Crimes in Public Schools

Parents, teachers, and students expect schools to be a safe place. Acts of violence disrupt the learning process, not to mention having a profoundly negative emotional impact on those affected by violence. According to a recent report on crime and student safety by the CDC and the Department of Education, students aged twelve through eighteen are the victims of more than 2.7 million crimes at school each year. Over the past year, fifteen percent of all high school students reported being involved in a physical altercation on school property. Just how common are crimes on campuses?

28 percent of students in middle and high school reported being bullied in the last six months.A significant portion of these students also admitted avoiding one or more places for their own safety. Nearly 20% of students in middle and high school report being threatened with a beating.

According to the Gun-Free Schools Act Report, nearly four thousand students are expelled each year for bringing a gun with them. Perhaps surprisingly, more than a third of these expulsions involve middle school students, and a tenth involve even younger students. Parents, teachers, and students expect schools to be a safe place. Acts of violence disrupt the learning process, not to mention having a profoundly negative emotional impact on those affected by school violence. According to a recent report on school crime and student safety by the CDC and the Department of Education, students aged twelve through eighteen are the victims of more than 2.7 million crimes at school each year. Over the past year, fifteen percent of all high school students reported being involved in a physical altercation on school property. Just how common are crimes on school campuses?

28 percent of students in middle school and high school reported being bullied in the last six months.A significant portion of these students also admitted avoiding one or more places at school for their own safety. Nearly 20% of students in middle and high school report being threatened with a beating.

According to the Gun-Free Schools Act Report, nearly four thousand students are expelled each year for bringing a gun to school. Perhaps surprisingly, more than a third of these expulsions involve middle school students, and a tenth involve even younger students. School violence might be a stereotypically high school occurrence, but it happens at all levels of the school system, even among kids as young as seven or eight years old.

In addition to incidents involving firearms, there are also thousands of other crimes, from physical assault to threat to vandalism, happening on school campuses worldwide. Not only gun-related expulsions, but also violence in general, is actually more common in middle schools than at high schools. Students aged twelve through fourteen are more likely than older students to become victims of crime at school.

It is likely that violence, theft, and drugs will continue to be significant problems in the school system. A tenth of all high school students reported being threatened with, or injured with, a weapon in the previous year. Students in middle or high school are more likely to be victims of theft while at school than while away for college. A quarter reported that drugs had been offered to them on school property within the past year.

The point to take away from this is that kids are not immune from violence in schools, no matter their age. This might seem like an urban high school problem, but it happens in schools of all sizes, and in all locations. A staggering 86 percent of all public schools reported one or more serious violent incidents in the 2005-2006 school year. The overall crime rate within schools is 46 reported crimes each year per 1,000 students. If you have a child at school, no matter their age, they must be prepared to deal with the possibility of such situations arising.

Your options to protect your children from violence at school are unfortunately limited. The vast majority of schools have a 'no tolerance' policy, meaning that students may not carry such devices as pepper spray or a stun gun. They can, however, bring a personal alarm to school, and this can be invaluable in alerting teachers and other adults to a violent or potentially violent confrontation. Violence might be a stereotypically high school occurrence, but it happens at all levels of the school system, even among kids as young as seven or eight years old.

In addition to incidents involving firearms, there are also thousands of other crimes, from physical assault to threat to vandalism, happening on campuses worldwide. Not only gun-related expulsions, but also violence in general, is actually more common in middle than at high schools. Students aged twelve through fourteen are more likely than older students to become victims of crime there.

It is likely that violence, theft, and drugs will continue to be significant problems in the education system. A tenth of all high school students reported being threatened with, or injured with, a weapon in the previous year. Students in middle or high school are more likely to be victims of theft while at school than while away for school. A quarter reported that drugs had been offered to them on school property within the past year.

The point to take away from this is that kids are not immune from violence in schools, no matter their age. This might seem like an urban high school problem, but it happens in schools of all sizes, and in all locations. A staggering 86 percent of all public schools reported one or more serious violent incidents in the 2005-2006 school year. The overall crime rate within schools is 46 reported crimes each year per 1,000 students. If you have a child at school, no matter their age, they must be prepared to deal with the possibility of such situations arising.

Your options to protect your children from violence at school are unfortunately limited. The vast majority of schools have a 'no tolerance' policy, meaning that students may not carry such devices as pepper spray or a stun gun. They can, however, bring a personal alarm to school, and this can be invaluable in alerting teachers and other adults to a violent or potentially violent confrontation.

