[speaker001:] I I assume I assume you have kids
[speaker002:] uh we have one she's only nine months old
[speaker001:] oh well she she doesn't have to worry about public schools yet
[speaker002:] right well my degree is in teaching so
[speaker001:] ah
[speaker002:] so I
[speaker001:] well we have a little bit of a basis for conversation I was a substitute teacher for about a year
[speaker002:] oh really
[speaker001:] yeah I uh thought I wanted to be a teacher so but before I went through all of that I wanted to see how I was going to like it
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and they uh in Alabama where I came from they they allow you to substitute if you got a four year degree so I went out and played substitute for a while and decided nope not for me
[speaker002:] did you teach in all subjects or in all grade levels or
[speaker001:] yeah it was I just took grades one through six I thought I was going to be smart and get the good kids wrong
[speaker002:] um-hum well my degree was in fourth through seventh grade but I taught junior high and I expected it to be a lot of trouble but it wasn't that bad I taught remedial reading kids
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] and well they don't call it remedial reading these days they call it something else but but anyway at the time that's what I taught and um
[speaker001:] um yeah
[speaker002:] you kind of group your behavioral problems together that way
[speaker001:] hum hum
[speaker002:] when you have your slow readers but it it wasn't too bad we we got along real well
[speaker001:] well I I sometimes wonder if I didn't mess up I maybe should have taken the higher grades because at least you can if you have to you can get mean with them those little kids don't understand it
[speaker002:] yeah I especially with the real young ones I started out wanting to teach elementary lower like primary and then top primary and thought well no I don't like this as much and ended up moving up and got up until about the sixth grade and so that's what I got my certification in
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] but I had decided long before I was even married that I wanted to if possible teach my kids at home and not put them in the public schools
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] um and my reason for that was I don't like the uh what's the right word the varied inappropriate influences that you find so much in the public schools
[speaker001:] well that's a nice way of putting it
[speaker002:] you can find a lot of good public schools if you if you look real hard but I don't think they could cover everything that you could teach your children on an individual basis
[speaker001:] exactly exactly and two most people don't have that option
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know and plus it also depends on the district you're in as I mean on the I've seen some districts where all the schools are lousy it doesn't matter what you do
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] uh accept for the private ones of course we're talking about public
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] I don't know back when I was going to school uh you just didn't get away with things these kids get away with now
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] I mean you you pulled stunts like that and you were down at the principal's office and usually bending over to get five of the best
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] um but now nowadays they can't even they can barely scold the children for something you you know without getting sued
[speaker002:] and the the um the crime is just escalated and the drugs and even in the the lower the lower schools
[speaker001:] oh yeah well the thing that really did it for me I was subbing in a fifth grade class and uh this kid comes to school with his lunch box and inside this lunch box he's got easily two I'd say two hundred two hundred and fifty dollars in one dollar bills
[speaker002:] um
[speaker001:] and I asked him uh what are you doing with that he says my father gave it to me and I didn't believe it for a minute
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] um so uh but uh you know the not a lot I could do about it
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] can't stop the kid from bringing money to school if he wants
[speaker002:] crazy for him to but
[speaker001:] well I have I I've fully I think I understood what the what the kid was doing he was a uh well let's just say he was one of those types that you wouldn't doubt that he was selling something
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah
[speaker001:] but not a lot I could do about it
[speaker002:] well we had the problem when I was in with teaching um I was eighth and ninth graders that I worked with and if we did have a a student come in and they were drunk or they were on something you had the option of calling the police and have them taken out of the schools or trying to teach them something while they were there
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and you don't know if you were reaching them or not but we felt like you know maybe just going ahead and try to teaching them was better trying to teach them was better than have them taken out
[speaker001:] yeah because uh that just that doesn't do a lot for them I mean it alleviates your problem but it doesn't do anything for them
[speaker002:] yeah right uh most the time if they were they were some of them were even better behaved I've only had two instances where I could it was really noticeable but they were better behaved when they were um I don't know if it was alcohol or something else that they were on but it ended up better
[speaker001:] uh I don't know guns and
[speaker002:] but
[speaker001:] I don't know that's something
[speaker002:] I think there's a problem too with teachers trying to um to be so versatile that they do lose sight of the basics you know they've been a big drive in especially in the seventies to return back to the basics
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and uh and I'm not completely just you know just teach the basics in schools but I think there does does need to be a reemphasis of those because of our our lowering grades in the standardized test and such
[speaker001:] oh yeah yeah oh sure I mean it's it's it's indicative across the board that we we've done something wrong
[speaker002:] but right
