kindergarten here we come

Damian’s entering kindergarten next year. He’ll be enrolling in the public school system, because we can’t afford the thousands of dollars a year for private school, plus he’d lose his extra school district-provided services (speech therapy, occupational therapy, floor time therapy, adaptive PE, the possibility of a shadow in the classroom) and we certainly can’t cover that expense privately on top of tuition. We’d also lose the school accountability an IEP (individual education plan) gives us.

So public school it is. This scares me.

I’m not against a public school education. I attended a total of four schools myself, not including college. Two were private, the other two public. None were ideal, but probably my best experience was in a public elementary school, and the public high school had a few phenomenal teachers (as well as a bunch of stinkers).

No, what scares me is the nature of our local public school system. I know testing mania has hit the entire country (thank you GW Bush and your No Child Left Untested plan), but it sure is bad here. The results of the end-of-year tests determine how much money a school receives. The school principals often therefore insist the teachers teach toward the test. All year. Rote learning. Stuff that knowledge down the kids’ throats. Is it on the test? No? Then it doesn’t count, don’t bother teaching it.

There’s also a little extra something called Open Court. (Interesting link, by the way.) As I understand it, this is a literacy program. Every single day, the teacher sits on a chair with the children on the floor in front of her. Every day for a set amount of time (forty five minutes? something like that; a large chunk of the day) the teacher reads from a sheet, does exactly what’s on that sheet, does not – can not – deviate for a single sentence from that sheet, must say the right words in the right order, no matter whether the kids are fidgeting, bored out of their minds, already know this stuff, don’t learn best this way. They must drill, must learn this way and no other.

It makes me sad to think of my restless, eager, hungry child being forced to learn that way, a way that’s so antithetical to his pepper-you-with-questions, try-it-out-himself mind. Our home school, the school he is supposed to attend, is even worse. We live in a very Russian neighborhood. The school population is something like 80% Russian. I have nothing against Russians as a cultural group, they can be neighborly. As long as you make it clear you won’t be cajoled or bullied (yes, I have stories), they respect you and are rather sweet. We’ve got a complete set of Beatrix Potter thanks to a Russian cab driver. But… well… let’s put it this way: Damian’s dentist has a hygienist who used to live in our neighborhood. Her parents live there still and she uses their address so she can continue to send her kids to our home school. Why? Because it’s very old-school Russian. Lots of homework. Very strict, stern teachers. Learn this textbook this way, don’t question, just digest.

This goes against what I believe education should be about. A six year old or even a ten year old doesn’t need to have multiplication tables memorized as much as he or she needs to understand how to think about math, how to use math, and how very cool and neat and amazing numbers can be. That’s key, I think. Excitement about learning. Children naturally devour the world, asking so many questions, driving you crazy with it, exploring and analyzing, taking things apart and putting them together again. Why not harness that, why not make learning hands-on, make it flow naturally from their curiosity about the world and incorporate the necessary lessons into that? It looks to me like Damian will be reading fluently by the time he enters kindergarten. He doesn’t need literacy drills, he needs to be stimulated and guided. He needs the foundation of knowledge, yes, but also a foundation of a way of learning and thinking that’ll last longer than schooling, certainly longer than facts.

Where does this leave us? Well, the private schools are terribly tempting. I know of at least four in our general area (between Hollywood and Culver City, so within a seven mile radius) that have a lovely experiential learning, project-based philosophy. But we’d most likely be the poorest family in the school, which would absolutely have a psychological effect on me but also on my child as he grows older and more aware of such things. I don’t want him to be the poorest child in a rich school just as I don’t him to be the richest child in an inner city school. I want him to have friends of various income levels and skin colors and cultures. I want him to grow up with as little prejudice as possible and also to be comfortable with his identity. He’s got enough otherness already with his diagnosis, he doesn’t need to stand apart more because of a socioeconomic gulf.

Besides, there’s the money thing. We ain’t got it. If we could get a scholarship (will they bend over backwards to give financial aid to a special needs kid?), it would only cut the yearly cost from tens of thousands to mere thousands. Which means no vacations, no new clothes, no meals out. And that’s only elementary school. This is obviously a multi-year commitment and we’d run dry long before college. I’d sacrifice for Damian if it really was worth it and I know Dan feels the same, but I’m not sure it is.

What’s that I hear you say? Homeschool? It looks right but I don’t think it is, not for us. It fits philosophically and I applaud and admire the people who can make a commitment to it, but I’m not one of them. I’m already pretty burned out after everything this kid has needed from me; I think I’d quickly grow to resent Damian if teaching him took more of my time and energy than it already does. And I think if we can find a good school situation for him the socialization will do wonders for his confidence as well as his understanding of social interaction. And that’s a lesson that will last for the rest of his life.

Fortunately, there’s the charter school system. Charter schools are more independent than regular public schools. Each principal runs their school like a separate fiefdom according to the charter drawn up at the school’s inception. They don’t have to abide by every one of the school district’s strictures, though they do have to give the children end-of-year tests and those test scores need to show steady improvement until and unless they reach a certain high level. So there’s some district oversight, but not a lot. Finding a compatible charter school may be the answer. I’ve started looking. And stopped sleeping.

(To be continued.)

Posted by Tamar at December 15, 2003 10:15 PM