[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,
[speaker001:] Oh, okay [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] system [sniffing]. So,
[speaker001:] Well then, you should be a good one to know because I, my children are grown now. I now have grandchildren,
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] in the school system so, uh, I don't have firsthand experience right now,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, uh-huh.
[speaker001:] with it. So what do you think?
[speaker002:] 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,
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] 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:] [LAUGHTER] That's right [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] You know, and that just, I don't care how intelligent you are if you be cannot [LAUGHTER] make it function for you that intelligence is being wasted.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] And, uh, this has been one of my pet peeves and probably why I went into education. So I think, you know, they're, they're trying to head them 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 kindergarten 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,
[speaker002:] [Sniffing].
[speaker001:] to me and stuff that I didn't do until I was in junior high.
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah.
[speaker001:] which, of course, shows my age.
[speaker002:] I tutor a girl that's in eighth grade and her pre-algebra book is higher then [LAUGHTER] some of my Algebra Two,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] when I was in high school.
[speaker001:] Is that scary? [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] And it's like, oh, I going to take this home and study it before I can help you.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] You know, so they're really, they're really moving them along but yet, [sniffing] 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.
[speaker001:] Now,
[speaker002:] And that's wha-, you know, a lot of the things that we did in school I've never used and never will use.
[speaker001:] 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:] [LAUGHTER] 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 d-, are you, do you find that?
[speaker002:] [Sniffing] Well, filling out the forms and also all of these, uh, statewide and national wide testing,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] things so that they compare and. You know, you can as far as I'm concerned you can make a survey or test scores say anything you want it to say.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[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,
[speaker001:] Be, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] you know, that I think it's, uh, I think it's crazy personally [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] You know, the fir-, 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,
[speaker001:] Coming up, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] October. So that you know, your school district shines throughout the United States. 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 [LAUGHTER].
[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 this, 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:] Well, I, I know that this again this, this friend,
[speaker002:] [Sniffing].
[speaker001:] uh, is in the Plano School District,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and she teaches, uh, uh, it mus-, uh, emotionally disturbed children.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And she says she has, um, six graders in there that are reading on the level of the second grade.
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] And,
[speaker002:] [Sniffing].
[speaker001:] 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 a, yeah.
[speaker001:] And, uh,
[speaker002:] The bottom line is always money,