[speaker001:] are you satisfied with the public school system in your area
[speaker002:] uh well we don't have children but um from what our peers tell us um most of them do are not in favor of the way the Dallas public well I shouldn't get specific the way the public education system is run here
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] um they just don't feel that um the quality of the teachers and the quality of the uh curriculum and they actually send them to uh the suburban areas I I guess it's okay if I say the area Plano
[speaker001:] sure uh-huh
[speaker002:] um and I think one thing that the state's doing right now about the refunding I think is completely unfair it's not that I
[speaker001:] yeah I don't agree with that either the the Robin Hood approach where the rich give to the poor
[speaker002:] yeah yeah is is that the basic reason you don't agree with it
[speaker001:] no I don't people move to the suburbs to Richardson and Plano uh uh mostly because of the school district because of the level of education that's offered
[speaker002:] yeah yeah and they're already paying for it I mean I you know um I know we used to live in Garland and a lot of the people there sent their kids to private school because um they just didn't like what was going on
[speaker001:] yeah well it costs uh so much in taxes here and uh even if they do give money to the poorer school districts I don't think it's going to lower my taxes at all
[speaker002:] uh-huh I know it I mean I look at high schools like um what was the one in Richardson J J Pearce High School that just won the national academic some kind of um uh championship or tournament that they had for academics and that Richardson is one of the school districts that would be hit by taking away from them
[speaker001:] yeah sure
[speaker002:] that's a good way to say it the Robin Hood um approach
[speaker001:] well that's that's exactly what what their doing um
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] I don't think that's going to improve the talent as far as the school teaching uh goes
[speaker002:] you know I used to work at EDS and Ross Perot you know the big joke sometimes um about him but the one thing he did a few years back in testing the competency of the uh faculty
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I still think that's a good idea
[speaker001:] well I think it is too uh every
[speaker002:] because I don't I don't know where did you go to school in Texas
[speaker001:] no I went to school in Wisconsin
[speaker002:] and I went to school in Chicago so I can tell you it's probably the same type of thing that um I had a really good education but it wasn't where I went to high school it was an inner city but it the faculty was very good
[speaker001:] right uh-huh well we need qualified teachers no matter whether they're teaching in the inner city or the suburbs
[speaker002:] and I don't know what you right
[speaker001:] uh the trouble is that uh the suburbs are able to pay more that's going to attract the the better uh teachers
[speaker002:] uh-huh which is understandable I mean I'd go where I would be compensated the most
[speaker001:] sure and uh it cost more in tax money too so
[speaker002:] yeah I mean it's yeah in Texas I don't know I don't if it's because of um the influx of minority uh in terms of that they're trying to please all people and their not pleasing anybody you know I don't know if that's what it is
[speaker001:] well it could very well be uh there is a definite racial split here
[speaker002:] I don't know I'm not really yeah I mean I don't know if that's exactly it or not but it seems to be a little bit more um well I don't know schools in Wisconsin I'm trying to think of some of the things I know about the schools up north compared to down here it just seems like down here that unless you're in a suburban entity their SAT scores their reading comprehension levels they're just not as high
[speaker001:] well I was in a rural area in Wisconsin and uh we had a good public school system but I don't think it was great I think the curriculum was very deficient to prepare people to go to college
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] but uh the the racial mix of um students in my area was entirely white we had uh no minorities at all
[speaker002:] and mine was uh mine was completely um Hispanic in terms of Puerto Rican uh Caucasian and eastern European
[speaker001:] okay well that's interesting
[speaker002:] uh it was very eclectic um but the teachers were what did curriculum I mean they had things like philosophy and journalism I mean
[speaker001:] huh
[speaker002:] but there wasn't a uh real for people such as myself that knew they wanted to go to school and knew they wanted to um go to a fairly competitive undergraduate program it wasn't what I would call a uh a career a academic path preparatory path for college prep um as opposed to suburban schools like Evanston Illinois which has one of the largest you know
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] uh student bodies in the country and the and the money base to go with it um
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] I don't know I just look at high schools like Plano East and West and the ones in Richardson and I think well you know I would send a child there
[speaker001:] well the good school districts here do have honors programs uh they do encourage that among the students who are uh prepared to go to college but uh that brings up a whole uh bunch of other problems um
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh yeah I mean my high school did have honors programs and I was in it but it really you know in terms of I'm wondering how much different it was compared to in terms of city now there is a high school um is it WTT White or is it Jefferson I don't know that much about the Dallas high school system um but I have heard that the of one or two that are very good but out of how many you know fifty to sixty high schools
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] it's just um and then I read the other day that Plano was going to be the site for a possibly new um parochial or Catholic high school
[speaker001:] all right I haven't heard that yet
[speaker002:] something like to be one of the largest ones in the Southwest or something yeah
[speaker001:] that's interesting I know some people at work who uh have uh children in high school and they're not satisfied with the school district at all and they do send their kids to the private school private schools
[speaker002:] uh-huh do they see and are they in Plano or are they in Dallas Dallas
[speaker001:] um they send them to Saint Marks I think where ever that's located
[speaker002:] okay yeah yeah that's one of the more um yeah I have some friends that uh have younger children and they send them to the Montessori system