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Three Fundraising Advantages That Private Schools Have Over Public Schools

While the vast majority of children in the United States attend a public school and receive a solid education, there are thousands of private schools that offer an excellent alternative. I have worked as an elementary principal of a private school, and I've had my own children in the public system. Therefore, I've seen the good and the bad of each situation.

There are many positive aspects to a public institution, but in this article, I will discuss the advantages that private schools enjoy when it specifically comes to the issue of fundraising.

Self-Reliance

I once had lunch with the administrator from another private elementary school. This man was new to his job, but had over 20 years experience in the public school system. He knew all the ins and outs of standardized testing, of meeting state educational requirements, and he even knew quite a bit about staff management.

However, he asked me to lunch to pick my brain on the topic of fundraising. For this man's entire professional career, the vast majority of the funding need to run his school came from the state. He was never forced to hold an auction or a golf outing. Sure, the PTO had some bake sales, and kids sold cookie dough from time to time, but for all the important stuff, like payroll, building maintenance, and certain supplies, the state just doled out the cash when necessary.

Now however, this man found himself in a situation where parents had to pay tuition, there was no state money, and they had to meet any budget shortfalls with increases in fundraising. He was pretty nervous about such a tall order.

Having spent my entire adult life working for non-profit agencies, I was quite used to this notion of paying for everything ourselves. So, I see this as a distinct advantage for private schools. At the end of the day, we don't have anyone to bail us out of financial difficulty. If a donor steps up and helps us out, it was only because we developed a relationship over time, so he felt comfortable making such a gift.

We at the private schools have had to build these networks of support, we've had to become experts at organizing silent auctions, at developing relationships with businesses in town that will support us, and at coming up with creative new spins of product sales.

In the end, I think that private schools are therefore more equipped to handle financial challenges, because we know how to survive on a day to day basis.

Alumni Development

Since private schools are usually smaller than their public counterparts, we often don't have the large numbers of people to talk to when we try to raise money. Therefore, private schools often look to widen their audience, a common tactic is to turn to our alumni ranks for financial support.

If alumni are properly developed over time, they can prove to be a very valuable resource. Alumni can attend auctions and golf outings, they can establish scholarship funds, they can initiate building drives and pay for the naming rights of certain rooms or halls, and they can help with recruitment of new students. Basically, with the right motivation and encouragement, alumni can generate cash for the private school in a big way!

Now, a lot of work goes into developing alumni properly. It all starts when the person is actually a student. The school needs to create such a positive atmosphere that the impact will stay with the student for his whole life. This applies to the academics, the quality of teachers, the quality of fellow classmates, the school building itself, the extracurricular programs, the school athletics, the rivalries with other schools, even the school mascot and "spirit-ware" (t-shirts, hats, etc.)

As soon as the student leaves the school, the school needs to establish a post-institutional relationship with him. Letters, newsletters, websites, reunions, and networking opportunities with the entire alumni organization will help the student make the transition to fully engaged alumnus/alumna.

Again, if a private school can successfully tap into this market, it will have a huge advantage over public schools in the fundraising arena.

Built in Community

The third area that I noticed private schools having a fundraising advantage over public schools was in the concept of community. In my experience, I saw that families at the private school felt more linked to one another than do the families I've seen in the public schools. Perhaps this was due to the much small class sizes.

Since there were so fewer families, I was able to get to personally know all the families who had their children enrolled at our private school. I was aware of the various challenges each family had at any one time and how those challenges played out in the lives of their children on a daily basis. I was able to make very strong connections with a great number of the families.

Not to take away from the genuine-ness of the relationships, but it did help the school's fundraising efforts when we all felt we were "in it together". If a parent knew we at the school really helped their child out during a tough time, they would be perhaps more likely to volunteer or to donate money. Again, I'm afraid that this sounds calculated and insincere, but it wasn't. There was a natural bonding between the school and its families, because we shared something so important in common: their children.

That's why I feel it's so important for the leaders of the school to make an effort to be involved in their lives of their families. Whatever you can do to help your students and their parents will be incredibly appreciated. They will benefit, and in the long run, the school will benefit from the friendship, as well.

Conclusion

I have been involved at both a public school and a private school, although I will admit my experience is much deeper in the private school. While both have strong fundraising advantages, both struggle with built-in disadvantages. The lesson I've learned is to make the most of whichever situation you find yourself in and do your best to maximize your strengths!

About the Author: James Berigan is a former school principal who enjoys guiding schools with their fundraising efforts. He writes for the Top School Fundraisers blog at http://TopSchoolFundraisers.com/news which includes a variety of ideas for elementary school fundraisers and PTO/PTA Fundraisers.

