[speaker001:] Do you have any particular thoughts about the school system?
[speaker002:] [Noise] [TV or radio] Well, um, [pause] I, [pause] I think that in, in, uh, recently with the, I'm not sure if it's more a problem with American families or a problem with the school system. They seem to be burdening the school system more and more with problems, any problems that a child might have, whether it's actually a school related thing or not and,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] I.
[speaker001:] I say agree with you a hundred percent there [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah, and, and, well, it's gotten to a point where the schools are expected to take care of everything.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] If, uh, you've some kid who doesn't have, uh, who's from a broken family, the schools are supposed to fill that void. It's gotten way beyond teaching, *listen; 8,10,12 seem like two utts
[speaker001:] [Sniffing].
[speaker002:] uh, you know, teaching classes
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and maybe providing extracurricular sports activities or something like, oh, were kind of traditionally the school's roles.
[speaker001:] Yeah, it's interesting because, uh, we're just having conversation on this, uh, with a couple of people yesterday. And I was expressing my frustrations that, uh, some of the, so many problems, I work in a high school, are that kids don't have a, a degree of self-discipline which may be reflected in society at large. Uh, and you can't expect in a classroom for a particular course an hour a day to counteract, uh, sixteen or seventeen years of influence at home.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] Um, and, it's seen more so because when you call parents up, many parents won't even recognize that there is a problem and [LAUGHTER] I'll say, they'll say, oh, well, our kids, my kid, I've never heard anything about this before. This is the first time there have been problems. And, and, you wonder, don't these parents know that teachers talk, and, you know, we do check with other teachers, and other teachers find the same things in
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] this child. And, you know, how do you tell your parent's, the parent, hey, wake up, and smell the coffee [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] But, um, it, it is a problem, and I'm not sure [lipsmack] just, uh, how, how the school system could operate in a vacuum on it.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Whether maybe through a commitment of the P T A, uh, and the parents being informed better, that in fact that the problems that are nationwide
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] are problems, um, of society, and that, that the school can only do so much on it.
[speaker002:] Well, then, then again when you have, uh, a society where a certain percentage of the parents are, uh, doing drugs in the home
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] uh, either unemployed and don't care about a, uh, just a have their own problems
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah.
[speaker002:] how, how do you expect the school to, um, or how do you expect the, you can't really expect that parent who's, quite frankly
[speaker001:] That's right.
[speaker002:] a loser in life, as it is
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. [Noise]
[speaker002:] to, to care about the, the situation with their child, and,
[speaker001:] [Noise] [like water running] You know what scares me too, is that we have yet to see other, the biggest effect of the crack children
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] uh, in the school system. These are children that are born with low deficit, attention deficit
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] and, gosh, what's going to happen when these kids start coming into the school system. That's really scary [Noise] [like water running].
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] But there are, I think there are a couple of areas where the school system can improve, and this is something that I see. [Breathing] Too many times students [sigh] get diagnosed as mo-, slow learners, and in fact they're not. They're behavior problems.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And so, they get put in, in, in our school system, in a class that's limited for skills children
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] that have, really have to master skills. And that's not their problem. Um, at the same time, I've seen, we, we have a, an international population. There's no bridge area for students coming out of the E S O L, which is English for Speakers of Other Languages
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] program. The, once they're past E S O L, they get out, they got thrown right into the total mainstream
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] [Lipsmack] and, uh, there really needs to be a bridge, some sort of transition
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] for that. So the school systems can improve, both in standing up for splitting classes, you know, having learning dis-, learning, slow, slow children in slow classes, but not mixing them with behavior problems.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And then, you know, the case where they put the behavior problems in the average classes, you get these kids that are average students but highly motivated.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And then you throw in kids that are not motivated, maybe bright, but they're discipline problems. And you sometimes the average classes really are problems
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] because you've got such a mixed bag there.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] You know, the gifted and talented are fast classes. There's really not that much of a problem with. But it's,
[speaker002:] Well, I, I've seen more, uh, incredibly intelligent underachievers than,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] than, uh, I personally I will, I would take a person who's motivated and a little, uh, less intelligent
[speaker001:] That's, yeah.
