FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[Jabberwocky]

I meant as in a general philosophy. When I went to school and kids had mild issues like dyslexia (I am slightly dyslexic myself) they where put into normal classes and had to work a bit harder to keep up. In turn I worked just as hard at subjects I was OK at so I excelled in them compared to the average kids who just coasted on all subjects. Where as now it seems to be that every kid you see has some kind of issue.

My dyslexia was not diagnosed until my mid 20's

If you note I did say at the start mild problems. Children with more severe issues should be helped.

I just think that that help is now given to everyone.

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[LewEngBridewell]

It probably seems that "every kid has some sort of issue" because more awareness has since been raised. I don't regard it as a bad thing, necessarily, although I do understand where you're coming from.

[Jabberwocky]

Because real life feels makes the same allowances?

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[sagi58]

I believe there are a number of issues that need to be looked at:

It's true that awareness has been raised regarding learning difficulties/exceptionalities that some children face, which is important in order to understand how best to teach each individual child.

Having said that, we now have all sorts of "experts" that didn't exist a few years ago nor did we have "expert" opinions/ theories/ philosophies on how best to teach children. That happens to be a double-edged sword, because you'll find schools systems do not follow one such method of teaching.

Another issue is sociological in nature. We have changed. It's that simple. Generally speaking, we are a more educated population, we know more, we can teach our children more, we expect more, we question more. Where teachers/school systems used to be trusted and respected, as parents we question that "authority", at times justifiably so. But, think back to your own parents, would they have disagreed with a grade you received? Would they have been disrespectful of a teacher? Would they have taken your "side" or would they have told you to do better?

I think it's great that we advocate for our children; however, we need to be careful not to confuse our own experiences with those of our children. That is, just because we felt helpless and we didn't have support from our parents when we complained about our teachers, does not mean we should automatically believe the teacher is wrong. Communication is the best way to resolve any issue that comes up at school.

Lastly, we seem to have raised a generation of children who feel entitled. Interestingly enough, there are two groups within that group. There are children who feel entitled because they have been given everything they could possibly want or need, so they see it as their "right" to continue living that way. Then, there are the children who feel entitled because they have "nothing" and believe they "deserve" everything they could possibly want or need and that they will get it "some day"!

Generally speaking, our children today don't have a "hard work" ethic. They don't realize / understand that "hard work" is required for success. They don't realize / understand that failing is part of the process.

OK, that's me on my soapbox. I'll get off now!!

[myownalias]

The problem is that MOA lives in Kansas.

Not sure I follow... Did he just move there from G.B.?

Wow, 48th of 49 states, that's just embarrassing... and Sagi58, I moved to the US five years ago.

[sagi58]

The problem is that MOA lives in Kansas.

Not sure I follow... Did he just move there from G.B.?

Wow, 48th of 49 states, that's just embarrassing... and Sagi58, I moved to the US five years ago.

If you've been in the same city and same school board, they should have
a student record that should have been sent to your son's new school.

Ask. Talk. Share.

[myownalias]

The problem is that MOA lives in Kansas.

Not sure I follow... Did he just move there from G.B.?

Wow, 48th of 49 states, that's just embarrassing... and Sagi58, I moved to the US five years ago.

If you've been in the same city and same school board, they should have
a student record that should have been sent to your son's new school.

Ask. Talk. Share.

His records and IEP was sent to my son's new school, but it's always nice to be able to converse with the teachers directly, I'm not allowed to enter the building in the morning and the teacher was nowhere to be found at the end of the day when I picked my son up. Knowing what we know now, I wish we took the other option for schooling for this year.

[What's Burning?]

From experience MOA, you've got to be your own advocate when no one in the school is willing to advocate for your child. Also, get the state involved, since your child has a medical diagnosis the school is legally bound because of the state and federal funding received to provide for the education of your child based on his needs not on what the school is willing to provide.

It's America so if they give you a hard time, don't hessitate to get a lawyer to write a letter on your behalf. All resistance will cease at that point. Thankfully in PA with my son, I never had to do anything along those lines and got the absolute best support from all of the teachers through his school. He's a senior now, and we're no longer even doing an IEP.

The irony is that there are more "elite" school districts locally that do half as much for kids in the spectrum than the school district we're in. So don't be afraid to ask to take him to another district that may have a better program.

[myownalias]

Don't worry WB, we fight for everything, we even have advocates who work for us to get my son what he needs and they know the law better than we ever will. I am meeting with our advocate on Friday so I will bring this up with her then. She is a non nonsense sort of person, she gets us what we need as she did from my son's last school.