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Public Schools - Our Education Garbage Dump

Suppose a contractor was building a house for you, and for some strange reason he convinced you to build your house on a garbage dump. The house was supposed to cost $150,000 to build, but the contractor is having problems. Every time he tries to lay his foundations, the foundations sink in the earth that has been rotted out by garbage.

So the contractor keeps trying new ways to fortify the earth to hold the foundations. He tries steel rods in the earth. He tries a different kind of concrete. But everything he tries doesn't work because the garbage dump simply won't support any foundation he tries to pour. Every time the contractor tries something new, the price of the house escalates. His "experiments" push the price to $350,000. Of course you are getting disgusted and think maybe the problem is a structural one that can't be fixed -- that you'll never be able to sink a solid foundation on a garbage dump.

The contractor, who doesn't seem to have a waiting list of other customers, keeps saying if you give him another $100,000, then another $100,000, he is sure he'll be able to come up with a way to lay your foundation and build your house. But you are bankrupt by now, so you have to walk away from the house.

The same scenario has been running for the past fifty years in our education garbage dumps called public schools. As the education they're giving our kids gets progressively worse, the educrats and Boards of Education keep whining in unison that they don't have enough money to do a good job, the schools are overcrowded, teachers salaries are too "low," millions are needed to repair the dilapidated schools, and on and on.

"Just give us more money," the educrats whine. "Look at the condition of our schools. See how overcrowded they are. How do you expect to get good teachers if you don't pay them more? All we need is more money, more billions. Then we will teach your children better." It's the same chant, over and over again. It is one of the favorite excuses spewed out by the educational establishment to rationalize the failure of public schools.

The problem is that our public schools are a government-controlled education garbage dump. No matter how much money we pump into them, they will not improve because the foundations of the system are structurally rotten. They will not improve because a government-run system, by its nature, strangles educational quality and innovation.

Innovation only comes from the fierce competition of a free market. That's why our cars, food, and computers, keep improving in quality every year. Every manufacturer who competes for your consumer dollar has to constantly improve his products to convince you to buy from him. Every car or computer maker must prove to you that his product is better, safer, or cheaper than his competitors. The only way he can do this, and maintain your loyalty as a customer year after year, is to live up to his promises. Competition constantly drives the free-market to continually improve quality, competence, and innovation in all the products we buy.

Public schools, in contrast, are government-owned and operated as a monopoly. There is little competition. The schools get their students by force, through compulsory attendance laws. They get their funds by force, through compulsory real estate taxes. If the school is incompetent, it does not go out of business. If the tenured teachers are incompetent, it's almost impossible to fire them.

Most private schools are expensive. Also, parents who struggle to send their kids to private school still have to pay compulsory real estate taxes to "support" public schools. The average family pays almost forty percent of their income in taxes, leaving little extra for private schools. That's why most parents can't afford these schools. The high taxes force both parents into the workforce, making it difficult for one parent to stay at home to home-school their children. As a result, government schools may not have a legal monopoly to educate our kids, but they have a de-facto monopoly, and the educrats know this.

That is why the educrats can experiment on our kids like guinea pigs, trying out every wacko educational theory their teacher colleges dream up. One such theory was the disastrous "whole-language" reading instruction method that turned millions of kids into illiterates. That is their idea of "innovation."

The only problem is that their "innovations" are not tested in the crucible of the free market. Parents are not given the right or ability to accept or reject these "innovations" by public-school commissars. If the educrats' "innovation" doesn't work, and parents think the school is incompetent, the school doesn't go out of business.

To cover their embarrassment at the constant failure of these "innovations," the educrats then blame everyone but themselves. They blame the kids, the parents, "poverty," or "society." Or, they say they need more billions of dollars to try a new variation of the "innovation" that didn't work for the last ten years. Parents can't take their kids out of these failed schools because they can't afford the private schools. The free-market can't punish these public schools for their incompetence and poor results because these schools are an insulated government monopoly and the teachers are protected by tenure.

If government schools ruin children's education and futures with their failed policies, why give them more billions of dollars? In fact, giving public schools more money to continue their education crimes against our kids would be criminal. It would be like giving more money to a drug addict so he could buy more cocaine and do more damage to his brain.

What matters is what the schools teach, how they teach, and if they are held accountable for what they teach. In government schools, there is no accountability. It is only government institutions like public schools that have the audacity to ask for more billions of dollars the worse they get. In effect, they profit from their incompetence.

