[speaker001:] Okay. Well,
[speaker002:] [Beep] [TV] [Children] First of all, I want to tell you I have two little kids, but they're not in public school yet. I, I get, I get that experience starting next fall
[speaker001:] Ah.
[speaker002:] with kindergarten.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] So you haven't really, uh, dealt with that in a sense.
[speaker002:] No. But, uh, being one of these late in life mothers, I've listened to everybody else's, you know,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] complaints as to wha-, what's the matter with either their kids or the school system.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] So
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] I've been surprised. Do, are, do you have school age kids [NOISE]?
[speaker001:] Uh, mine are both out of school.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] And, uh,
[speaker002:] [Dishes].
[speaker001:] you know, I, I've, in hindsight, seen some things that I wished that, you know, I had done something about that was, you know, within my power or, uh, you know, wish that in some ways we, as parents, had more control over
[speaker002:] Such as?
[speaker001:] what's happening up there, you know, type thing. Uh, [lipsmack] well, [swallowing] just over the years there were situations that, uh, uh, came up that I didn't think were fair or handled correctly or the teachers didn't seem to be teaching anything. Of course, it's a little hard to tell from the information that you get from your child, you know.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] They, they bring things home and I was never one to believe everything my kids said,
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] you know, about something. But, uh, still I, I questioned the ability of some of the teachers to, uh, really do a bang-up job, and yet others I know are just wonderful.
[speaker002:] Well, I heard a, a frightening thing. Actually, I didn't hear it. It was told to me or suggested to me, uh, that to work as a teacher in the public school systems in the state of Texas, and I think it's similar in, in many other states, if you have a degree in a technical field you do not need a teaching certificate because there is such a shortage
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] of, uh, people to teach math and sciences. And somebody said, well, you know, you could go in and, and substitute teach at seventy-five dollars a day and there's always going to be, you know, somebody having a need for a math or science teacher. I thought, Christ, they're letting me in,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] to, you know, this would be, this would be frightening. I don't know anything about it.
[speaker001:] That's pretty interesting because just,
[speaker002:] [Thumping].
[speaker001:] just because you know a subject matter
[speaker002:] Right [dishes].
[speaker001:] doesn't mean you can teach it.
[speaker002:] Right. And even if I knew how to teach the subject matter, I don't know if I'd know how to handle that kind of a, a group of kids.
[speaker001:] Oh, yeah. In fact, I think that's, that's one of the big problems today is the, the way the kids behave or act and, and the way they are sometimes disinterested in what's going on in the class and disruptive.
[speaker002:] I tell you what I'm finding frightening and this comes from, you know, the, the aging hippie near forty mother. So I went through this period of supposedly, you know, cosmic social enlightenment.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] I'm on, I'm in [barking] the Plano school system and living in Richardson, and there is a real dichotomy in terms of educational and economic background of the kids that are going to be attending this school.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And I used to think, well, that's wonderful. You know, they can get a real life experience. What I'm seeing now, uh, in terms of kindergarten preparedness, just from, in, in, in different preschools
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] it's like day and night. And I wonder, how do they handle a child who is obviously very ready and another child who doesn't even speak English, let alone know her colors.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And they're in the same classrooms. And I guess also you're going to see the first of the, uh, crack kids starting kindergarten. My God, I think it would be next year is what I'd read. I thought, well, how do you, how do you weed those out?
[speaker001:] Yes. Some of those certainly have a lot of dis-, difficulties, you know, with, uh, all sorts of things,
[speaker002:] [Rustling].
[speaker001:] and I would imagine their learning disabilities are quite large in some cases.
[speaker002:] When I was listening to N P R, the National Public Radio, and they've quoted statistics that I just about, my throat just about fell into my toes. They said at the bottom of the S A T scores of graduating college seniors are usually those people that go into education.
[speaker001:] Oh, wow [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] That's encouraging.
[speaker002:] Yes. And I, and I, I got to thinking back when I was teaching college chemistry, the people that took, you know, the lower level courses, I sometimes wondered, you know, are they really even educatable or trainable and it, my God, you know, i-, are the rest of us who went for the big bucks, you know, staying out of, you know, where maybe we should be kind of socially obligated to spend some time teaching or something with [barking]
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] these kids? I don't know [NOISE].
[speaker001:] Well, that's, you know, that's an idea. Maybe there need to be some radical changes made. Do some things that are totally different and unheard of.
