No System Is Perfect, Not Even Public School

No system is perfect. Let me repeat, no system is perfect. Public schools are not perfect. A system started by Horace Mann in the 1800s is going to have flaws. From lack of new textbooks, turnover over teachers to even missing school funds, the problems can be many. I am a public school teacher and I love teaching at my school in Suburban Chicago. However, there are positives and negatives. As a parent, when you decide what kind of school to send your child, be it public, private, Montessori or parochial, you need to make an informed decision.

I’m here to provide a little behind the scenes action since I have taught in public, international and parochial schools!

In the ideal situation, you are lucky to live in an award-winning school district area. Your specific school within your residential boundaries has high ratings on almost all review websites. You register your child with lengthy paperwork and receive an email informing you that your child has been placed in Ms. Smith’s classroom. You don’t know how many years of experience Ms. Smith has, which university she went to. Does she provide homework, project-based learning? You will find out most of this information during open house. If you decide that you don’t like Ms. Smith’s teaching style and decide that a better placement for your child is Ms. Radcliff’s classroom, too bad. You don’t get a choice. You are one parent amongst 200 to 300 parents depending on your school size. Parent preference regarding teacher selection is rare and miniscule. For example, my daughter’s public school teacher this year had a no homework policy. I prefer homework for elementary years, practice makes perfect and I enjoy seeing what my daughter is working on in the classroom. For second grade, I had no clue what my daughter was working on until the graded worksheets and tests came home, which is too late for me to help her out with any concepts she might not understand. However, the three other second grade teachers in my daughter’s grade level did assign extensive homework. There can be a disparity between different teachers in the same grade level.

Mariam’s Last Day of Second Grade

Another major disadvantage for minority children in public school like my daughter is the dreaded home language survey. Many parents advised me to put down only English on the survey when I registered. I felt weird putting false information for my daughter at the beginning of the year. It seemed like she was starting off with a lie. You see, my daughter does speak a second language: Urdu. She can also read and write Arabic and is working on speaking it fluently. I’m proud of her trilingual progress and I wanted to make sure the school knew it too. That was a big mistake I made. I wish I only put down English. When you mark down that your child speaks more than one language, he or she is marked as an ELL student, English language learner. Despite the fact that she reads, writes, thinks in English and is far more talented in English compared to the other languages, it doesn’t matter for the public school. Your child will be pulled out, tested multiple times throughout the year and given ELL classes. The classes are remedial and not at the same pace as general education classes. Kids who have learning difficulties and no learning difficulties are placed in the same classroom since there isn’t an honors ELL class. I had to argue a lot with my school district and explain why I’m refusing ELL services. However, the stigma of the ELL label will be on her school record for awhile. So please consider if your child is truly a student who is learning English compared to fluent English but also knows several other languages.

Lastly, let’s leave with the positive: the resources. Art classes, music classes, physical education every single day, beautiful media centers, libraries filled with books, iPads for lessons, it’s all there. Money is sometimes not an issue with public schools compared to parochial schools. If your child is special needs, public schools provide the best services in terms of speech, physical therapy or occupational therapy. There are obviously other types of services, whatever your child needs. The school is required to provide the best learning environment for your special needs child.

With that said, my experience with public schools is from the Suburban Chicago area. If we’re talking about rural public schools or inner city public schools with lotteries, that’s a whole different ball game. I know teachers who teach in the above mentioned systems and I’m more than happy to get you connected with them. Thank you for reading and fair warning, next post is going to be about parochial (religious) schools!

A Teacher’s Guide to School Options

School choice instills a lot of fear in teachers. Why?

 

School choice means that parents can decide if they want to send their kids to private school, charter school, Montessori school and even homeschool their kids and government funds would follow the student. So no matter where the child goes, funds go with the child.

I am a private school graduate, all of my K-12 was at parochial private schools. My school had limited funds, limited resources and limited equipment. If we had some access to government funds, the school environment would have drastically improved. It could mean better books, better sport programs or better labs.