[speaker001:] and when you see uh Koreans and Chinese and Japanese who are taking all the uh science jobs all the engineering jobs all the mathematical jobs and you know here we are we can't we can't balance a checkbook without a calculator
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] um I don't know
[speaker002:] well I spent a year and a half in Japan also and I've seen how their sc hool system works and I they go by a complete rote system you you just memorize everything
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and then at the end of the of a certain time period you spitted everything back out and the better uh memorizer you are the better your grades going to be
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] so I don't completely agree with that either
[speaker001:] no
[speaker002:] but there there definitely needs to be a balance somewhere
[speaker001:] yeah that's that's a great deal what law school's like
[speaker002:] oh is it
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] is that what you ended up going into
[speaker001:] um yeah
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] and uh I just same sort of thing they just you you sit there and read hundreds and hundreds of cases and then you get one exam for the whole semester
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and it's how well you can remember it all
[speaker002:] how how much you can stuff in your brain
[speaker001:] yeah and I found that a particularly useless way of studying
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] um I never did I always tried to understand things not tried to memorize
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and consequently some of the very best students were had excellent memories
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] but they couldn't put two and two together as far as the law was concerned
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so uh it didn't show me anything a year and a half I gave it up
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] I wasn't really want I didn't want to be a lawyer anyway just wanted the degree
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah
[speaker001:] so
[speaker002:] yeah well
[speaker001:] well I don't know what can we do about it
[speaker002:] good good question probably taking
[speaker001:] money money is not the answer
[speaker002:] no there's plenty of money in the system it's just
[speaker001:] yeah I mean they're they're throwing more money at it now than ever before and things are getting worse
[speaker002:] I think it's uh like a lot of things in the in the the United States we've got so much built up in um in the state in the bureaucracy and in the politics of it and in the the power plays that it needs to be pulled down and started over again and there's no way that that can be done
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] not without wiping out a whole generation of of kids in the school system and so
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] maybe on smaller smaller scales
[speaker001:] well I don't know I uh as much as I didn't like school when I was going through it from my perspective now I can see that it's a lot better than what we have now
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and I think part of it is that they've got to give authority back to the local school
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know I mean it's it's silly that these that these people are handcuffed when it comes to discipline
[speaker002:] um-hum right into the classroom it needs to be
[speaker001:] yeah exactly I mean I
[speaker002:] be able to be enforced
[speaker001:] I I mean teachers are so afraid now of even saying something
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] to students because they're going get they're going to get complaints or they're going to get sued or something
[speaker002:] it's like doctors in lawsuits you know they're kind of fearful of everything
[speaker001:] oh yeah  well lawyers help create that
[speaker002:] that's that's true I've well at least I've heard that I I I haven't fortunately been in a situation where it's been applicable to me but
[speaker001:] but well I think I think I I mean what we've turned the schools into now are just day care centers
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] you know somebody okay we're going to send our kid here for seven or eight hours a day and he's out of our hair
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] and the other part of it is parents have quit becoming parents
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] you know they just
[speaker002:] oh yeah it has to be reinforced in the home
[speaker001:] oh sure I mean mean you you can you can have the best school system in the world if you don't get anything anything at home then it's it's not going to help either
[speaker002:] yeah right
[speaker001:] so I I don't know I don't know what the I don't know what the answer is
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] it's an interesting interesting thing you want to do I how is Texas about keeping your children out of public schools do they allow it
[speaker002:] yeah they allow it under certain circumstances you have to to prove that you're teaching them something you have to follow
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] a preferred curriculum um well they try to encourage you to to follow a specific curriculum although you don't have to
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and then if you have particular religious beliefs they have to be they're kind of monitored you know they they will allow you to I can't think of any examples but certain religious groups don't want their children in public schools because the influence and maybe if they was a group of Mennonites or something like that I don't think they're is in in this area but
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] um they they are monitored by the uh by the state school board
[speaker001:] hum
[speaker002:] so
[speaker001:] that's interesting I remembering reading a few cases about that when it when some people first tried that and they got sued
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] got taken to court by the school system I'm glad the parents won I mean that's seems silly that uh I mean we started that's the that's the way you got your education in this country
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and then uh