[speaker002:] [Sigh] Well, you know, you, you sit here and you think about that. At the same time you think, God, I hope I don't sound like a stage mother because,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] right now if you ask my friends t-, put twenty mothers in a room and ask them how many have gifted children, you're going to have twenty hands, you know, up there.
[speaker001:] Oh, you're kidding.
[speaker002:] Oh, no. Nobody has, nobody has a nongifted child.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] And I keep thinking, you know, [sigh] [barking] gifted is, is Einstein or, you know, uh, musical prodigies. It's, it's not a kid who's, you know, precocious.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] You know, what has, you know, has, has the educational system been watered down to that anybody who's above average is now gifted?
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] I don't know.
[speaker001:] That's interesting. I don't know. Mine didn't, did not fall into the gifted category [LAUGHTER] [throat clearing].
[speaker002:] Oh, don't say that.
[speaker001:] Nope. And I would never had said so either. Uh, but, uh, they managed to get through, although not always with flying colors. Uh, in fact, one of the incidents I was thinking of that my son had. Uh, he was struggling with senior English and I had a meeting with the, uh, vice principal and the English instructor, and, [swallowing] uh, she showed me a paper that he had just handed in. And she told me what she had requested. And I read it and while it had, you know, a few little grammatical problems, it wasn't very long and so forth. I thought it had some nice, well thought out, uh, parts to it.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] She gave him an F on that paper. And I thought, well now, here you have a student who is trying to pass, who is struggling with your subject and you give them an F on something that doesn't seem that bad to me. What are you telling that student? You're telling them that, hey, you might as well forget it, you know.
[speaker002:] Well, you see, I think that, that harks right back to the elementary and junior high years. Because I have a stepson now who's twenty-five and, uh, I was just absolutely shocked, uh, the first time that I saw his schoolwork. Uh, I remember being, you know, taught, and I think, you know, you have to teach how to write an answer and, you know, how to construct a thought process.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And, you know, they can get a, they can grasp the points. Can they convey the data verbally or in writing. And that's what's, you know, really scary to me. Uh, I would really, you know, there's such a, a push among young mothers these days to make sure their child is computer literate. I would really think that they should be stressing more can the kid write a thought and at an early age. And if they can't, I mean if they have missed that training, then somebody, you know, before you're, you're start penalizing them with bad grades for not being able to communicate what they're thinking, teach them these basic skills.
[speaker001:] Yeah. It's pretty sad to think, uh, about those who, even today, are graduating from school and they are telling that they don't know how to read, you know.
[speaker002:] Well, my stepson, you know, I, he went into the Navy or Air Force. I just really get my military, I married into a military family,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] and I don't know, I re-, address them all as generals so I don't offend anybody.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] But, uh, you know, fortunately for him, he wasn't dumb but boy he sure had trouble, you know, putting things on, on paper.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And one of the things that, that they did for him. They tested him and they said that he's, you know, great in electronics but he, you know, he's, really does need the basic skills. And they put him through six months of composition writing in addition to all his electronic training. And at that point, he has now graduated from warfare electronics school with honors.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] This is the kid who, who really, you know, barely
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] made it through high school. And I keep thinking, you know, it's not, it's really not too late at any point to do, you know, some-,
[speaker001:] That's interesting that the military saw that and did something about it.
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] You would have expected them to be the last ones to [sigh].
[speaker002:] Yes. And I kind of have always pooh-poohed military educations. But I think that for this kid, it's going to be, you know, his lifesaver. Otherwise, he might have been driving trucks or framing houses, you know, from here to eternity.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] So, I don't know.
[speaker001:] [Click].
[speaker002:] You know, it does make me nervous.
[speaker001:] Well, I can see why if you've got little ones just coming along. There's a, a whole lot of stuff going on out there.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] There is a whole lot of stuff going on out there and, and part of me says I just would like to, you know, shut my eyes and pretend it doesn't, you know, go on [sigh]. Or send them to private schools [sigh]. And then the, you know, the old social conscience says, you know, I'm not working, I don't need to work. Maybe I should volunteer to, you know, teach what I know.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Maybe adult literacy. Maybe, you know, composition writing. Maybe, you know, uh, volunteering, you know, on a tutor line or though the, even through the elementary schools for help with homework or, the other part of me says, is God, I've had enough kids [LAUGHTER]. Do I reall-, [TV] [children].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].