[speaker001:] okay what do you think of the public school system first off do you have children that are in it
[speaker002:] I have children that are in the Plano Public School systems and I am a substitute teacher at this point looking for a full-time job in the public school system so
[speaker001:] oh okay well then you should be a good one to know because I my children are grown now I now have grandchildren in the school system so uh
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] I don't have first had experience right now with it so what do you think
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh well I think the public school systems are doing a good job I think they have a long way to go yet but I think that um they are starting to head towards more technology and getting the kids computer literate earlier you know my kindergartners were on the were on the computers and I think that with the way the world is today that's got to be done and I think that uh the schools now are starting to teach thinking strategies more than just giving them you know skills you know you don't just add one plus one you figure out why you're adding it and what you're going to do with it once you've got it together and I think that that's something that is drastically needed because most of these kids cannot think they literally cannot come in out of the rain
[speaker001:] right that's right
[speaker002:] you you know and that just I don't care how intelligent you are if you be cannot make it function for you that intelligence is being wasted and uh this has been one of my pet peeves and probably why I went into education
[speaker001:] correct
[speaker002:] so I think you know they're they're trying to head into into teaching them to think and use the education that they have and I think that's very very important
[speaker001:] yes it is I I agree with you that they're starting children so much earlier on things because our grandchildren we have a uh fourth grader and then we have one that's in kindergartner and and I know the fourth grader is doing stuff that our children was doing were doing in the fifth and sixth grade
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] you know it's amazing to me and stuff that I didn't do until I was in junior high which of course shows my age
[speaker002:] oh yeah uh I tutor a girl that's in eighth grade and her pre-algebra book is higher then some of my algebra two when I was in high school and it's like oh I going to take this home and study it before I can help you
[speaker001:] that's kind of scary right
[speaker002:] you know so they're really they're really moving them along but yet at the same time you know they are stopping and making them use it and function with it like they would need to do in everyday life and that's what you know a lot of the things that we did in school I've never used and never will use
[speaker001:] now yes
[speaker002:] and uh so I think that it's it's appropriate to teach them you know why they are learning this not just because the teacher says you have to learn this
[speaker001:] correct are you finding that uh since you're doing substitute that you're wanting to do full-time um I have a friend that's a teacher that one of her complaints is she can't teach because she's so busy filling out all the forms
[speaker002:] yes that's a
[speaker001:] and and do are you do you find that
[speaker002:] well filling out the forms and also all of these uh statewide and national wide testing things so that they compare and say you know you can as far as I'm concerned
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] you can make a survey or test scores say anything you want it to say
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and it's just a matter of how you're going to interpret it and you waste so much time quote unquote teaching to the test to make sure that your scores are the very best they're possibly going to be you know that
[speaker001:] be um-hum
[speaker002:] I think it's uh I think it's crazy personally you know the first the whole first nine weeks of school is is used as a review but more than a review they're getting those kids primed and ready for the tests that are coming up in October so that you know your school district shines throughout the United States
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and I think that's totally useless I think you know there's a place and a time for all of the tests and comparisons but I think they've taken it to the extent now that it's just ridiculous it's like bragging on your grandchildren
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] you know and everybody's kids are the best kids that have ever hit this earth and nobody else's children are going to ever live up to those and that's great but that's what they're doing with the school systems and they're wasting too much time on that I think
[speaker001:] uh-huh well I I know that this again this this friend uh is in the Plano School District and she teaches uh
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh it must uh emotionally disturbed children and she says she has some six graders in there that are reading on the level of the second grade
[speaker002:] uh-huh yes
[speaker001:] and she says she's getting very frustrated and very depressed because the school is pressuring her to pass them on even though they're not ready but because evidently you receive a certain amount of money when they're passed on or something I didn't quite understand it
[speaker002:] yeah there's not yeah the bottom line line is always money
[speaker001:] and uh