But the educrats cannot do otherwise. If they don't ask for more money, they can't use money as an excuse, and are admitting failure. If they admit failure, they are admitting the failure of the entire government-school system. Just as the communists in the former Soviet Union could not admit failure, so public-school educrats cannot admit failure. They must make a constant stream of excuses why our children are being turned into illiterates, and why they waste twelve years of our children's lives. They must constantly ask for more billions of dollars to "improve" the system, even though the government-controlled system is beyond repair.

Here's one example of the "value" of giving more money to public schools. In 1984, as a result of a desegregation lawsuit and orders from U.S. District Judge Russell Clark, . . . "Kansas City spent $2 billion building the most expensive school system in the world. Beginning teacher salaries rose from a low of $17,000 to a high of $47,851. Fifteen new schools were constructed and 70 had additions or renovations. The luxurious facilities include a planetarium, a vivarium, greenhouses, a model United Nations wired for language translation, radio and television studios, movie editing and screening rooms, swimming pools, a zoo, a farm, a wildland area, a temperature-controlled art gallery, and 15 computers per classroom. Students can study Suzuki violin, animal science, and robotics. Language instruction spans French to Swahili."

"Despite the extraordinary facilities and massive sums of money, student performance is so low that recently the state had to strip the Kansas City School District of its accreditation. The school district has fewer students and is less integrated that in 1984 when Judge Clark took control of the school district in order to achieve "mathematical racial balance." (Paul Craig Roberts, The Washington Times, Dec., 9, 1999).

This is just one example of many. If a school's competence and teaching methods are not put to the test of free-market competition, if schools are not punished for incompetence by going out of business, if teachers are not punished for incompetence by being fired, no amount of money in the world will improve the schools. Only the free market will.

The best thing we can do for our kids is to shut down the public-school garbage dumps permanently, once and for all. Let each parent pay for their own child's education in a low-cost, competent, vibrant, and fiercely competitive free-market education system.

Joel Turtel is an education policy analyst and syndicated columnist. He is also the author of ?Public Schools, Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our Children" and ?The Welfare State: No Mercy For the Middle Class.? Contact Information: Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com Email: lbooksusa@aol.com Article Copyrighted c 2007 by Joel Turtel. NOTE: You may post this Article on another website only if you set up a hyperlink to Joel Turtel?s email address and website URL, http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com

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The Public School Bias Against Home Schooling Parents

It’s becoming more and more obvious, as research on the success of home schooling is making clear, that home schooling is outperforming the US public school system in the quality of the education, self-esteem, and social awareness it instills in its students. And there are large numbers of public school authorities who are not happy with that realization.

The Tyranny Of Tenure

The public school system, to be fair, is saddled with regulations which make necessary change almost impossible. The tenure policy in most public school districts, for instance, prevents the firing of tenured teachers and school officials, and allows incompetent or unmotivated teachers who have hung on long enough to achieve tenure the security of lifetime employment. They are free to under educate our children whose parents cannot afford to put their children in private schools.

If tenured public school teachers were held to the same standards as private school teachers who are up for job reviews on a regular basis, they might take a different attitude toward fighting to maintain their tenured status. And home schooling might not have become the education method of choice for millions of American families.

It is nothing less than a catastrophic embarrassment for thousands of public school districts that parents with not formal training in education are outdistancing their teaching staffs in the quality of the education which they are giving their children.

Public school authorities would much prefer that the parents in their school districts operate under the belief that teaching should be reserved for degreed and state-certified teachers. But the statistics indicate that parents who home school who have never been within a mile of a teachers’ college or had a single college-level course in education are proving better teachers than those on the public school faculties.

The Eroding Tax Support

Another reason public school officials are livid about the number of parents choosing to home school is that the public school system loses, on the average, $7500 in government funding for each child removed from it. The public school system in the US is funded by tax revenues and each school district gets money according to the number of students enrolled. Form that money it pays for its teaching staff, and as the number of students drops, the number of faculty must be cut as well. Bye-bye gravy train.

Until the 1980s, in fact, home schooling parents [http://www.homeschoolresults.com/Articles/Home_Schooling_Resource.php] win most states faces truancy and neglect charges for choosing to keep their children out of the public school system. But over the last twenty-five years, parents outraged about the deteriorating public school systems have pressured the state courts to recognize their right to home school, and they now can in all fifty states. The legal home schooling requirements, however, still vary from state to state.

If the public school officials in your school district are harassing your over your decision to home school, consider joining the joining the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). They will provide you with legal representation should you require it in order to continue home schooling your children. Their website is at [http://www.hsdls.org].

