Reply #183: I'm quite certain that our experiences color the way

[sense]

we think about things and perceive them. My state has an extremely poor record of support for gifted kids. I know there are a lot of things I'm wrong about, but I have done quite a lot of research in this area, I have experience in public and private schools and ended up having to home school my kids because there was just nothing for them in our schools.

The schools I've experienced and most of the teachers aren't interested in teaching kids to think. You listen to them lecture, you believe it all, don't ask questions and regurgitate for the test. Nothing really learned except rote memorization and to ask permission to pee.

I don't just have opinions and frustrations, although I certainly appreciate the dismissiveness of that statement. I've got knowledge, research and experience and I've spent many, many years trying to work within and outside of the system for change and now I've simply decided that I'm just going to have to do the best I can for my children and hope everyone else does the same for theirs.

I'm really not talking about European schools, although they are generally ahead of us educationally. There are much poorer nations that consistently do a better job of educating their citizens because they value an educated populace and I don't believe we do. Not all of us, but the ptb find dumbed down citizens easier to control and use.

The link is to the site of a former Educator of the Year for New York State. It's not bizarre or paranoid, but saying that will discourage others from looking at it and at least pondering the possibilities. We really have to stop accepting the status quo and believing all the propaganda espoused by the NEA and others. Their only interest is the employment of teachers and they're not at all concerned about the children's futures being sacrificed.