I.E., Education - What is your personal experience dealing with Education?

[FrenchieCat]

The Education debate is here, and I'm asking this question so that folks can register the extent of their experience as it relates to education. This could mean, the experience you personally had either in gaining an education, or/and working in the education field, your education choices or lack thereof when it comes to your children, etc....


Mine: I Attended Catholic and public schools in France, public schools here, and through the State and UC system in California. I currently teach French at a credited preschool partime 12 hours per week. My children's education entailed 2 different tract. The oldest did Kindergarden in public school, then 1st and 2nd grade in a small private elementary school, 3rd to 8th grade in a French-American bilingual private school (French/English), a private Prep high school, and on to Harvard as an undergraduate (Class of '09) and at WASHU for her PHD Graduate studies as of the fall. My youngest did Kindergarden through 7th grade at the French-American school, 8th and 9th grade at a private Chinese School, 10th through 12th at a giant Public High School (Berkeley High School), then on to a local community junion college, and transfered into UCB as of this upcoming school year.

What about you?

[a la izquierda]

1. K-12

in public school. Public university for 4 years, Public university for MA for 2 years. Currently at a ginormous public university for my PhD.
Public school worked for me...

[femmocrat]

2. Public school teacher, here!

:hi: I have taught K-12 for many years.

Graduated from public schools, a private university, and master's degree from a state university.

Both of my kids graduated from public school and went to Catholic colleges/universities for undergrad and graduate degrees. (That was their choice.)

[vaberella]

3. Huh..great background. Public for a limited of time with huge private influence/Private majority.

I went to public school until I was about 5---which was more like public day care taught by nuns though. And every Sunday I went to Sunday school. When I went to first grade until I was 8 I would attend public school Monday-Friday and then on Sunday's Sunday school at my local Catholic Church. From the age of 8-19 I was in Catholic schools. Co-Ed Catholic elementary which provided day care until 8pm for parents with two jobs---worked well. It wasn't a need in my family but my school was all about community. I then went onto two All-Girls Catholic school----Honor Roll and AP classes from elementary through High School---summer camp scholastic programs almost every summer unless we went to Haiti. Then I went on to a private University in London for 5 years directly after high school, I studied medicine and then transferred over into political science with a minor in political philosophy later---every summer I would take summer classes at popular universities in the US---NYU, UC Berkeley, Columbia, Hunter, City College, MIT---some these classes date back to High School. Then I moved onto the City College for a second Bachelors (in Economics and Anthropology) and a Masters (Developmental Economics) and a minor in French---I took summer school all those 4 years---I extended my study from 18 months to 36 because of this. I'm currently studying in France for a year---will be learning Korean/Japanese and German along with French (I like langauges). I plan on focusing on German/Japanese/Korean in the US as well since I'm studying a particular field that will demand these languages. Then I plan on going for my PhD as to where...dunno.

I have been a substitute teacher and prefer working with adults so my ambition is to be a professor.

[MissDeeds]

14. I went through public education 1-12

I skipped kindergarten. I graduated from a four year liberal arts college and taught fourth, first, and second grades in public school. I went to grad school and got a master's, then a doctorate, and taught at the college level - everything from first year college courses to grad school. I absolutely love teaching and firmly believe it is the reason I was put on this earth.

Quite a jump from first grade teacher to graduate school professor, but I truly loved it all.

:loveya:

[YvonneCa]

4. Public school teacher...

...20+ years in Title I District. BA/MA in CSU system. Children attended/graduated from public K-12 and UC.

[grantcart]

5. Public/Private combination

They are two different worlds.

I was bored and got C's in high school and went to a small demanding private college and got all A's in my area of majors, got a free ride to Ivy League graduate school.

Taught overseas.

My oldest daughter went to a very outstanding private school - with big scholarships (Bill Gates nieces attended there).


The classes were very small and the whole school had less than 150 people. Everyone was encouraged to turn out for everything, no one was ever cut.

My daughter decided on a lark to try out for the boys baseball team, having never played baseball, and had a fun experience going to state.

My youngest daughter attended the best public high schools in our area and was never challenged to work hard or think on her own. I kept waiting for this great public school to start challenging her and it never happened. I thought that the drama department would be challenging and had take drama clases. They did plays from the 1880s.


I am convinced that one of the biggest factors is the size of the school and the class. Smaller is almost always better.