You can also find more info on Home Schooling Programs [http://www.homeschoolresults.com/Articles/Home_Schooling_Programs.php] and Home Schooling Curriculum [http://www.homeschoolresults.com/Articles/Home_Schooling_Curriculum.php]. homeschoolresults.com is a comprehensive resource to get information about Home School Results.

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7 Deadly Myths about Public School

Myth #1: "Public schools aren't as good as private schools."

First off, this is rather a meaningless assertion to begin with, since there's no such thing as a "typical" public school. Because the American public school system is decentralized, quality varies tremendously. The fact is, however, that, depending on what indicator you choose to use, many public schools outperform private schools.

It is important to understand that knowledge has no address. Knowledge does not "reside" in one location or another. In fact, now that the internet has broken down nearly all the barriers that once limited information access, this reality is more true than ever. Your child can get a first class, quality education from your local public school.

Saying that private schools are "better" than public schools is a lot like saying that books you purchase from Barnes & Noble are "better" than those you obtain from your local public library. The knowledge, the access is the same. It's what you (and your child) do with the books that matters. Likewise, it is what you and your child do with your public school that will determine his or her educational outcomes.

Frankly, we think that blaming your child's public school if your child is not achieving academically is a lot like blaming your gym if you're out of shape. It's not the fault of the institution; it's what you do there that makes the crucial difference.

Your child can absolutely still obtain an Ivy league-worthy education from the public school system. That's assuming that he or she is willing to work hard in the top level classes, of course.

Myth #2: "Private schools have better teachers than public schools."

Let's address this one head-on. Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicate that public school teachers are better educated than private school teachers with more experience, on average. For example, public school teachers are more likely to have a master's degree than private school teachers.

Public schools experience less teacher turnover, mainly because public school teachers are much better paid. This means public school teachers are more experienced. Also, Public schools require professional credentials for teachers and administrators. Many private school teachers work there because they lack the required credentials for a public school job.

It is undoubtedly true that public schools have their share of teachers who are duds, so you are going to have to be proactive about seeking out the best teachers for your child. Stay alert and stay in touch with guidance personnel to steer your towards the most talented teachers.

Myth #3: "My child will meet bad influences in public school."

It's true that public schools have to serve everyone, including students who have no interest in learning. But they don't have to serve them all equally. Because of tracking, every public school of sufficient size has "schools within the school"--subsets of high achieving students who take classes together. The environment within this subset is entirely different from what exists in lower-achieving classrooms.

It's also a mistake to assume that private schools are filled with high achievers. Many children in private school were placed there precisely because they failed to do what they needed to do to achieve in public school. Some even go to private school because they were expelled from public school! This is certainly not the minority, but it does happen.

Don't kid yourself into believing that private schools somehow insulate your children from bad influences. Depending on the student culture, the environment in a private school can be extremely decadent, anti-intellectual, and drug-fueled.

Remember: the higher tracks are the "inside track" to higher achievement and high-performing peers within public schools.

Myth #4: "Public schools lack academic rigor."

It used to be true that a student who didn't care much about learning could slide through high school in low-level classes and "earn" a diploma without learning much. Recent changes in accountability and exit-testing have largely eliminated this option, and public schools now face the predictable problem of large numbers of low-achieving students not graduating.

On the other end of the grading scale, however, more public school students than ever are now taking advantage of high caliber learning opportunities such as AP and Honors courses, which--at their best--rival what is available in the most exclusive private schools.

There are multiple realities in a typical public school, but students who are motivated to challenge themselves with the highest level of classes are apt to find that intellectual challenges are abundant in public school. (Your typical public school teacher is more likely to complain that too few students rise to the challenge than that too few challenges exist for motivated students.)

Consider this factoid, as well: 64% of admitted Harvard students went to public school. If there were enough challenges for these students in public school, there are enough challenges for your child, as well.

Myth #5: "My child will have better extracurricular activities in private school."

This one is a no-brainer. Public schools, due to their sheer size both in terms of budget and student numbers, have the competititve edge in offering a wider array of extracurricular opportunities. This is definitely an area in which the public schools excel.

Public schools clearly have the advantage in terms of being able to offer more competitive athletic programs and a full selection of band and orchestral choices. Small private schools just don't have the numbers to support the same breadth of offerings--at least not at a competitive level.

The reality is, some extracurriculars may become so competitive at the public high school that it is difficult for a casual participant to make the teams or achieve distinction. In this case, a private school might provide greater opportunities for involvement. It is important to point out that programs wax or wane within public schools, depending on personnel and the quality of student involvement.

Myth #6: "I have to live in a rich neighborhood to find good public schools."

