[speaker001:] All right.
[speaker002:] Um, serious problems in the public education and what can be done about it. Uh,
[speaker001:] Well, what do you think?
[speaker002:] Well, I, that's funny because I just, um, quit my job to stay home with my kids.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] And, um, I was a teacher for seven years in the public schools, so I know a little bit about it not,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] a whole great deal.
[speaker001:] Well, tell me about it. What are,
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] what are the problems with public education?
[speaker002:] Well, um, there, there's some. There's several [LAUGHTER]. It's such a, a broad, you know, topic that y-, you need to boil it down.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] But, um, one that, um, I thought was a problem that, I thought it was a serious problem, that I'm not sure it's being taken care of right now, uh, was like bilingual education
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] for, um, different,
[speaker001:] [Noise].
[speaker002:] um, minority groups and like Asians and, um, uh, Mexican Americans and, and just people in general that speak other languages that sometimes come from other countries or coming from different areas and they [child talking], and in this area, and, um, as the school district, I'm not sure how to go about it, because it's hard to get one teacher that speaks all these languages
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] and so most of these children are put in, um, either special ed or a bilingual program, and then for just a small amount of time, and then they're into their [child talking] regular classrooms the remaining of the, part of the day, and so the teachers are not sure how to teach them math when they don't read or speak English.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And so, um, a lot of the money isn't put into that, and so these children are just kind of sat in the corner and, um, [child talking] you know, there's only so long you can do that and,
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] to me that seemed like a big problem in the school districts. And a lot of the teachers, it n-, it was not the teacher's fault. A lot of the teachers were just not getting the backbone or support that they needed or the materials or the extra help that they needed for these specific children [faint].
[speaker001:] Do you find that those parents, um, I've seen the same thing and heard the same things, and at the same time I've heard that it's even harder when both parents are required to work and can't spend, you know, that, that time, you know
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] typically the mother was at home with, uh, the children and,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] and at least could kind of keep up on what's going on, and really society sort of dictates that, uh, you know, both the parents work.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And, um, I know I've heard some people talk about just the fact that even as far back as the, you know, the second and third grade, uh, if the kids had, you know, proper reading skills or learned proper reading skills that, that would make a lot of difference.
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah. Oh, definitely, definitely. And it, and it teaches language too.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Which is really good. Um,
[speaker001:] Well, I work at a university, and, and it's really tough when we're, uh, uh, I, I, uh, work at the University of Texas at Dallas and,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] uh, we have, uh, some pretty selective admissions requirements for incoming freshmen.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And, you know, there are some students who are in the top ten percent of their class, even some who are maybe, you know, in the top ten o-, of their class, and their S A T scores are very low, and a lot of it has to do with their, uh, [squeak] their reading ability, you know,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] their, their language and,
[speaker002:] Oh, definitely, yeah.
[speaker001:] It, uh, makes it tough because you know when they come in with scores that low, they may be, uh, good students, but they just haven't achieved to their fullest potential and they're going,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] to fail unless some sort of remedial, uh, education is given to them so,
[speaker002:] Right, right.
[speaker001:] And then it, then it comes into, well, who's supposed to give it to them, the colleges and universities or,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] are they supposed to get that [LAUGHTER] back in the high schools and,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] the junior highs.
[speaker002:] Well, I know Richardson school district has a, has a wonderful program in the remedial reading, um, where, you know,
[speaker001:] [Noise].
[speaker002:] of course, all the children are tested in some,
[speaker001:] [Talking].
[speaker002:] time portion of the year and, and, uh, some children who need extra help are put into this, um, reading program, and it is just excellent. It is,
[speaker001:] Yeah [talking].
[speaker002:] I wish that all the children could be exposed to that program, you know. And I kn-, I know that there are some parents that say how do I get my kids in that, and yet they don't qualify, but it's unfortunate that they don't qualify, because I think everybody would benefit from these programs.
[speaker001:] Yeah, it sounds like it.
[speaker002:] It is excellent so,
[speaker001:] So how many children do you have at home?
[speaker002:] I have two little ones and,
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] that's why I, I quit my job. Uh, you know, I've been teaching since they were, gosh, newborns and [child yelling] and it just wasn't adding up and, you know, being a teacher, and you see all these parents who are working and working and working and just, you know, don't have the time, time, time, time.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] It was kind of getting to me, where, where I'm doing the same thing [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] And so, um, you know, my children are getting older and I was missing out on a lot, so I just decided to stay home for a while, I don't know how long [LAUGHTER] [child talking].
[speaker001:] Well, that's good.