Ten Signs that You Need to Find a Different Kind of Education for Your Child
Jerry Mintz

Many parents do not realize that the education world has changed drastically since they were in school. Back in those days, schools were smaller, class sizes were smaller, dropout rates were lower, violence in school was almost unheard of, and teachers were not terrified of showing affection to the children, or of teaching and discussing moral values. Even through rose-colored glasses, we know that school back then was no picnic, was far from perfect, but at least the teachers and usually the principal knew every student by name at a minimum, something which is not necessarily true today.

Because our public school system has now considerably deteriorated, many parents, teachers, and individuals have taken it upon themselves to create public and private alternatives to that traditional system which is definitely failing. It is important for parents to know that they now have choices, alternatives to the neighborhood school.

How do you know that it is time to look for another educational approach for your child?
Here are some of the signs:

1. Does your child say he or she hates school? If so, something is probably wrong with the school because children are natural learners. When they're young you can hardly stop them from learning. If your children say they hate school, listen to them.

2. Does your child find it difficult to look an adult in the eye, or to interact with children younger or older than they are? If so, your child may have become "socialized" to that very narrow group which many children ordinarily interact with in most schools, and may be losing the ability to communicate with a broader group of children and adults.

3. Does your child seem fixated on designer labels and trendy clothes for school?
This is a symptom of the shallowness of the traditional schools' approach, causing children to rely on external means of comparison and acceptance, rather than deeper values.

4. Does your child come from school tired and cranky? This is a sure sign that their educational experiences are not energizing but are actually debilitating.

5. Do your children come home complaining about conflicts that they've had in school and unfair situations that they have been exposed to? This is a sign that your school does not have a proper process for conflict resolution and communication.

6. Has your child lost interest in creative expression through art, music, and dance?
These things are generally not encouraged in the traditional system today and are not highly valued. They're considered secondary to the "academic" areas. In some cases, courses are not even offered in these areas any more. This tends to extinguish these natural talents and abilities in children.

7. Has your child stopped reading for fun, or reading or writing for pleasure? Are your children doing just the minimum for homework and going off for some escapist activity? This is a sign that these spontaneous activities are not being valued in their school and another sign that they are losing their creativity.

8. Does your child procrastinate until the last minute to do homework? This is a sign that the homework is not very interesting, is not really meeting his or her needs, and is tending to extinguish their natural curiosity.

9. Does your child come home talking about anything exciting that happened in school that day? If not, maybe nothing exciting is happening for your child in school. Would you want to keep working if your job was like that?

10. Did the school nurse of guidance counselor suggest that your child has some strange three lettered disease, like ADD, and that they should now be given Ritalin or some other drug? I suggest that it is more probable that the school has the disease, EDD--Educational Deficit Disorder, and time to get your child out of that situation!

If your child has exhibited several of these characteristics, it is time for you to start looking for an alternative.

Reprinted with permission
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