public schools?

i agree that some of the public school systems in Tennessee are lacking. There are some that are great…they are in Franklin and Brentwood – they have money in their system. Others are not good. The system we are in failed both my children. My oldest was gifted, my youngest had a learning disability. I went to a minimum of 4 m-team meetings a year and did everything they suggested. I also went on the internet and researched what i could find to give to them…it didn’t work. My oldest flunked out of high school while making 99% across the board in TCAPS. He got his GED and then went ahead and took the ACT with no preparation and made a 27. If he had been in a good school, there is no telling how well he could have done. My youngest left 5th grade without being able to read!!! I put him in a private school and they had him reading in 6 months.

Yes, i agree the public schools in Tennessee are lacking in several ways!!

How do you know that to be true? It may well be, but be sure you have a credible source for that statement.

Public schools are funded by taxes. If you have a state with not many people, or if the average income is not very high, then there isn’t as much money to spread around. Or if you have a lot fo people who don’t have children–senior citizens who already raised and paid for their kids’ education or young people who don’t yet have kids or have decided not to have any–they won’t be crazy about voting to increase their taxes to benefit somebody else’s kids.

Some states (and I do NOT know this to be true about Tennessee) don’t offer much reason for teachers to want to live there.

Most k-12 teachers are women, and women are typically underpaid as are men in typically women’s jobs. Some states (and I don’t know about TN) are still behind the times when it comes to women’s rights.

You don’t say where you got your information or what they are lacking in. I have several relatives who have gone on to have Masters’ and PhD’s after attending public schools in Chattanooga. There was a doc. that I saw recently on a small, isolated school district in Tenn. that made a world famous museum housed in a real Nazi rail car used to transport Jews in. They made a Memorial out of it and got paper clips donated from all over to represent each person who died Because of the Nazi’s and Hitler. That’s really hands on learning to be proud of.

So, I think you haven’t done your homework. Also, the schools aren’t only to blame when scores are low. Parents have to take an active role in their children’s education.

How do you know that? Did someone tell you or did you just think that because maybe a school you know isn’t good?

I go to a private school and I’m not saying you’re wrong, because I do not know, I’m just saying that you should think about it before you decide you’re right. =P

Taxpayers don’t want to spend the money to give students a good chance in life.