Posted by
Dave Kooker on Thursday, March 26, 2009 1:02:49 PM
I am very disappointed in the fact that my ex-wife pulled my son out of a private elementary school and placed him in a government elementary school this year. The extra child support monies on top of the child support guideline amount were promised for the ‘Special Needs’ of the child i.e. fulltime child care and/or education. Since father’s rights are almost zero in the state of Florida, the family law court system simply says tough just pay it even though it is not being utilized in the manner as promised in court.
Grades 1 and 2, my son attended a private Christian based elementary school (Faith Christian Academy) in the Fernandina Florida vicinity (Nassau country). For third grade, my son was placed into the Duval country school system at New Berlin Elementary School (#150). During the course of the year, I am disappointed to witness my son’s vocabulary evolve into a Sailor and his educated working knowledge seems to have come to a standstill. It is as if my son has played hooky for the past school year. My son knows more about his teacher’s choice of president (Barack Hussein Obama) than he has learned in third grade science. On my visitation weekends, I work with my son’s reading and I keep buying him books in subject matters that keep his interest in reading. His reading has become choppy which used to be smooth.
My son tells me that the library books in the New Berlin Elementary School are coded with color dots; First grade – pink/yellow/light blue, Second grade – red/white, Third grade – red/white/purple, Fourth grade – dark blue, and Fifth grade – brown/black. With government educational school standards continuously lowered over the years to allow more children to be promoted to the next grade, I am afraid to view a library book designated for a third grader to realize it was the standard first grade reading level of when I attended school in the 1970’s.
One of the most troubling stories that my son tells me is that students are ONLY allowed to choose a book with a color dot that is designated to their grade level. I can understand the school discouraging a student not to read a book at a level lower than their grade level but, not reading above their grade level. Students can face discipline for reading a higher level book by the teacher so they do not attempt it. The individual spirit of higher achievement is being terminated in our government schools. I want my son to be challenged and I am more than happy to buy books which are at a young adult level. If you (my son) get stuck on a word just ask me to pronounce it and I also will give you an age appropriate definition of the word. I have granted my son permission at his government school if he chooses to challenge his teacher from stopping his higher level reading. He knows that he will face no punishment by me in his pursuit of education.
The government teaching mediocrity is also reflected in the third grade FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Testing) standardized testing (reading and math). Three parts of the FCAT are reading skills testing. Two school days were dedicated to the ‘pre-test’ of the three part reading portion. Incidentally, two of the three reading portions just also happened to be on the actual FCAT tests. The tested students knowing two thirds of the reading section guaranteed the elementary school a high probability of an overall passing FCAT score for their third grade. Two school days were wasted which could have been used to teach children actual reading, writing & arithmetic squandered to enhance their FCAT rating of the school & please the Duval county school board bosses and the state of Florida government education bureaucrats.
In the event my son comes of age and decides to live with me, the first order of business will be the selection of a private school. I could not view myself in the mirror each morning knowing that I withheld valuable learning possibilities from my son.
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