By Mimi Rothschild
As if public schools weren’t dangerous and chaotic enough. Public schools now have to deal with dodgy teachers lurking in the classrooms waiting to pounce on vulnerable students. Of course, the majority of public school teachers are not a threat to students, but the number of crimes being committed by teachers against students seems to be increasing. There appear to be more and more stories these days which would suggest this notion:
• Seth Canata, 33, a former history and boys track coach in New Jersey, faces a maximum of five years in prison for official misconduct and criminal sexual contact with a former female student.
• Twenty-five year old Amber Marshall pled guilty “to reduced charges stemming from having sex with two male students” (nwi.com). Marshall was sentenced to almost six years of formal probation and day reporting.
• Sixty-one year old Ronald Sherman, a former Dixie High School teacher in Utah, is being charged with five counts of sexual battery for “allegedly touching four female students in his ceramics class during the past school year” (The Salt Lake Tribune)
• Cathy Heminghaus, 47, a former Ferguson Middle School special education teacher can only hope to receive probation after pleading no contest to 25 counts after being accused of performing sex acts with her students. At worst she will receive a sentence of life in jail plus 150 years.
I could write about other horrendous crimes public school teachers have committed, but I think my point has been made. An environment where students should feel safe to learn and pursue knowledge is now a jungle where students are just trying to survive. Public school students have to deal with violence, bullying, gangs, overcrowded classrooms, and one-size fits all curriculums, now they have to deal with abusive teachers? Who can public school students trust if they can no longer trust or feel safe around their teachers? I’m not saying this is the case with every teacher, but more and more teachers are taking advantage of their power, like in the cases mentioned above.
Home schooling students don’t have to deal with any of these issues. Why should students have to deal with the jungle that is public school? Home schooling offers students the chance to receive a world-class education and to be safe too. Home schooling students greatly benefit from their education which is why it is becoming more and more popular each school year.
By Mimi Rothschild
Hello all, this is a short post, but I thought I’d share this great article I read. Duane Sheppard, a retired educator with almost three decades of experience in the public school system, wrote a compelling article on home schooling and home schooling’s increasing popularity. I find Mr. Sheppard’s article to be extremely fascinating because he gives home schooling such high marks even though he worked for almost thirty years in public schools.
Mr. Sheppard recently watched his home schooling grandson graduate. He notes that home schooling is not a new trend. “Though it may seem like a recent trend, home schooling is nothing new. George Washington, Queen Elizabeth, Theodore Roosevelt and Sandra Day O’Connor were home schooled. However, a couple of decades ago, this option still seemed like a fringe choice.” He meticulously documents home school’s progress, home school’s tremendous success, reasons to home school, and home schooling benefits.
I urge everyone to read this article and also write a comment about your home schooling experience. Tell me why your family chose to home school and what it has been like so far. I’d also love to hear from people who are considering home schooling their children.
Read Duane Sheppard’s article here.
By Mimi Rothschild
Children all over the United States and Canada are being bombarded in their own public schools by a slew of marketing messages from corporate America. Public school students can no longer walk down the hallway, ride the bus, or even open up their textbooks without being subjected to a message that essentially tells them that they need to buy something.
“Corporations in the Classroom” is a one-hour documentary that profiles the increasing covert influence that big business is exerting on public school children in America and Canada. Marketing to school age students is estimated to be a 2 billion dollar industry. The film raises questions about the lack of regulations that are in place that would protect our children from the aggressive corporate marketing campaigns that are often masquerading as classroom lessons.
The problem that I see with this new “curricula,” that is being perpetrated on our children, is not necessarily the idea that corporate sponsorships are inappropriate ways to fund education. Just like public television has brought millions of people excellent programming through corporate sponsorships and fundraising efforts, it is not inconceivable that appropriate advertising could be used to pay for quality education.
The problem is that it is being done in the public schools where the taxpayers are already paying for the education. If corporate sponsorships were to replace the taxpayer funded system, there may be a new level of accountability that would improve the school system.
As home schoolers who are forced to pay for our local schools even when we have rejected them as unworthy of our children, eliminating the taxpayer funded public schools would give home schooling families significantly more money to invest in their home school children’s education.
A new school system that was funded by private enterprises would mean that the quality of the schooling would rise because families would have choices in where they send their children. The fundamental principle of our free market system is that when people are free to create businesses that offer services or products then those businesses are forced to offer the highest quality product because of the competition they face from other businesses trying to do the same thing. That competition is what makes the price go down and helps increase the quality. In our public schools, there is virtually no competition except for the rich who can afford a five figure tuition. The illegal monopoly that our public schools enjoy over education is what makes it so poor. Eliminate the monopoly, allow enterprise to flourish the way it does in every other industry and that is one of the solutions to our failing public educational system.
View “Corporations in the Classroom” here.
By Mimi Rothschild
America is at the crossroads in many different facets of life. Religion, or difference in opinion on religious issues, acts as the catalyst that has propelled America to this new era of hostility between Christians and Atheists.
According to Rachel Zoll of The Washington Post Christopher Hitchens has published another anti-Christian book entitled “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything” that has reached the top of the best-seller list. These sort of weightless attacks have become common over the last few years.
The spiritual battle in America is increasingly becoming more and more evident each day, especially in America’s schools. Zoll questions the future of America’s public schools because of the rapid growth of Christian homeschools.
Be sure to check out the debate between Hitchens and Reverend Doug Wilson, author of “Letter from a Christian Citizen,” on Christianity Today.
Other hotly debated topics that normally divide between religious lines include abortion, which the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld a ban on partial-birth abortions.
To read more of Zoll’s compelling article click here.
By Mimi Rothschild
Patricia Kokinos, a teacher and an assistant principal for more than 25 years paints a dark picture of the public school system in America. “Angel Park” is a fictional novel that was inspired by Kokinos career as an educator and her experiences in fighting for school reform. The novel describes the dismal state that public schools are in and the urgent need for public school reform.
Kokinos was rejected from a number of publishing houses because they did not agree with her belief that a novel should be written on the downfall of public schools in America. She finally decided to print the novel herself through the independent publishing house iUniverse. I’m glad she did!
“Angel Park” is now receiving national media attention and is a finalist for the Foreword’s Magazine Book of the Year Award. Read more about Patricia Kokinos book.
My children have benefited from a great alternative to the public school system: homeschooling. Christian homeschooling has provided my children with wonderful and individualized educations. Kokinos boldy tells us how and why public schools fail students. I, and many of you, can tell the world why homeschooling provides our children with world-class educations that give them a head start in their lives.