Public schools. They have become something of an arena for ideological warfare. If you criticize…read morethem, you risk being called insensitive, disrespectful of teachers, a hater of children, or a nazi. If you praise them, you risk being accused of naivete, of being a simpleton, a sell-out, blind, or a communist. Reviewing schools is loaded with risk. Some will hate you. So how does one figure out how to give an "objective" review, so his words are not shut out by ideological fortress building when they step on a right toe or a left toe.
Location:
Building and Facilities: Modern and in good condition. They should not need replacing for at least fifty years. (Unfortunately, peeling paint brings cries of child cruelty even while children in some countries meet in unpainted one-room school houses without running water or electricity. Really, we don't need to coddle ourselves as much as we do.)
Curriculum choices: Typical. Often monocular, partisan, and cliched, as are all District 6 schools. But the theory is "one size fits all." Some things get painfully repetitious.
Presentation of Curriculum (i.e., Teaching Methods): Typical, average, adequate for some classes, could be improved for many..
Office staff: An occasional reminder is needed in order to allow the staff to deal with parents as Parents, not as taller, wrinklier students. Parents deserve more respect from office staff.
Counselors: Inconsistent. Some drop the ball at times. Some do not inform students or parents of needed adjustments in study habits and performance until it's too late to make a difference.
Teachers: I suppose most have Bachelor's degrees although a few may have Master's degrees. In other words, they are teaching subjects which they essentially *minored* in, when parents should want their children to be taught by teachers who *majored* in - and even mastered - the subjects they are teaching. Anyone can teach. Parents and uncles and aunts and neighbors have done it for thousands, possibly millions of years. Curriculum suppliers can provide all the manuals, visual aids, tests, and anything else a teacher needs, so that someone who has never had a class on how to teach can do it successfully. Teaching isn't the problem, really. Having the knowledge and being able to recall that knowledge and re-express it in vocabulary suited for the class demographics is what is needed. Also, the ability to correlate information and experiences from different disciplines, and the ability to interpret and reason well. That requires strong courses in subject matter and fewer courses in school administration, but don't hold your breath for changes like that. Using appropriate curriculum (books, exercises, etc.) is vital. When politics takes center stage, and cult worship of historical and political figures, then it isn't education any longer. It's indoctrination.
Frontier High is a notch or two above the hypothetical "Average High School" in District 6. It may not be the best, but it is in the top two or three. I am very sad to see District 6 wanting to control diets and health, when they are still scoring so low on their primary, or only responsibility, education.