[QC]

6. Ph.D., twenty years of teaching experience.

That, of course, disqualifies me around here from having any opinions on the issue of education.

[FrenchieCat]

9. That shouldn't be.

I don't think that anyone should be disqualified from debating any issue.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

11. You're right, so take me off 'Ignore' so we can kiss and make up. n/t

[FrenchieCat]

12. I ignore you....but I don't have you on ignore.

You stop making sense a while back,
and I didn't feel the need to discuss nonsense with you.
That's my perogative, I do believe.

[janx]

23. ...

;-)

[Inchworm]

7. That it can be taken from you if your Student Loans go in default

:grr:

[BlooInBloo]

8. Public schools until my Ph.D., taught in public and private unis for about 7 years..

(Mathematics and philosophy)

[Fire1]

15. What's up, Doc? LOL!!! n/t

[BlooInBloo]

16. (facepalm)

Well, it's better than what I usually get. (Based on my real life last name)

[Teaser]

19. Killpatient?

When I got my Ph. D., you have no idea how many times I heard "what's up doc".

Also, my family suddenly thought I could write prescriptions.

[janx]

26. I don't have a Ph.D.--though my experience is probably beyond

that. But even if I did, I wouldn't want somebody calling me doctor anything, since I have had family members who are physicians--surgeons. :shrug:

Some Ph.D.s get into that, but it makes no sense to me. :shrug:

[Fire1]

34. This is a joke between one particular poster and I that did not

require your two cents. Thus, I don't give a flying fuck what makes sense to you and what doesn't.

[dsc]

10. Here is mine

K-12 small town public schools. Undergrad small private college (Knox College Galesburg IL). Grad school University of MS but a small self contained program. Teacher in rural (Indianola MS), urban (Cleveland Ohio), small town (Wilson NC) and suburban/urban (Wake Co NC). Other than a high end sucessful district I have had a pretty good mix of teaching experience.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Public school kindergarten

(BTW, there is no D in kindergarTen - it's a German word)

Catholic school for 1st thru 8th grades

Private college prep school - high school

Undergrad degree in Education from state university

Grad degree in Special Education from state university

Multiple hours in education classes from other area universities

I got the best education available at the best, most expensive and most exclusive private school in my community. 100% of my classmates went on to college and about 30% went to Ivy League schools.

I have taught for 30 years in urban schools.

So I have seen and experienced both ends of the social strata and their schools in my community.

I am also a fierce defender of public education and am adamantly opposed to most of Obama's education policy decisions, beginning with his selection of Arne Duncan as Ed Sec. Our kids deserve better than to be turned into data machines who are judged by their performance on standardized tests.

He is also wrong on the war, IMO.

But I will defend Obama on his work to reform our health care system and many other policies. I am wise enough to appreciate a good Democrat in the White House over an evil Republican. I believe Obama is a good man who has made some bad decisions regarding education. I am hoping he will eventually see the error in his decisions.

[Dinger]

18. Same Here (nt)

[YvonneCa]

43. Right there with you...

...on Obama. :pals:

[bigwillq]

17. Public K-12

Went to a public, state university.

[Undercurrent]

20. Started school in a rural, one-room school house

that held grades 1-8. (No kindergarten in most rural areas in the early 1950's). There was one bathroom, no meals served, and we pushed the desks together to make a "stage" for the Christmas play. When I got bored, which was frequently, the teacher let me do older kids work. Consequently I graduated high school just after I turned 17, having skipped grades in grammar school.

All my schooling took place in tiny, rural, public schools. My high school graduation class had 17 kids.

Public college where I got my RN in 2 years.

[Mass]

21. Mine is fairly atypical.

I attended school in France until I graduated college and my experience with American public and private schools is mostly through my kids. I attended a few classes later on in a community college.

My youngest attended a French-American bilingual private school until 3rd grade, but, as he has a reading disability, went to public school in a relatively small upper-middle class district close to Cambridge from then to now (9th grade).
My oldest attended the same private school until 8th grade, then ended k12 in public school and is now in college studying Chinese Language and Literature.

[Cha]

22. Good question, Frenchie.. All ya'll sound really

educated..I got my education on DU so it's good for diversity that there's Degrees involved.

I wasn't college material..I'm in a classroom and I want to bolt for the door!

