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In a message dated 6/1/2005 2:52:25 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
Chris@... writes:

-=-Much as I dislike school I am growing more sympathetic to
teachers, every teacher we've mentioned it to has without exception said
something like 'great, individual attention, and you can't get anyone more
knowing about a child's needs, abilities and capabilities than their own
parents', they then quite often will go on about that they really would like
to more teaching, less handling of large disruptive classes and ticking
boxes set down by the educational authorities.-=-


I was a teacher, and I got really tired of large disruptive classes and
having to do paperwork and follow guidelines. It was the old days and they
WANTED me to be creative and innovative, so that helped.

But I think when teachers envision how wonderful homeschooling would be,
they still generally think it's "more teaching" and more individualized
teaching. Teaching, teaching, teaching. <g>

In the U.S. it's always said that "it" (whatever their goals are in that
season) would work better with smaller classes. Unfortunately, the tradition
has come to be maintaining large classes in the government-funded schools. So
when enrollment is down, they lose some teachers rather than spread the kids
out thinner.

There is a certain strata of the educational monstrosity here, I think, that
would hate for it to work better, because they would lose their
administrative grant-writing, money managing jobs. LOTS of people "above" teachers make
quite a bit of money. Teachers make very little, and their dream is
sometimes to do useful, satisfying work since they're making so little money for it.

It's a gigantic mess I usually try to avoid talking about.

If they changed funding methods, every homeschooler who left would improve
the schools on the spot by freeing up time and space for the other students.
The cashflow "loss" to a school from losing a student is artificial. The
money that goes to schools here comes from land taxes (and various federal tax
things, but it should never have, and yet does). The flow in at the first
gate doesn't change for fewer children, but its distribution to individual
districts and schools is tied to enrollment and attendance.

Maybe someone who's politically inclined here (or some in each state,
province, county, everywhere that it might matter) should point that out to
financial officials and suggest they just change the way they fund schools. Me, I'm
just passing the idea on to those with more energy, and I'm going to have
some tea and work on my webpage. Lazy me. <g>

And about webpages, and England, and school: Holly's exciting European
vacation is halfway over today, and I have a story about a story involving little
fish they played with in holes on Omaha Beach in Normandy. I expect more
photos later today, but if you've missed the one of her all muddy, it's there:
_http://sandradodd.com/england_ (http://sandradodd.com/england)
When I saw the mudfight in the Midsummer Night's Dream (which has SAM
ROCKWELL, along with Kevin Klein, Rupert Evert, and some mud-covered women), I
thought it must be movie-mud of some sort, prop mud, make-up mud.
Chocolate-syrup-for-mud. Nope. It's English mud, apparently. (And if a bunch of you
east-coast American types think it's "normal mud," you ain't seen mud in New
Mexico and west Texas, which is a bit more like wet cement with too much sand,
than like liquid color.

Sandra








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