This myth seems to make sense on its face. It seems logical to assume that the public schools in the more affluent areas would be "better" than the public schools in less affluent areas. Because the tax base is stronger, you would expect to find increased support for school funding, as well.

Don't assume that this is necessarily the case, however. The fact of the matter is that people living in affluent communities tend to have fewer children. (Or, none at all. Sometimes people decide to focus on earning money instead of rearing children, or affluent communities may include many older adults with grown children.) Hence, support for the public schools may be lacking.

Also, affluent families may not balk at the cost of private education, so the public schools may find themselves left with only the students from the lowest socioeconomic sectors. The children of affluent families also tend not to be "upwardly-mobile" and the schools in affluent areas are prone to taking on a cultural sense of entitlement. This is not a helpful environment for those seeking academic advancement for their children.

The reality is that public schools tend to excel in areas with a strong middle class. Public school teachers tend to come from the middle classes and to be drawn to these types of schools. So, as long as you are avoiding severely under-funded schools in impoverished areas, do not worry that your child is not attending the "posh" public school in your area.

Myth #7: "I have no choice but to send my child to my local public school."

This has traditionally been the case, but is no longer necessarily true. Options are expanding. For one thing, many public school districts are willing to accept "out-of-area" students. Usually, this depends on enrollment numbers. Some school districts may impose a "tuition" fee; others may not. It never hurts to ask. Also, within your own district, you may be able to request permission for your child to attend a different school than the one he or she is "zoned" to attend. Again, the amount of flexibility possibility may depend upon enrollment numbers. Sometimes, a district may be happy to honor this type of request, if it helps to relieve crowding in one school.

"School choice" has been a hot-button political issue for some time. Despite the fact that it has never really officially caught on, it does seem that there is a trend towards increased school options. This probably also has a lot to do with basic demographics in many districts. When the numbers are down, schools are more likely to allow transfer students in from other districts. The homeschooling option has drawn off a certain percentage of students in many districts, leaving spaces in some classrooms. Bear in mind, if you choose this option, thast you will probably have to provide your own transportation. Obviously, they are not going to be willing to send a bus to come and pick up a child who lives "out-of-area."

Also, there are increasing school options within districts. Magnet schools and Governor's or Honor's schools are examples of this. These are public schools that cater to students with specialized interests and students may have to apply to qualify for admission. There are increasing opportunities for online public K-12 education. Some of these schools are for-profit; others are operated as public magnet schools and your child's public school "allotment" may be used to pay for enrollment. Finally, the No Child Left Behind Act includes a stipulation that basically says that students in so-called "failing" Title 1 schools need to be offered expanded transfer options. The law has been in place long enough for these consequences to apply, so that will increase school choice options for more students. The bottom line is, be sure to do your homework and research all options available to you and your child.

Dr. Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder, D.Ed. is the author of "The Public School Parent's Guide to Success: How to Beat Private School and Homeschooling," available at http://www.publicschoolparent.com. A Doctor of Education, she has worked as a public school teacher, guidance counselor, and teacher educator. She is public schooling her own children in Lancaster, PA.

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Homeschooling Takes Your Child Out of Public School --- A Unique Benefit

Home-schooling removes children from public school. That alone makes home-schooling worthwhile. Unlike public-school children, home-schooled kids are not prisoners of a system that can wreck their self-esteem, ability to read, and love of learning.

Home-schooled kids don't have to read dumb-downed text-books, study subjects they hate, or endure meaningless classes six to eight hours a day. Home-schooled kids won't be subject to drugs, bullies, violence, or peer pressure, as they are in public schools. Home-schooled children who are "different" in any way won't have to endure cruel jokes and taunts from other children in their classes.

Slow-learning or "special-needs" children won't be humiliated by their peers if they are put in regular classes, or further humiliated if the teacher puts them in so-called spe-cial-education classes. Faster-learning home-schooled kids won't have to sit through mind-numbing classes that are geared to the slowest-learning students in a class. They won't have to "learn" in cooperative groups where other kids in the group do nothing or are not cooperative. Home-schooled children do not have to waste their time memorizing meaningless facts about subjects that bore them, just so they can pass the next dumbed-down test to obey and please school authorities.

Home-schooled kids don't have to endure twelve years of a third-rate, public-school education that leaves many students barely able to read their own diplomas. The notion that tests tell teachers and parents what children have learned turns out to false. John Holt, teacher and author of "How Children Fail," pointed out that most children soon forget what they memorized for a test as soon as the test is over, so the entire test-taking process is usually worthless. Facts or ideas that are not useful or relevant to children pass through them like a sieve and are soon forgotten.

