As promised…
A quick question before I start, though. Is
Alright, down to business…
The American public school system:
The boyfriend and I had a discussion about this at the Stable Pit N Pub in Conneaut, despite my apparent exhaustion. I know that the state of the public schools is a nationwide issue, but it's been an especially touchy subject among parents here in Pittsburgh. There have been a great number of controversies within the school board. As a result, our public schools no longer have the strong reputation that they had even seven years ago when I graduated. Since I'm not really close to anyone who has kids currently in the system, I wasn't sure just how dire the situation was. My dad had told me that even if I was vehemently opposed to sending the baby to a Catholic or non-denominational private school, I might have to do just that. I pointed out to the boyfriend that we had both received excellent educations during our time at Schenley High School. The thing is, as he reminded me, we were both in “gifted” programs. Despite his fondness for Schenley, he admitted that if you're not in one of the special programs and are just trodding along in the mainstream classes, it's really kind of a joke. He insisted that he wasn't worried about the baby's education, citing his belief that our son would most likely be in one of the programs. I told him that he couldn't be sure of that, which turned into a discussion about the nature-nurture debate. We came to some agreement: while public education in America needs and deserves to be pumped full of funding, it really does come down to the student and the parents to ensure that a child receives the best education possible. For both of us, school didn't exist in some building from 7 to 3. It was all around us at every possible minute. Our parents made sure that we were constantly learning and that only served to help us. I can only hope that we are serving our son that well.
yawn.
I think that's all that I can really tackle for tonight.
