Public School...is it really this bad?

I teach in England (11 to 16 year olds).  Unfortunately we live in a performance driven culture and teachers are judged almost solely on the results of their students.  On paper, I can see why people may agree with this - a better teacher will help their students get better results.  In my opinion there are two problem with this.  The first is that every class is different.  One teacher may have a very motivated class the other may not.  A teacher in one school may have the backing of the students parents, a teacher in another school will find the parents are not particularly supportive (sometimes actively, more likely passively).

The second problem with this performance driven culture in education is that if students fail to get the grades the teacher gets it in the neck.  Again, on paper this seems logical but what it has lead to is the kind of thing you describe.  The teachers will do all of the chasing for assignments/coursework, extend the deadlines indefinitely, 'help' students where they probably shouldn't be and give them endless chances.  All this results in is the teachers becoming stressed about grades and the students knowing that they don't have to put in that much effort because their teacher will sort it out for them.

I should have had coursework in from my students at around Christmas time.  Some students in the class are still working on theirs...  I can't refuse to stop giving them time because their grades would suffer (and that would be my fault!).  This is common practice in schools in England, and I presume in many other countries.  It would be unprofessional for me to divulge some of the other things that happen in schools to ensure students get the grades (the example I have given does not promote the right kind of message, but it is within the rules of the exam board), but there are plenty of blogs out there, written anonymously by teachers that do.

That's a 70 here.  Your kids' school is pretty tough.

Unfortunately it is too ingrained in the culture of education that everything is handed to them on a plate, I doubt it would make any difference.  My year 11's (last year of secondary school in England - therefore sitting final exams) know I am leaving for a new school this year and so their grades really don't make the slightest bit of difference to me and are solely on their head.  It has made no difference to the effort they are putting in revising for their exams and I still find myself working many many times harder than they are.  I really do find it shocking and upsetting how little effort they put in.  Of course, this is not all students in all schools, many work their socks off and deserve their successes.  It is just the culture in education does not promote the idea of hard work = success.  This idea is one of the reasons why I love triathlon so much - you train hard you get measurably better, you don't train you get worse.

I'm not sure someone on the cusp of retirement is the best bet. Most short timers in my line of work have a "don't give a chit" attitude.  I'm thinking first year teachers who haven't been beaten down by the system are the way to go. Like Mr. Presbo in The Wire.

My kids go to a somewhat unique charter school where all the teachers and staff are from China/Taiwan.  I was speaking with the principle one day about some of the more...rambunctious kids in the school, and she told me how she wished she was allowed to use a little "Chinese discipline".  Now we're hosting an intern from Taiwan. She talks about the extreme pressure from parents, teachers, and society placed on students to excel in school all the way up through highschool. No one is getting coddled over there.  But apparently once they reach college, they all feel like they've put in their hard work and now it's time to have fun. So Taiwan universities are all party schools.

My kids are younger, first and 3rd. My 3rd grader has to be accountable. His teacher has a system set up with a free homework or missed assignment pass 1 per  grading period. After that if your work is not turned in on time it is deducted from your grade like maybe 80% credit if turned in the next day. For instance, he forgot one of his homework assignments in his room. The teacher sent a note requesting the assignment be turned in the next day and we had to sign off that yes, it was completed and he just forgot it. THEN he could receive the lesser credit.

Teachers in our district give zeros if work is not done. We live in a small rural town in IL. They are pretty old school here. My son forgot to write his name on a paper he turned in and he had to write 20 sentences during his last recess time as his punishment. This must have taken a long time because he missed a weeks worth of recess. I like his teacher but I thought this was pretty stupid because the kid already hates writing so to me punishing a kid with writing is not a great strategy but whatever. It's her classroom and his silly mistake so I stayed out of it. I don't think he has made that mistake again!

Sorry man, I left the sarc font off.  My kids have gone through relatively good public schools the whole way, but they are never going to be pushed by school the way they ought to be.  My biggest complaint is this whole concept that has taken hold of teaching to the state test.

Missouri State colleges have taken the whole "testing" deal to the next level.  Your ACT score is everything.  GPA is old school man.

All 5 of my kids either graduated from or now attend public schools.  Our experience has been that the education your child receives is more up to you and your child than it is the school or the teachers.  Certainly there are schools that are just bad news.....but for the most part it will be what you make out of it.  Our experience has been overwhelmingly positive and productive.

Many kids do not make the progress because they do not have the right attitude/can't behave etc..  They deserve to be kept back a year.  The thought of having to do this would probably sort out a lot of kids attitudes towards education anyway.  However, what about the students who try their hardest but are simply not able to make the same progress as others in the class?  How long would they be kept behind for?

Also I think there would be social implications in that if a 10 year old is very bright and is put into a class of 15 year olds, how will this impact the 10 year olds social development.  I would like to see our governments agree to allow schools to move students up/down by one year.  It would allow the brightest to be really stretched and the students who need the extra time would get it, without mixing age ranges too much.

Same here.  Only I have 1 son instead of 5.  Very few negative experiences with teachers and zero negatives with "the system".  By the time he graduated from public high school, he had 15 college credits from Advanced Placement classes, and was able to start college with Calculus 3 as his first semester math.

I agree with your four points above.  I would add a 5th: Teachers are held to account on the grades of their students, therefore constantly extending deadlines makes them look better.  I would add that this is the fault of management, rather than the teachers.

Apparently my son's English teacher did not get that memo.