Home-schooled kids don't have to study an arbitrary, meaningless curriculum of subjects imposed on them by public-school authorities. They don't have to be treated like little mindless, spiritless robots that have to learn the same subjects at the same time and in the same sequence as their classmates.

Home-schooled children don't have to sit quietly in a class of twenty-five other students and pretend they like being in this mini-prison called public school, just to avoid being punished by a teacher for "acting-out" or fidgeting in their seats.

Any adult's mind would wander if they were forced to sit through a boring lecture for just one hour. Yet public schools expect children to sit still for boring lectures on subjects that are meaningless to them, for six to eight hours a day.

Home-schooled children do not have to be fearful of displeasing a teacher because they get the wrong answers on meaningless tests. They therefore do not have to be fearful of learning and have their natural joy in learning crippled as a result of this fear.

Infants and very young children embrace life and learning with a passion, which is why they learn so fast. Yet, as John Holt found out, by the time these same children have progressed to the fifth grade in school, most are listless, bored, apathetic, and often fearful in class.

Home-schooled children won't be terrorized by test grades and comparisons to their classmates, and associate learning with this terror. They won't associate learning with always having to get the right answer that school authorities insist on. They won't be made to feel that learning means passing an arbitrary test, and that failing a test is a shame or disgrace.

Home-schooling also gives parents control over the values their kids learn. It prevents school authorities from indoctrinating their children with warped values, pagan religions, or politically-correct ideas.

Unlike public-school students, home-schooled children are not forced to sit through explicit or shocking sex-education classes. School authorities also can't pressure home-schooling parents to give their kids mind-altering drugs like Ritalin.

So keeping a child out of public school is an enormous benefit in itself. Other positive benefits of home-schooling are:

1. Home-schooling lets parents give children a custom-made curriculum that makes learning a joy. Parents can expose their children to many different subjects and ultimately focus on subjects that their children enjoy and benefit from.

Children can also learn about subjects that are not taught in any school, and have time for non-academic subjects like art and music. Parents can choose from a wide range of teaching materials that not only engage and delight their kids, but bring real results.

2. Home-schooled children can learn at their own pace. Slower-learning kids will benefit by their parent's love and attention. Bright children will progress as fast as they want to. Children will learn to read or learn any other subject when they are ready, not according to a prescribed time-table.

Unlike public schools, home-schooling parents treat each child as a unique individual with his or her own special interests, talents, strengths and weaknesses. Parents can also tailor-make the instruction to each child's personality and learning style.

3. Home-schooling parents can give their kids a one-to-one teacher-student ratio. This insures that children get individualized attention from a loving, attentive parent-teacher.

In "Public Schools, Public Menace," author Joel Turtel explains 15 unique benefits of homeschooling your children.

Joel Turtel is an education policy analyst, and author of ?Public Schools, Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our Children."

Contact Information:
Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com,
Email: lbooksusa@aol.com,
Phone: 718-447-7348.

Article Copyrighted c 2005 by Joel Turtel
NOTE: You may post this Article on another website only if you set up a hyperlink to Joel Turtel?s email address and website URL, http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com

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The Charter School Wars --- Why Public Schools Hate Charter Schools

Many public school authorities hate charter schools. It's not hard to see why.

Charter schools embarrass local public schools because they often do a better job educating children, for less money. For example, in the 1999-2000 school year, Ohio charter schools got $2300 less per pupil in tax funds than local public schools. Charter schools therefore spotlight regular public schools' failure to educate students with more tax money at their disposal.

Charter schools also take money away from public schools. Every child that transfers to a charter school makes the child's former public school lose an average of $7500 a year in tax money. This tax money is the life-blood of public schools. It is the source of their power, of their very existence.

Finally, public-school authorities like their monopoly power over our children's education. Charter schools are free from much of the regulations and controls that regular public schools have to put up with. Charter schools therefore threaten the public school monopoly because they introduce a little competition into the system.

So what do angry or frightened local school districts do in response? School authorities often harass charter schools by reducing their funding, denying them access to school equipment or facilities, putting new restrictions on existing charter schools, limiting the number of new schools, or weakening charter-school laws.

They harass charter schools in other ways. For example, they create convoluted application procedures or don't give new-school applicants enough time to process their applications. They also use city agencies, zoning boards, or fire departments to harass the schools with regulations. For example, the Washington DC school district harassed a local charter school with an asbestos removal issue that forced the school to spend over $10 million in renovation costs. Local school districts have an arsenal of regulatory guns with which to harass charter schools, or reduce their numbers.

