Hard to imagine my life without an EXCELLENT Public School education....

[Junkdrawer]

I did K-12 in Johnstown, Pa's public schools. I went to a top-shelf technically oriented university and found that I was about 1 yr AHEAD of most of my classmates.

I just can't imagine myself with today's No Child Left Behind "education". But I've seen its results.

I don't believe we'll ever be able to fathom the harm we've just done to ourselves.

[2naSalit]

1. Have to agree

I went to K-9 and found myself engaged in self-support at 15 (had to quit school to work in factories so I wouldn't be out on the street). But I had attended many good public schools in the NE of the country. When in my 30s applied for college and got in only to find a lot of the students and faculty could hardly spell or use grammar correctly, which horrified me.

Seeing how much worse this issue has become is really scary... and what it means for critical thinking and reasonable conclusion is too much to contemplate on some days.

[Junkdrawer]

2. My wife taught college before and after The Change...

the drop in critical literacy...hell just literacy....was palpable. Sometimes shocking.

[2naSalit]

4. I will admit

that I'm kind of a math dunce but I have two excuses for that... even though I still make myself struggle through math when need be. I found, in college, that I am slightly dyslexic (but I have adapted pretty well before that and triple check everything cuz the numbers move around and disappear sometimes and never opted for the alternative compensatory things offered to those who have such issues) and when I was in grade school, they bounced back and forth with the "New Math" curricula while I was learning the basics. But I still made it through college and came out with a Master's.

And I give credit to the public schools I attended... all 14 of them.

Shocking is a good way to put it.

[yeoman6987]

5. I went to Catholic schools

K-12. My kids do too, but we need good public schools for sure.

[Junkdrawer]

8. Many of my friends did Bishop McCort in J-Town.

At the time, about an even match.

I'll bet you're right. Without ALL the testing mandates, Catholic Schools are probably doing better. But nothing exists in a vacuum.

[2naSalit]

9. When O was in

public schools, many of the schools in the parts of New England I lived in were Catholic schools, often right across the street from the public schools... made busing easier, but the level of academic achievement was about equal. We all learned the same stuff with the only difference being the religion parts.

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

3. And the worst part is that it's being done by design.

[kelliekat44]

6. I went to public school in Darby, PA. Excellent education. When I entered college I was

years ahead of fellow freshmen in math, English, writing, and history. Pennsylvania had some of the best public schools in the nation and they worked from state standards. AND my school was fully integrated...about 65% white, 30% black and 5% others. My mothers and her siblings attended the same schools and were taught by many of the same teachers. We were pretty old school about memorizing basic math and grammar facts. As I recall, civics was a big part of our education from 4th through 12th grade.

[Junkdrawer]

7. Inspired teachers working from the heart....

money can't buy that.

[Lugnut]

10. I went to public schools

In NE PA. I think I got an excellent education.