2/25/2009

EDUCATION...ASK FOR MORE!

NEWSFLASH: Parents worry about all kinds of things; some of which are valid others not so valid. Our worries range from the concrete to the arcane.

My current point of cogitation - my incessant worry about the quality of my children’s education.

I worry that despite my efforts to provide them with the information, opportunity and resources necessary to succeed somehow I am falling short. While not working an minimum wage job, I'm certainly not making the kind of money that can support $13,000 - $30,000 per child in tuition. As a full time employee the time and energy available to bolster my children's education is drastically limited.

So it is this time of year that I find myself considering my options: extend myself beyond the point of financial and physical ability to put them into private school in hopes that the effect of socio-cultural/socio-economic isolation does not supercede the benefits of a high quality academic experience; engage in non-stop prayer 1)-that we will be selected in the magnet school lottery and 2)-that the program is as wonderful as it looks on paper; quit my job and homeschool the kids leaving my husband to shoulder all of the financial responsibility and go with governement subsidized health insurance.

I worry that though the resources at our assigned school are limited that they are not being sufficiently challenged at the charter school down town. Add to these concerns the fact that the state of Florida is ranked something like 48th in the US in terms of the funding of education, that our teachers (including my husband) are severly under payed and that we are ranked very low if not last in terms of achievement.

So, I wonder, what exactly should I do? Move? Homeschool? Grin and bear it? I'm frustrated and exhausted and sick of school administrators who act like my expectations are too high...you're damn right...my EXPECTATIONS ARE HIGH...I WANT MORE!!!

No comments: