My experience after teaching college for the past 15 years
I am 15 years into seeing what is coming out of the public school system after teaching at a variety of colleges. For a number of years now I have taught online so that I am able to be home and focus on my family. But I still see all of the problems.
Every time one of my students is homeschooled, I can tell. I can see the difference. And the difference isn’t that they are awkward and don’t know how to socialize. When I ask them I they were homeschooled, the answer is always a yes!
How can I tell? Well, their assignments are leaps and bounds above all of the others. They are articulate and unique. The students are also just more mature and respectful. These students can think creatively. They know how to write. They usually go above and beyond rather than a bare minimum approach. Am I saying that all of the other kids are stupid, rude, and disrespectful? Definitely not! I have wonderful students who come from the public school system as well. But there is generally an overall noticeable difference.
In general, I have found that on a good day the public school students do the bare minimum on their work. They have no idea how to think and put ideas together. The spelling and grammar errors are atrocious and terrifying. And then…. plagiarism! I have never seen anything like it. Rather than to actually answer the questions for an assignment and put some thoughts together from what they have learned, I am constantly dealing with plagiarism. They are just lazy. They’d rather just copy some information from the Internet, and turn it is, calling it their own, and move on. They don’t WANT to learn. Sometimes I’m not sure why they are even taking college classes. The funny thing is that most of the time what they have plagiarized isn’t even answering the questions for the assignment.
It is sad. What the school systems are pumping out and what education has become…. it is really a sad thing. The ship is sinking. There needs to be a reform. I believe that WE should be taking over our childrens’ education!
Our school system is failing our children! They have squashed the joy of learning. They don’t show kids how to think creatively and abstractly. Students are just taught do answer a few questions for a test and move along. Not only have I seen this after pulling my own teens from private school, but I have been watching after teaching literally thousands of college students. And it is on the decline. Each year it seems to get worse. It is time for us to do something! Help your child to find the joy in education. Take them down the road that will build up an intelligent and creative, well-rounded individual; molded by YOU!