So, the Flook family has officially been blacklisted among the educators of Flagstaff. In November we voted on a budget override that would give money to the schools, and it failed. The school district thinks we didn't understand it this time, so they're making us vote on it again. My family personally doesn't want to pay more taxes, and last week my mom wrote a letter-to-the-editor that got published last Sunday. Yes, it opposed the budget override, and now even one of my sister and my professor embarrassed us in front of the whole class for it.
As a future educator, I oppose these extra taxes. I think that the schools
should get by on less. Before you think I just want our education system to go to the dogs, I present before you...homeschoolers.
Homeschool families do not get any money to educate their children. Supplies, textbooks, everything they pay for out of pocket. Younger siblings use the older siblings books and moms scour used book sales for great deals. We don't have Smart Boards or Promethean Boards. We don't go to computer lab or spend money on "team building activities". We don't waste money developing and giving expensive tests. The teachers (aka Mom) doesn't spend money on "continuing education". We don't spend money on over night sports. Field trips are actually family vacations. We live in hand-me-downs, read out of used textbooks, and are educated under teachers who have never had a day of pedagogy classes. Mom doesn't know about Piaget or constructivism. She doesn't even know what No Child Left Behind means. And standards? No clue! Oh, those poor deprived children.
Those children have 'unqualified" teachers and don't learn the standards. And yet, they're one of the smartest sets in America. Getting into college is no problem, and many don't even need that to get an excellent job. They're born entrepreneurs and are more interested in government that 20 public schoolers combined. They converse well with people of all ages. The English Language Learners indeed acquire English, and thrive! They stay out of drugs and alcohol, without a police officer telling them to. They work well in groups because they always had to share with their siblings. And those high stakes tests? They always perform above their public school peers. Makes you think why we're spending all this money on things to improve academics, doesn't it? :)
