[speaker001:] [Door] [NOISE] [breathing] Okay, I'm here. How do you feel about public schools?
[speaker002:] Well, our public schools are, are really poor, I feel.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Uh, I'm not sure where Georgia ranks in the nation but, uh, we're toward the bottom.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And, uh, there's a lot of things that I see that are so obviously wrong.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] That you would think it would be easy to correct.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] But the system doesn't allow for the corrections [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] How about you?
[speaker001:] Well, that's interesting. I have a sister who used to live in Kennesaw, Georgia.
[speaker002:] Oh, yes.
[speaker001:] And, uh, she has a young boy. Actually has two boys now but only had one when she was there. And she complained quite a bit about their school system there.
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] And,
[speaker002:] And Cobb County is better than the county I'm in.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] She was in Cobb County.
[speaker001:] Right. I'm, I can't really say much about the schools up here. I really don't come from here [LAUGHTER]
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I'm only up here temporarily on an internship but
[speaker002:] Okay.
[speaker001:] uh, I live in Orlando, Florida usually. And the schools down there, from what I know, are not bad. They're pretty good.
[speaker002:] Well, that's great.
[speaker001:] [Breathing] But I know that in some, I know in a lot of rural areas they're not that good.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] For example, I have a brother in North Carolina and he says the schools there are, are incredibly bad. Uh, just terrible.
[speaker002:] Well, I feel that we're way behind. Uh, I have a son that is in the fourth grade
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] and, uh, they have just now taken up division.
[speaker001:] Wow.
[speaker002:] Yeah [LAUGHTER]. And
[speaker001:] That is slow.
[speaker002:] uh, i-, e-, my husband and I go to the store and we buy these math books and fractions and multiplication, division things and I feel like, uh, there are several areas that we're just really, really slow in.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And, uh, [swallowing] I don't blame the teachers as much as I blame the system. It is,
[speaker001:] What do you think's wrong to cause that?
[speaker002:] Well, well, for one thing there's not enough money in the school system. And the money they do have, they're not, they do not use [mispronounced] it wisely.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Uh, she, my son's teacher has twenty-seven students.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And that's certainly is a lot of students for one person to deal
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] with on an every day [LAUGHTER] basis. Uh
[speaker001:] Perhaps.
[speaker002:] but more than that, I don't think that they have the authority to command the attention of the children.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And when you have two kids in that class that constantly keeps ca-, the class in an uproar and you're not at liberty
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] to do something about it, other than give them on campus isolation or send them to the principal's office. It
[speaker001:] Yeah, that's, that's one thing I worry about.
[speaker002:] it, you know, it can, it can really be bad. Uh, also I think, we have a lot of, uh, Hispanics
[speaker001:] There you go, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and we have a lot of, uh, the county I am, I'm in, the minorities are mostly Hispanic.
[speaker001:] Yeah. Probably quite a few black people up there and and,
[speaker002:] No [LAUGHTER]. We're from a county, we're from the county they marched in. We're in Forsyth county
[speaker001:] Oh, is that right?
[speaker002:] yes, and we, and there's very, very few blacks.
[speaker001:] Oh, okay.
[speaker002:] Uh, so, so that's, uh, I, I hate to say, uh, it's not a problem, uh, because I hate to feel like they are a problem, although they are.
[speaker001:] Yeah but, you know, it, it's, you don't want to seem racist or prejudice or whatever, but then again.
[speaker002:] But it is a problem [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Yeah, there is no denying that, that,
[speaker002:] Uh, especially in the inner schools, inner city.
[speaker001:] Sure, you know. Teachers, you have to admit that teachers have to slow things down for people who don't understand, especially if there's not a very well developed special education program at the school.
[speaker002:] Well, and you can't put all the children in special education.
[speaker001:] That's right, you can't do that.
[speaker002:] Uh, and if the parents do not care enough to take an interest in whether the homework is done
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] you know.
[speaker001:] See, I grew up in Nebraska
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and the school that I went to there was fantastic. It, I, I really consider myself very, very lucky. Uh, we had a school that had classes probably about the same size you're talking, twenty-seven, thirty kids to sc-, to a class.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] But,
[speaker002:] But your teacher had control.
[speaker001:] Yeah. We zipped right along, you know. I, I
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] was, I was doing mathematics, fractions and division and multiplication by the third grade, easily.
[speaker002:] Yeah. I, I
[speaker001:] Uh,
[speaker002:] believe I was too.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. But, you're right, you know. With all this, don't hurt the kids and don't abuse their rights, you've also taken
[speaker002:] Uh-huh [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] something away from the discipline, I think.
[speaker002:] Uh, well, it, it really is a concern of mine because if we could afford it, my son would be in private school.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] We just cannot afford it.
[speaker001:] Right. I was going to ask you if there, if that was an option.
[speaker002:] Uh, if,