Recently I posted a message regarding my opinion of the Public School
system that I've seen, in
the school that I went to and now my two children have graduated
from.  This is a small town school,
around 700 in K-12, all in the same school complex.  I showed some of the
comments to a colleague of
mine at work and she too was astounded at the comments about a public
education system.

She has her children in a little larger school system (still small by
big-city standards), where they
graduate about 400 per class.  Multiple elementary schools, separate Jr.
and Sr. High schools.
She had taken her children out of a private Catholic school and placed them
in an elementary school
in an outlying small town - a part of this larger school system.  This
school, while a part of the
public school system, is known as a magnet school for math and science.

I'm going paste in some of her comments on what they are teaching in this
public school:
- - -
They take the kids in all grades down to the grocery store in town and give
them
a set $ amount and they have to figure the price difference between what they
want to purchase and the dollars they have(math skills involving adding,
subtracting, and % off).

The locker plant let the 5th/6th graders run the business for a day and also,
they helped them create their own sausage recipe, make the sausage, helped
them
smoke it and market it. It was to give them an idea of how businesses or
products get their start.

They rake lawns for the elderly in town in order to give something back to the
people who are paying school taxes so they (the kids) can have a good
education
even though the elderly's children are long gone from home.

They have a checkbook system in 3rd/4th grade. You are paid your
wages by earning them (completed assignments which the teacher does not ask
for,
you are responsible for turning them in each day just like a company
expects you
to do your job without being asked everyday, attendance, etc.) at the end of
each month. Then at the beginning of each month you pay rent on desks, books
and any other school equipment you use. Then at the end of the school year, if
you have any money left you can buy yourself a nice prize that you have worked
hard to earn!!!

  Community involvement projects: Fish house raffle project **(see below
for an explanation of what a
"fish house" is).  They divide the 4th grade students into various
committees, and put each in
charge of a part of this project.  One group has to visit the local
blacksmith and find out the price of
the frame and wheels.  Others must visit the lumberyard and local hardware
stores to find out the
prices of materials.  Once they know the cost of the house, they must visit
the local banker and
ask for a loan. They also have an communications committee that is in
charge of
organizing parents/students to help build the house, letting everyone know
time
and place and they are in charge of getting the newspaper out to the building
site to take pictures and interview students, parents and teachers,
advertising
for the tickets.

The whole philosophy of the school is to try and teach the children why
they need
good reading, math, science, etc. skills to survive in the real world and why
the community is such an important part of their education.

I realize according to some of you that since I took my children out of a
private
school and put them into a public school they have no hope for a successful
future but I honestly think they are far better off where they are then where
they were. They couldn't have had too bad of an education, because
yesterday we
got the nicest commendation letter in the mail from one of David's teachers
and
the vice principle telling us what an outstanding, respectful student David is
and how proud we as parents should be of our nice young man and will be very
proud of his second quarter report card!!! Sure made me proud!!!

  -- - -

Now all this is done in a public education system.  We have the same "evil
empire" federal
government here that everyone else has.  But we don't see the system as
that bad (not that
everything is perfect - always room for improvement !!).   So our guess is
that something must be
  under your local or state control that you could change about the school
system.

Granted we are in rural, small town Minnesota.  Much better than
inner-city, in Mpls/St. Paul area.
I'm grateful that I had an opportunity to leave the big city and get back
to a rural area, and still
maintain my income level.  Not everyone has that option.  But I don't think
that even big-city
Minnesotans are unhappy with our school systems.

** Fish house:  7 by 12 foot structure.  Door, windows, insulated,
carpeted, gas space heater,
gas lights (or perhaps battery powered lights).  Placed on a metal frame on
wheels that can be
hitched to your car or pickup truck.  In mid to late December, once there
is 8-12 inches of ice
on your local lake, you pull this house onto the lake (yes, that's not a
typo, you can drive on the lakes
in Minnesota in the winter time!!!) and place it over your favorite fishing
spot.
The metal frame is built in a manner that allows it to be lowered, so the
house actual sits on the ice.
The house will have 6 trap door holes in the floor, that are opened up and
an ice auger is used to
drill 6 or 8 inch diameter holes in the ice.  You let your line down the
hole, setup the card table
and sit back and fish, play cards, fix supper on the stove (bottle bass,
optional).

Paul D. Christensen
PC Enterprises Inc.   - [log in to unmask]
Osakis MN - www.lakeosakismn.com