Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Does anyone in the USA love their child's school?

I was going to post yesterday that while I don't LOVE my kids High School, I don't hate it as much as I make it seem on this board. There are pro's and con's. It's much easier to talk about all the stuff that is wrong or that I dislike. And forget to mention the good stuff. The school isn't as good as it "thinks" it is.. but on the other hand it really is better than most of the other alternatives. (Outside private schools that would cost a mint and require a crazy commute.) Some of the pluses are my son has cohort of similar peers, some of his teachers are excellent, and it's very culturally diverse.

I don't post much these days but am adding my $0.02 here. I agree with Bostonian that "love" is a strong word, but I'd say our educational situation here in the midwest is at least a strong "like" at the moment.

We have two kids, twins just turned 15yo, who are freshman in high school. I am not sure about PG or not, but the test scores we do have are DYS level. Their public high school is down the street (<1 mile) from the state flagship university. There has been some very public conflict in recent years pitting the needs of "advanced learners" against social justice at the school - we've benefitted from some resulting changes and there is currently a lull in the conflict. There is always room for improvement, and I am moderately active in keeping constant pressure on the district and school to keep TAG issues on their radar. Here is what we like about the school:

1) many peers who are as strong academically, or even stronger in some areas, than my kids.
2) large enrollment (600 kids/grade) gives my twins space from one another -- they can both take all honors classes in core subjects without having a single class together. Also, there is significant diversity in the student population, especially good for the prickly twin, who is an oddball in so many ways.
3) Mostly good teachers, and some excellent
4) fantastic extracurricular club opportunities
5) within walking distance from home
6) flexibility - when we asked if our kids could work independently in math because their precalc classes were too slow/boring, we met with *no* resistance.
7) in subjects where they have exhausted the hs offerings, in jr and sr years they can take classes at the state flagship (at no cost to us) and count them toward hs graduation requirements.
8) they are challenged in some classes (I am okay if they are not challenged in every class)
9) no tuition

We loved our son's accelerated school-within-a-school elementary program for highly gifted kids. He is now in a new STEAM-based charter middle school with no GT program per se, but lots of opportunities for my to work at his own pace, plus lots of flexibility. So far, we like it a lot.

We live near a major metro area with lots of options plus open enrollment, which is a good combo for finding a good-fit school.

I don't love the school by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes there's those teachers that just go above and beyond and makes the whole day almost worth it.
Makes us overemotional types want to cry (sometimes mid-class, apparently).

This is a great discussion. Thanks everyone for your input. I will find out over the next couple months how the new school for our kids fits them in practice, it is all looking very promising in theory so far. If we do find the school a good fit, it will only be one more thing on a long list of things we love about where we live that makes it so we never end up deciding to move back closer to family despite how much I miss them. But it will be a very strong thing as it sounds like there are schools out there that can work, but if you find a good one, it's a good idea to stick with it if at all possible.

I don't hate my kid's school I just don't love it. I object to handing over so much control to people i don't know that well, I wish my children were challenged more and I wish the system actually provided more education and told the parents what was going on. There aren't any schools that are significantly different and the kids don't dislike it (they would like shorter hours though) so I just work round the edges.

I agree that love is probably too strong of a word to use in regards to institutional education anywhere. Having said that, I like many things about my kids' previous elementary school and their current middle school. It's not couture or a tailor-fit but mostly good in an off-the-rack with alterations way when you are not a perfect standard size. However, were I inclined to focus on the negatives, particularly as applied to my kids, there would be plenty to criticize as well.

In particular, school has been invaluable for my kids to gain exposure to a variety of people and learn social and coping skills. The extra-curricular offerings, particularly at the middle school level, are wonderful. The opportunities for public speaking and writing have been beneficial and would have been difficult for me to provide in another context.

Alleged misuse of databases of student information reported in this recent article:

EXCLUSIVE: Fraudsters in Department of Education...
Wills Robinson for DailyMail.com
UK Daily Mail
March 2, 2015


The extensive data collection on students, and potential uses/misuses of that information, may be a reason why some parents do not love their child's schooling system.