General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Playtime’s over, kindergartners - Standards stressing kids out [View all]Maine-ah
(9,902 posts)her class is the first to have them in Maine - basically an experiment. I live in a small town of about 1k people. Her class has about 20/25 kids and she has two teachers, changes classrooms for different classes..music, art, french, gym..etc.....We parents donate our time in the classrooms, and run fundraisers for different things - we also donate snacks for the students. Our school was built in 2003 - because we are a community that works together. The way it should be. This is not an affluent community. We are working class, blue collar citizens - from fishermen, lobstermen - heck, I'm a bartender and my husband is the general manager of a local business.
As for the pace of learning, yes, every student is going to be different, and schools everywhere need the funding and the right teachers to be able to work with every student. I was not a fast learner - outside of reading and writing - I had very poor math skills - I wish I had the help and attention that the students get in my daughter's kindergarten class - the other side..my niece is an advanced learner who is stuck with the slower pace of the rest of the classroom. She's in the same district, but a different town and school.
Many problems in schools go right back to NCLB - and Maine's governor is consistently trying to gut our public education. There are many problems, and there isn't going to be one fix for them all. I was raised by a public high school teacher, who did everything he could to help his students. My father would be appalled at the things teachers have to go through now. Though, I can remember his biggest complaint was uninvolved parents.