I admire those who can focus and achieve a goal like a Masters or PhD or whatever their goal is. I always got on the job training but I love my job for the last 10 years and next year I retire and fly off to Kaua'i..so no more resumes..Yay.

My daughter and son-in-law were educated at the Univ of Oregon with Masters in Education for her and he went on to Univ of Cal at Davis to become a Dr.

My son is a master carpenter on Kaua'i who loves to surf the big ones.B-)

[YvonneCa]

28. Hey, there are some big ones in California...

...right now! :7

[Cha]

40. I bet my son is jealous..he learned to

surf in La Jolla where he grew up from age 11. He's in Java right now at a surf camp and when he calls he's saying not everyday is goin' perfectly, wavewise..if you know what I mean.

[BlooInBloo]

32. It would be a dull world if we all did the same thing. :)

[Cha]

41. That's right..there's all ways

to get educated but to be given the opportunity for college for many who would not have it otherwise is paramount and our country is fortunate to have a President who understands this. :web:

[NYC_SKP]

24. Exclusively in public schools with at-risk youth and 4 yrs Juvenile Hall, long-term incarcerants.

Tough job, any public school classroom, and tough not so much due to the students as to the system.

Eight years and now I've moved on to teaching teachers.

And I never got so much as an apple.

Just a lot of precious memories, some sad, some not.

:P

[janx]

25. Hi, Frenchie--

Public schools all the way. Three degrees. Publications in five different countries, a collection of fiction and another to come in the U.S. My brothers went to the best private school in St.Louis; I chose not to go there (though maybe I should have), but I found that ultimately, the experiences I had in public school were invaluable.

I teach in a tech university, and I teach writing and literature, the things I love, in the Department of Humanities. I love them so much that it's not really hard for that to rub off on the students I teach. This coming semester, I'm teaching a new course that I designed about literature and ethics. When I was in high school, the greatest teachers I had were the same way. They loved literature and writing, and that rubbed off on me.

I LOVE teaching young college students. They are so curious, and I love what I teach so much that I can't bear not to show it to them. They must put in the effort, and they don't have to agree with me or the other students; I just want them to be engaged and thinking critically, to love or like or hate or be neutral to any reading.

This is more than you asked for, but I got carried away. :hi:

P.S. By the way, my brother majored in French and was an exchange student at a non-American university--he did well in spite of that. He had a very good ear and a gift.

[FrenchieCat]

29. Hi there!

:hi:

You are doing what you love.....how fortunate you must feel! It is a gift, you know.

[moc]

27. Private K (no public in 1968); public school through HS. State universities for

B.S. and Masters. Private university for doctorate. Teach at state university.

Two kids (one elementary school, one middle school). Both are in public school. Hope they go state university for undergraduate as I think it's an excellent value for the dollar.

[Esurientes]

30. Public school student/staff member

My two children and I always attended rough, large inner city schools. We appreciated the lack of pressure -- we were able to get As and Bs and join clubs/activities without knocking ourselves out.

I started my library career in a rough, large rural high school. It was too much of a different world for me (fundy -- my aide tried to post her church bulletins in our glass showcase), so I transferred to a rough, large inner city middle school in a neighboring district.

In all honesty, until standardized testing became the focus of public education, Fridays and half-days were nothing but Disney video free-for-alls in both districts. Young people being drilled with worksheets all day is sad to see, but the alternative was worse, in my admittedly limited experience.

[PSzymeczek]

31. Public school K-12

a private religious undergrad school - did me no good whatsofreakingever in the workplace, private non-profit independent graduate school (Golden Gate University). My daughter went to public school. I'm in favor of closing charter schools that use taxpayer money and putting that money back into the public schools.

[Jennicut]

33. Went to public schools for K-12, then went to Central CT State U for college

My education was not expensive at all, even college (where I got a degee in Psychology) was decent since its a state school.
My girls went to a private nursery school as obviously many are not public and my older daughter goes to Kindergarten in the fall....yea! for public school, its free and many times its still a great education. Sadly, it depends on where you live and the amount of money the public can invest in the community. One more year for my 4 year old in the nursery school.

I am currently getting a certificate (CDA) to teach preschool at a local community college. I used to work with troubled boys in a group home, tough and sad job.