Teacher unions initially opposed charter schools. However, when charter schools became popular, the unions changed tactics. They now grudgingly give approval to charter schools, on certain conditions. They often push for district control over the schools, collective bargaining for charter-school teachers, or other restrictions.

Some teacher unions have renewed their open opposition to these schools with their usual lawsuits. The Ohio Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit that seeks to declare Ohio's charter school laws unconstitutional. Ohio's charter schools have been dragged into this lawsuit, thereby forcing them to waste valuable time, money, and resources on legal battles. Teacher unions use such lawsuits to try to stop or slow down the charter school movement. Also, Washington State, and some other states, still have no charter school laws partly because of strong opposition by teacher unions and other interest groups who oppose charter schools.

As a result of this harassment by state education bureaucrats, local school districts, and teacher unions, there are not nearly enough charter schools to fill the demand. There is a constant waiting list for these schools, especially in low-income minority neighborhoods. In the 2001-02 school year, the average charter school enrolled about 242 students. About 69 percent of these schools had waiting lists averaging 166 students per school, or over half the school enrollment.

The over 750,000 students currently enrolled in charter schools may seem like a lot, but that number represents little more than 1.7 percent of the approximately forty-five million children who attend public school each year. Yet charter schools have now been around for over ten years.

As with vouchers, how long will it take, if ever, for charter schools to come to your neighborhood? Fifty years? Parents should consider if they want to wait around this long while their children suffer through twelve years of public school.

Joel Turtel is the author of "Public Schools, Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our Children."

Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com,
Email: lbooksusa@aol.com,
Phone: 718-447-7348.

Article Copyrighted c 2005 by Joel Turtel.
NOTE: You may post this Article on another website only if you set up a hyperlink to Joel Turtel?s email address and website URL, http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Why Public Schools Hate Home-schooling Parents

Home-schooling is a great success. That's why many public-school authorities hate home-schooling parents.

Home-schoolers are a direct challenge to the public-school monopoly. This monopoly makes it almost impossible to fire tenured public-school teachers or principals. As a result, tenure gives most teachers life-time guaranteed jobs. They get this incredible benefit only because public schools have a lock on our children's education.

If public-school employees had to work for private schools and compete for their jobs in the real world, they would lose their security-blanket tenure. That's why school authorities view home-schooling parents who challenge their monopoly as a serious threat.

Many school officials also can't stand the fact that average parents who never went to college give their kids a better education than so-called public-school experts. Successful home-schooling parents therefore humiliate the failed public schools by comparison.

Home-schooling parents also humiliate school authorities who claim that only certified or licensed teachers are qualified to teach children. Most home-schooling parents thankfully never stepped foot inside a so-called teacher college or university department of education. Yet these parents give their children a superior education compared to public-school educated kids.

Also, many public-school officials resent home-schoolers because the typical public school loses about $7500 a year in tax money for each child that leaves the system. Tax money is the life blood of the public-school system. Tax money pays for public-school employees' generous salaries, benefits, and pensions. Is it any wonder why school authorities don't want to lose their gravy train?

For these reasons, until fairly recently, most state legislatures either outlawed homeschooling or tried to strangle it to death with regulations. In 1980, only Utah, Ohio, and Nevada officially recognized parents' rights to homeschool their children. In most other states, legislators continually harassed or prosecuted home-schoolers under criminal truancy laws and educational neglect charges.

By 2004, however, pressure from parents, Christian home-schooling organizations, and recent court rulings pushed all fifty states to enact statutes that allow home-schooling, as long as certain requirements are met. These requirements vary for each state.

In spite of these statutes, many states and school authorities still harass home-schooling parents. That is because the Supreme Court slapped parents in the face when they gave local governments the right to regulate home-schooling. As a result, many home-schooling parents are still harassed by local school officials.

If you are a homeschooling parent, you must know how to protect your legal rights. To do this, you should seriously consider joining the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). Founded in 1983, HSDLA provides its members with legal representation against local school officials who might harass you, demand to supervise your home-schooling, or demand to periodically test your home-schooled children. You can join at their web site, http://www.hslda.org.

The Rutherford Institute is another well-known organization dedicated to protecting parents' rights and providing legal help to home-schooling parents. Their website is http://www.rutherford.org.

Joel Turtel is the author of ?Public Schools, Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our Children."

Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com,
Email: lbooksusa@aol.com,
Phone: 718-447-7348.

Article Copyrighted c 2005 by Joel Turtel
NOTE: You may post this Article on another website only if you set up a hyperlink to Joel Turtel?s email address and website URL, http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.