Reply #4: Schools make for lousy day care [View All]

You see public education was invented for education. But that wasn't good enough. People wanted kids fed when their parents didn't get their asses out of bed to feed them in the morning or blew their money on booze and cigarettes. So we fed kids in the morning, then we fed them lunch. And in the summer, we feed them then too.

Then, people wanted children to have somewhere to go before and after school, so after school programs were initiated. Special education became important to those who had disabled kids, so schools provide skill building to even the most deficient until age 26. And those programs provide links to assist those who can work to attain employment. So what if its not paid for by the Federal Government that has promised to pay (and hasn't) for the last thirty years. Whatever isn't paid comes out of the district general fund leaving schools floundering in decrepit buildings.

Updated curriculums and professional development for staff to assist students to improve is tossed out in favor of the costs of testing required by NCLB. Sex education? Sure, they said, the schools will do it. Religion? Values curriculum? Give it to the schools. Social services in the schools? Absolutely, tell the schools to do it.

For anyone who has worked in education and cares about children learning, these developments come as no surprise. The schools in the country have been spoon feeding the parents of children with everything but overnight stays.