[Odin2005]

35. Hell on Earth. Rural public school. bullied by peers AND FACULTY because of my Asperger's

Or at least what I now know to be Asperger's Syndrome. Teachers routinely harassed and humiliated me because of my "insubordination" (correcting a teacher, thinking I was just being helpful), "laziness" (had trouble taking notes and focusing on what the teacher was saying at the same time) and "making excuses" (trying to explain my POV on anything when it contradicted what adults said, or trying to explain my sensory sensitivities). Nobody except my mom and the school psychologist cared about my getting bullied, they complained and ranted at the school constantly and nothing happened.

So lets just say my opinion of public schools and teachers is very, very low. Institutions that crush the soul and replace it with mindless conformity.

[Odin2005]

39. KICK

[anonymous171]

36. Public for elementary, private for everything else.

I was thrown into special education even though I didn't need it, which meant that I missed a lot of other stuff that the "normal" children were learning (like long division) because I was in another classroom learning about adjectives and nouns. My mother didn't like it and so sent me to private school after the last year of elementary.

[GiveMeFreedom]

37. K-12, 30 years employment, 1 year at University

Went to public schools k-12. Learned the usual stuff, reading, writing, arithmetic, smoking, cruising, fighting, partying, all while keeping my grades good enough to graduate early.

Then joined the U.S. Navy(at 17) for 4 years, did the same stuff, reading, writing, arithmetic, smoking, cruising, fighting, partying, all while keeping out of trouble long enough to get an honorable discharge.

Then went to work in construction (30 years) and amazingly ran into reading, writing, arithmetic, smoking, cruising, fighting, partying, and had 7 years left to retire, but the economy took that away for now.

Now I am enrolled in a University (online) and can honestly say I am engaged in reading, writing, arithmetic, smoking. But not cruising, fighting, partying, and have 2 1/2 years left till I graduate.

But by then I'll be 54 and who is going to hire me? Guess I'll go back to reading, writing, arithmetic, smoking, cruising, fighting, partying, and hopefully smoking pot when it becomes legal, because by then I'll need to get high to forget my life.

[kimmylavin]

38. I'll add mine to the mix.

Public school, K-12, in a NJ town that believed in funding education - including the arts.
I didn't realize how lucky I'd been until I was older, of course.

Then on to a state school, where - despite the very annoying GenEd requirements, and with the help of some supplemental classes at a community college - I got my BA.

No real complaints here. :)

[NYC_SKP]

42. Wow! Some of my favorite DUers are teachers!!!

Awesome!

:P

[Igel]

44. Varied.

1-12, public school, no kindergarten. I hated public school. The student body aimed at mediocre, and achieved it. Almost everybody graduated, could read, but that was about it. Teacher's fled the school, except those too stupid to make it elsewhere. I wasn't impressed by the calibre of those who fled, either.

Twelfth grade was spent at a 4-year public university. Much nicer, except that the college students didn't like having a high school senior in their differential equations class.

Went to a small private engineering school after graduation. Hated it. Liked the rigor, hated my major, and there weren't a lot of alternatives. The size was good.

Transferred to a public university. Less rigor. Too big. But I picked majors I liked more.

(decade gap in schooling)

Returned to public university for teaching credentials, found most of the teacher's ed candidates pointlessly stupid. Went into Slavic, got my MA.

Transferred to another public university for my PhD. I'm ABD, and probably permanently stuck there. I've taught undergrad level linguistics and literature classes, but can't really get a job without the proper letters.

I'm taking education classes, a post-bac program, and find the coursework to be mind-numbingly boring. At one point the coursework said how great a Canadian researcher in L2 education was, how startling his insights were in the '70s when he published and got tenure based on his genius. Of course, his insights were known to every Czech school kid, and were taught since the 1920s. Apparently the Canadian researcher never read the French translations of the Prague Linguistic Circle or didn't bother to credit them.

Took the standardized professional knowledge test, heard horror stories about how hard it was even after all your coursework. It wasn't hard in the least. I stick with my initial appraisal of public school teachers. Some are great. Most ... let's just say that the big achievement of most of them is being in the majority.

Now I'm confronted with putting my kid in school. The high school that this elementary school feeds into is ecstatic over finally being rated "acceptable." I shudder. My wife, on the other hand, is all a-twitter. She loved kindergarten, or thinks she did, and is so happy for our little boy. She navigated the educational shoals I did with more grace than I ever could (her parents went to college), and assumes that since she did our son can. I keep telling her that boys and girls are usually different, to no avail.