parent to have your 12 year old honor student leading an orchestra in concert.
The Harlem Children's Zone is a good example of what can occur in some of the poorest areas. In South Carolina we're trying to get some $$ to run a similar program -- from birth to college. Sadly, such an approach is necessary due to the parents more often than not; parents who don't care, are mired in poverty, hopeless, .... And Michelle Rhee is kicking some ass around in Wash DC. You may not agree with all her approaches but she's gotten rid of some questionable teachers, administrators, etc. What's funny is that I could volunteer in a much more affluent school near my home but you get so much more personal satisfaction working with the kids who have nothing. And amazingly some of them are not just smart, but even gifted. So giving them the positive reinforcement to keep at it may help some of them to not fall into the same situation as their parent(s).
Teaching majors are among the dumbest of all college grads. Plus, America educates everyone, not just the best and the brightest like in China. How do American public schools compare to the rest of the Western world when you factor out the inner city kids?
I'll ask the "gifted and talented" kids I work with who live in poverty. You post shows your lack of comprehension on education, both in the US and worldwide. FYI -- poverty exists throughout the world. Poor kids exist in ALL countries and present greater challenges to the educators, not just in the US.
================ Excellant points,particularly the parents helping .And especially parents/family helping before age 5. Some kids like to learn on Saturday/Sunday, also. And while some unions are known for wasting money/laziness; UPS unions arent known for that at all. Probably a shocker how much private sector school material & home school materials are shipped , with excellance,through UPS unions
You are listening to too much liberal propaganda. 10 times? really? The state of CA alone is predicted to spend 97 billion dollars on education this year...and thats with the CUTS!!! CA is 1 state out of 49. The wars cost maybe 100-200 billion (do not confuse the cost of wars with the cost of maintaining military. We would spend 100s of billions just to maintain even if we were not at war. here is a link to show you how much CA spends just on K-12 (57 billion) http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/StateAgencyBudgets/6010/agency.html the other 40 billion goes to Higher education for CA. Its not the governments job to prepare you for school. Its the parents. But the parents arent home to teach the kids about what what they should be doing in school and helping them with their homework. The parents are busy working 2 jobs so they can give the kids a big house, ipods, cell phones,computers and x-boxs. I dont know how many times I hear parents say "I want to give my kids all the things i never had" which is part of the problem. Give kids everything they want completely destroys their incentive to do any work, not to mention it distracts them from doing homework. If you give children no toys, they will find enjoyment in their school work. But who finds enjoyment in reading or math, when you can watch the latest jonas brothers program, or play your X-box while listening to your ipod? There is more than enough money in education. If anything, it should be cut by 50% at least. All you need in a classroom is a desk, a book, pencil, paper and direction. Thats all the materials you need to learn, but thats only half of what you NEED to learn. You need the drive and only parents can really give the kids that by not corrupting them with distractions.
In addition to the problems mentioned earlier -- as the father of 4 kids... I see a big problem in the way resources are allocated. Particularly skilled teachers. The commies who run the schools want to mix all the kids together for PC and self esteem reasons. The teachers will tell you it that is a lousy way to educate.