[speaker002:] than the person who, uh, is one of these very intelligent people who just kind of, isn't motivated to do anything.
[speaker001:] I remember I had a college professor who once said that genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Well, I, not to toot my own horn here or anything, but I, I was graduated from my high school, I was the valedictorian, and I know
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] that there were a lot of kids that were an awful lot smarter than me, and they proved out late when it came time to take the S A T -s. Mine were
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] good, but they weren't great.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And, uh, when I got into college I struggled, I struggled just to, uh, get my degree in the, in the field that I was in.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Whereas I knew people that in high school were kind of lazy and all, but they got motivated in college and they did a lot better than I did. And when it,
[speaker001:] Yeah. I guess kids do mature at different ages
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] too. That's, and, you know, as a teacher you, you try to make, be understanding that, you know, there are different ages, kids are, is this a, got a kid that just a question of maturity, or is he a
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] problem child. But teachers are asked to diagnose so much. Um, there, I mean, I mean we're, have to be, we're alerted
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] there's all sorts of systems where suicide, uh, predisposition. I mean, we're alerted to what the moment we see something. If we see a child that we have any reason, that's on drugs, such as if he's got a beeper or if they're, if they're flashing lots of money around. We've, there are certain things to do. I mean, so tea-, the school system's asked to do so much, but you can't operate in a vacuum.
[speaker002:] You actually have students with, with beepers?
[speaker001:] This is a, we're in a rather wealthy suburb of Washington.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And a student with a beeper immediately gets sent down to the, uh, principal.
[speaker002:] I mean, where, what are the, what could they possibly be thinking. I mean how.
[speaker001:] It's for drug use. They can't imagine for anything else.
[speaker002:] Yeah [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Yeah. You know, it's, it's amazing, but uh, you get all sorts, you get all, all sorts of things, uh, in the schools, uh, uh, and it's, and you know, as a teacher you're alert, you're alert for the kid who's very drowsy. You're alert to the kid who suddenly has a, um, behavioral change, and you refer them to the nurse.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And, so, I mean, you have to find out whether there's a legitimate reason, [LAUGHTER] or whether this is a warning signal.
[speaker002:] Yeah, can you, how can you, [LAUGHTER] how can you expect to,
[speaker001:] And parents frequently resent when you ask them. Is there a problem that we should be aware of? *2 utts
[speaker002:] Oh yeah, I, I, I was, uh, sitting in the barber shop. I'm an officer in the Air Force, and I was having my hair cut
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and the barber got a call while I was there, uh, from his son's school. His son's in high school. And his son was failing gym and, uh, and having trouble,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] with a few other things. But, you know, it's like, uh, this guy was like, why now, there's no problem with my kid. My kid's a great kid and all this. The kid had missed all these classes, and basically
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] he, his answer was, Oh, I gave him permission to, to miss.
[speaker001:] Yeah, the denial mechanism is really strong and so many parents are facilitators.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] I mean, they're manipulated by their children.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] I've been fortunate. I have, uh, a son who's a sophomore in college up in Massachusetts
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] at, uh, Amherst, and my other son is a senior in high school, and he's going on to Williams. And I mean, they're really super. They're both national level
[speaker002:] Sure.
[speaker001:] swimmers, and where we've been very fortunate, but, you know, they had to be held accountable
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] too. I mean, you know, at some point a parent does help their kid, but in, in some ways, but, but you have to say at what point isn't the help becoming negative.
[speaker002:] Sure.
[speaker001:] And I think this is where the school system at, is suffering, and not through any fault of the effort
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] of the school system. But gee it was good talking with you.
[speaker002:] It was good talking to you too.
[speaker001:] Yeah, so there are people throughout the country that feel
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] the same ways that you do, and, and are connected with the schools.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I've had interesting conversations on several subjects not, uh, not just this but different, the different
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] things. It's amazing how the, you know, people you talk to have some interesting conversations and, uh, it's too bad that all this stuff is just being thrown into a data base, and that none of the ideas or thoughts are being used at all [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Well, we are, though [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's true.
[speaker001:] Listen, good luck. Take care,
[speaker002:] Yep. Bye-bye.
[speaker001:] Bye-bye.