Why are teachers nervous about this? School choice means that parents can now send their kids anywhere, not just the local public school. More choices for parents means less kids in public school. Less kids in public school means less money for the district. This results in letting go of a lot of teachers because school enrollment is low. There is also one group of students who cannot attend the other options and have to go to public school. The special needs community is not readily accepted at the local private school. The  learning resources are only available at public school. Private schools do not have to accept special needs kids or provide any services. However, if there is low enrollment in the public school, there is less money for every department, including the special education department, where dollars are needed the most.

Therefore, more choices for parents means less choices for teachers and special education students.

But when it comes to our own kids, is public school always the best choice? I have substituted in an elite school district with the best resources. I have taught in an international school that used the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. I have taught in a parochial school. I am currently a High School Social Studies teacher in a public school. My two girls, age 7 and 4 are young.

We are lucky to live in a neighborhood that offers three Montessori schools, three top notch parochial schools and public schools that are highly rated. Where should I send my children? Next post will highlight the pros and cons of public school. Then we will discuss private schools and Montessori schools last. This will be a teacher’s guide to school options!

Iftar with the President

You probably didn’t know this. It’s ok if you didn’t.

Last week, President Donald Trump hosted his first Iftar at the White House. Before I jump into the significance of this event, let’s explain what Iftar is.

Muslims fast for one month. It’s one of the foundational pillars of the religion. This month is called Ramadan. For thirty days, we wake up for our pre-dawn meal and fast from sunrise to sunset. The pre-dawn meal is called Sehri. The post sunset meal is called Iftar. This repeats for thirty days until Eid, which is a holiday that celebrates the end of Ramadan.

Ramadan instills a sense of sacrifice, meditation and community. In United States, families often gather to celebrate the sunset meal, Iftar. Former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton hosted an official Iftar where they invited leaders from the Muslim community to break their fast at the White House. Many news outlets proclaim that President Bill Clinton started this annual tradition in 1996.

However, he was not the first President to host Iftar. It was Thomas Jefferson on December 9, 1805. That’s 212 years ago.

That’s right, two hundred years ago, one of our founding fathers hosted a Muslim diplomat from Tunisia. Out of respect for Ramadan, Jefferson changed dinner time from 3:30 pm to sunset time for his guest who was fasting. The tradition of Ramadan and fasting was not a foreign concept. Our founding fathers of this nation were aware of Islam and its traditions. Thomas Jefferson recognized that there are different religions outside of Christianity and that the United States can be a land where true religious freedom can exist.

You see, the founding fathers called people who followed Islam Mahometans (people who follow Muhammad). In arguments for religious freedom, Jefferson argued that the mantle of protection should encompass the Jew, the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan. George Washington supported this. Benjamin Franklin supported this.

Our founding fathers envisioned a United States where Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and even Buddhism could coexist peacefully. Thomas Jefferson was so dedicated to the idea of religious liberty and freedom that he chose that accomplishment to place on his gravestone.

I am thankful for our founding fathers to have included religious freedom in the Bill of Rights. I am thankful to be in a country that grants me freedom and liberty. The current President either instills a lot of love or hate amongst you. What I can say is that he is continuing a tradition that started with Clinton’s presidency, but its roots can be found 200 years ago. I can for sure appreciate that.

Your Muslim students are celebrating this month, sacrificing food and water and still trying to focus in school. Your Muslim colleagues are still leading meetings and making sales calls while not drinking or eating for about 16 hours. Respect their commitment to this month and mention how Thomas Jefferson would have totally appreciated their fasting.

 

Sources:

“Tunisian Envoy.” Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/tunisian-envoy.
Hutson, James H. “The Founding Fathers and Islam Library Papers Show Early Tolerance for Muslim Faith.”Library of Congress, Information Bulletin, www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0205/tolerance.html.