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] um and when you hear what they're paying you just
[speaker001:] well he he said about six hundred a month and that doesn't include their personal expense
[speaker002:] oh my goodness
[speaker001:] so you're you're talking about uh college uh level fees here
[speaker002:] yeah twelve years and you add more than one child to that and you say oh my goodness yeah I
[speaker001:] sure but I think I think the honors programs are good in the high schools but uh some of the problems you get are the kids that are in those programs get harassed by their peers for doing too well
[speaker002:] this is true yes I can personally relate to that yes
[speaker001:] and that discourages them from doing well
[speaker002:] uh-huh I don't know I think one thing the United States does um my stepfather's from England and one thing they do their at least in in the section of London where he was from that they um
[speaker001:] so uh
[speaker002:] they actually they call them externships but they actually the child's um uh they go by forms they don't go by grades and I guess I guess what would be the equivalent of our early high school nine tenth grade they call it the tenth of eleventh form um
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] they actually are forced to take time off and pick an area of study it's proctored it's you know regulated and all that sort of thing um but they actually are supposed to go to the library and do their own thing on a particul ar subject and it doesn't matter what it is
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] it has to be academic but they it's free of their choosing
[speaker001:] well their allowed to progress at their own pace then
[speaker002:] right in that one just for that one particular semester quarter or what ever you know that one quarter uh a study unit would be and
[speaker001:] all right
[speaker002:] I don't know I don't think we do enough of that here in terms of getting children to think independently
[speaker001:] no I can relate to part of that uh in in my high school uh say just for for example in my math courses uh I I was not to brag about this at all I was so far ahead of everybody else that I didn't have to go to class
[speaker002:] uh-huh oh my
[speaker001:] and I got to sit by myself in an empty room while everybody else was in class taking algebra and work at my own pace
[speaker002:] uh-huh see yeah that's kind of what I'm talking about I mean um uh I mean we can only speak from personal experience and I'm not bragging either but it's the same thing I mean I took AP or advanced placement classes
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] and it there were things that I probably knew about in other segments but they just didn't offer them I mean they offered them in things like English and chemistry
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] two things that were obscure to what I was interested in in terms of um a career um I think part of the thing about schools today is too is the way the families have gone down the tubes the structure that now teachers play police officers you know their parenting their disciplinarians
[speaker001:] yeah I'm sure that has a definite effect yeah
[speaker002:] you know and I'm doing this all this second hand we don't have any kids in school or anything so I can't
[speaker001:] well I I know people uh I don't have any kids either but uh from I know people who had been neighbors once upon a time
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] who had kids and whenever the father was traveling away on business or they they had financial problems their kids uh their it was definitely noticed at their performance in school
[speaker002:] isn't that something I mean are parents I mean my folks were divorced too but I can't remember ever I mean it was sort of just like uh you knew you had to study or you just didn't
[speaker001:] yeah it got so bad with with this one kid that uh the the school uh called their parents up to ask if there were any problems going on
[speaker002:] oh goodness
[speaker001:] because his performance at school had degraded so much
[speaker002:] I mean I wouldn't want to be growing up now a days that's one thing um but I don't know how you solve that you know those are social problems the academic problem I don't know I think of two or three things in my mind I think teachers should be tested
[speaker001:] I I believe in that
[speaker002:] and they probably would shoot me if they heard that and I know a lot of teachers um two I think that they should leave the funding or the money where the proven programs are
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and three I do think that parents need to be more involved I don't know I just it's probably easy to say because none of us have children but um I just
[speaker001:] right well I remember as a kid uh they had PTA Parent Teacher Association meetings all the time
[speaker002:] yeah association yeah
[speaker001:] and uh my parents always went to those uh
[speaker002:] yeah mine too I mean and do they have those anymore I mean I don't even
[speaker001:] I I don't know
[speaker002:] I don't have any uh but you know just the other day we were somewhere actually on Saturday we were in the Park Cities ordering in a we were in a specialty uh food shop ordering something to send out of state and the man we were all upon the topic of adoption which may be in our future um if we're real lucky at any rate he was saying how he was glad that his two children one biological one natural um this had to do with the adopted the adopted one which biological I mean one adopted one natural um that's irrelevant but he was saying that uh my husband said and what does your son is very good looking what is he well he's nineteen he graduated last year um but he's interested in theater and he's just going to Richland and he said you know he said I'm not calling him stupid or slow he just he said he did really didn't want to study and he goes and you know he leaned over to my husband and he said well you know so and so he said when you have them if you get one what you'll understand is you'll just be glad if they don't you don't get a call from the police
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] and he said our son Mark you know blah blah blah um he may be have only been a C student but we've never had trouble with him he said and when you raise a child in today's society he you're just glad they make it through school
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah well the the dropout rate is so high in Dallas and Fort Worth uh yes it is I I think it's thirty eight percent
[speaker002:] is it see I don't even know that