School of Rocks..

Way to go Amie! I am so proud of you! Hitting your weight loss goals at such an amazing pace! It sucks that everything else is going so crappy. At least it’s one thing to look forward to!
In reference to the hard economic times, I hate to say it, but I feel that it’s only going to get worse in the coming days. At my daughter’s school, the teachers are being made to work so many unpaid days this year and they have also implemented 30 minute early release Wednesdays. This coming from a school that is set up for advanced students, and made it known that there would be longer school days, etc. I find it a little irritating, to say the least. To be honest, I think that instead of starting a 30 minute early release schedule, they should just add less days to the school year. In a nut shell, that’s what they are doing. If you figure it out throughout the year, I’m sure it would cover at least a few of the days that the teachers are being made to work unpaid and probably keep everyone happy in the end.
Today is the first day of school for our city. With budget cuts and other changes, school closures, and everything else hitting us financially (that the government says is getting better), I don’t see a positive change yet for our kids’ education. While I believe we do have a lot of options educationally speaking, I also believe it has been proven that most of our children in America are behind the bar so to speak when it comes to education.
What are the differences? Where does America’s education lack? Many other countries teach their students many different languages, etc. Which I think is a definite positive, but not a necessity. But when it comes to the everyday knowledge that is needed in life, are American kids lacking? Personally, I don’t have that answer. I think every kid is different and learns at different levels and speeds. Being that I don’t have much knowledge of the education systems in these other countries, I can’t really say. I wonder if these other countries have programs in place to take care of the students who need extra help, such as our ‘no child left behind’? Are the children that can’t meet the expectations ostracized? Who knows? I’m just glad that my daughter is getting the best education available to her and taking advantage of the programs she is eligible for (educationally speaking).
Let’s just hope the funding doesn’t run out and in order to send our kids to school we have to pay for it. Because I don’t know that I would be able to afford the type of education that she deserves or gets now.