We actually looked at a private "elite" school three years ago and their educational program for special needs kids was non-existence, hence why we sent my son to a state school, they had better provisioning for special needs kids.

[Jabberwocky]

What is iep?

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[myownalias]

What is iep?

Individual education plan... the name says it all really!

[sagi58]

...I am meeting with our advocate on Friday so I will bring this up with her then. She is a non nonsense sort of person, she gets us what we need as she did from my son's last school...

I hope her first piece of advice to you is to call your son's new teacher to arrange an appointment that is mutually convenient. That should always be the first step, as it may resolve any misunderstanding / misconception before anything gets too political!
Good luck!!

[What's Burning?]

The problem is that if a child is mild in whatever diagnosis they've got, they are generally able to function in a normal environment with nothing more than a bit of patience and understanding from the teachers, staff and peers.

If a child is much more extreme in their diagnosis then there are specialized institutions that are very well equipped/funded to handle those types of kids and needs.

The overwhelming failure in our education system is for the kids in the middle that really can't function in an unsupervised mainstream environment, and would only suffer were they put in a specialized institution because they would miss out on all of the normal day to day interactions with their neurotypical classmates.

Generally speaking, our children today don't have a "hard work" ethic. They don't realize / understand that "hard work" is required for success. They don't realize / understand that failing is part of the process.

I was with you Sagi for most of your rant, but I reject your last statement. We're getting dangerously close to the old foggey stage in life where every generation things they had it harder than the kids today. The old "I had to walk to school in the snow up hill both ways" argument. The kids today simply face different challenges than we did. Some things may be easier and some things are extremely more complex for them.

I think that life is a lot about he 80/20 rule and the reality is that most kids aren't going to be competitive, smart, hard working, or whatever adjective you want to throw in there. But that doesn't mean that they can't be happy doing whatever they decide they're comfortable doing. Both of my kids were in gifted programs in school. Basically in the US if you're in the 95th percentile of intelligence you get funneled into some type of gifted program if the school has the funding for it. Within that program I've seen a lot of kids that are phenomenally hard working and dedicated, a friend of my daughter was even assisting a local university doing cancer research at the age of 17. So the smart, driven, hard working kids are out there but it's not ever going to happen when the majority of kids performs like that minority.

Somebody has to be a janitor in life, and if you're a janitor and you're content in life then more power to them. Everyone will find their own level of success and as long as they are happy, what's wrong with that? What I'm against is labeling someone a failure because they're a janitor or labeling someone a success because they're a bank executive embezzling money.

[myownalias]

In Kansas, especially prevalent in the African American community, there seems to be a lot of apathy from the parents which gets passed onto the kids. There seems to be a lot of people saying there are no opportunities for me so why should I bother, which usually leads to getting involved with gangs, general bad stuff and ultimately dropping out of school, which probably contributes to Kansas being so low down the state league tables, how much of this is caused by poor parenting versus lack of teaching skills is anyone's guess, but it's not a good situation.

[sagi58]

Generally speaking, our children today don't have a "hard work" ethic. They don't realize / understand that "hard work" is required for success. They don't realize / understand that failing is part of the process.

I was with you Sagi for most of your rant, but I reject your last statement. We're getting dangerously close to the old foggey stage in life where every generation things they had it harder than the kids today. The old "I had to walk to school in the snow up hill both ways" argument. The kids today simply face different challenges than we did. Some things may be easier and some things are extremely more complex for them...

I did say "generally", which obviously does not include our gifted children or our children with exceptionalities. It also does not include children who are focussed on a special interest, sport etc. and whose parents recognize that talent, then support and help develop it!

My comments aren't about what you call the "old foggey stage" so much as they are an opinion based on personal observations. Our children today have so many opportunities and so many possibilities thanks to the technology that we have available. However, as a society, we run the risk of losing out on this unrecognized potential if we don't teach / encourage our children more than "just" playing video games and watching the "boob tube".

I don't care that we walked to school; but, our children today don't get enough exercise in the great outdoors. Oftentimes that's because parents are "worried" about leaving their children outdoors for fear they'll get hurt, that they'll get dirty, etc. At times, it's because parents are working and their children's caregiver feel they can supervise more safely if children are indoors in front of a computer playing a video game or watching TV.

As for Life being simpler for us, I completely agree; but, that's because we were children and didn't have the responsibilities the adults in our lives did. If we ask our parents, we'll get what you call the "old foggey" answers.