MEETING THE PARENTS

Sunday, August 2. 2009

Every year at this time, Dad and the rest of the school board meet the local patents for a Q and A about the county’s educational issues. It’s pretty wide-ranging, and it gives the board a good idea what’s on the minds of the constituents. Dad, having those big rabbit ears, has always been a good listener in that regard.
In other back-to-school developments, Rudy and Fiona have started the hunting team’s preschool practices, known as “two-a-days.” That’s because at this stage the predators are limited to two kills a day so they don’t put on too much weight before the season starts.
Coney will soon start back at preschool. Meanwhile, I’ve reading Ms. Aura’s tweets from the other side of the portal and saw that Nigel is a five-year-old human starting kindergarden.
Lastly, Beige University classes begin later this month. I’ll once again be rooming with Rachel, most likely for the last year. Rachel’s girlfriend Joan will probably attend Beige in the fall of 2010, and if that’s the case they’ll live together.
Fenton’s well aware of my potential need for a replacement!
Todays' question is inspired by Ms. Aura's tweet about Nigel: When does school start for human children?

Posted by Lindesfarne at 12:22 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Generally, children start preschool either while they are still in diapers or just after they get out of diapers. If they go to kindergarten (not all students are required to do so, at least in my state), they usually start when they are 5 or 6. First grade starts at 6 or 7, and most graduate high school when they're 17 or 18. Generally, it's up to the parents and schools when students start. Some schools have a specific range of birthdays, others leave it completely up to the parents so long as they're started by the time they're 7 and still others give incoming kindergarten and-if they didn't take kindergarten-first graders a sort of placement test, though this is uncommon in public schools.

#1 Selina Grace on 2009-08-02 12:49 (Reply)

Fenton's enough of a gentleman that he would suggest that he be that roommate only in conjunction with a marriage ceremony. He's also so respectful of your views on graduating that the thought probably didn't even last a full second.

Selina pretty much nailed it as far as ages. As to the time of year school restarts, that varies from the end of August to (usually) the first week of September... at least here in the US. The schools which restart in August have to turn around and immediately give a three-day weekend for our Labor Day holiday, which seems silly to me. Other countries (Japan) do not have the long summer vacation we have. Instead, they break it up into a number of shorter breaks throughout the year. Japan also has mandatory half-day classes on Saturdays as well.

The biggest failings our school system have? Many children drop out or play hooky excessively and nothing is done by the school administration (and worse, the parents) to get the children back into school.

The larger failing is probably unavoidable in any education system. To quote a rock song from our side, schools are 'far too keen on Where and How, but not so hot on Why." Schools load children with tons of facts, but don't encourage them, in any way, to *think*. The teacher gives facts, the student dumps those facts onto their tests and the student is considered 'educated.' The Second World War started over here when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Why did WWII happen? Answering why would require going back to the end of the First World War and the Versailles Treaty, not merely to Hitler and Nazism. The question here is 'How do you teach people to *think?*' I wish I had an answer...

#2 CharlieG on 2009-08-02 13:45 (Reply)

The age for school depends on the country and state or province. In some places, Pre-Kindergarten begins at age four, Kindergarten at age five, First Grade at age six, and so on to the Twelfth Grade at age seventeen. Some places consider Pre-K and Kindergarten optional, with First Grade the start of mandatory education.

#3 Harry on 2009-08-02 14:36 (Reply)

A hundred and fifty years ago in the US, just being able to read was considered enough schooling if you were a farmer. In some underdeveloped countries today, kids are considered fortunate if they become literate. It isn't just because of scarce resources. Occasionally there's a story in the paper about schools being blown up in places such as Afghanistan.

As for ours today, while it provides for a fair education, many feel it could be much better. One talk show host occasionally quotes one guy saying that the system was not designed to produce "people of letter," a fancy way of saying "thinkers," among the masses. A number of parents today take their kids to private school, or educate them at home under "home schooling."

#4 Bixyl Shuftan (Link) on 2009-08-02 17:59 (Reply)

As previously stated, age is a factor as to when children start school. There is, however, another factor. Children with delays and/or disabilities can often start school much earlier, at the age of three. I don't know how it is elsewhere, but here in PA, if a child has delays and they are caught early enough, they can be sent to specialized schools or centers to catch them up.

These schools occasionally require children to be potty trained, but most will even assist with that while the child is there. The school day for these children depends largely on the type, severity of disability and availability of services. These programs are for children ages 3-5 years old, in which case the goal is for the children to enroll in regular kindergarten.

Question inspired by the answer: Do disabilities like autism exist over there? What is available treatment-wise?

#5 Steff on 2009-08-02 19:05 (Reply)

In my country, children may have go to preschool when they're 2 or 3 years old. Attending isn't obligatory. Afterwards, they go to school, the first 2 years (age 4 and 5) they're going to what used to be kindergarden but which is now a part of the official schooling system. From age 5 it's required that a child attends, but most children do start at age 4 and do attend preschool. It isn't until age 6 that the primary education (official language, mathematics, etc.) starts and this lasts 6 years. When you're 12 you can go to 3 different school types for your secondary education, each of which leads to yet another school type for a tertiary education. We're not allowed to leave school before 16, but the government is working hard to make sure no one leaves school before age 18 and with a useful degree or qualifications which stand for things you've actually learned.

Does anyone know where Nigel attends school?

And Lindesfarne, surely you and Fenton could live together without giving in to basic needs? Personally I'm of the opinion there's nothing wrong with longterm partners living together before the wedding, and that it may even be beneficial... though you and Fenton clearly are so well suited that you don't need that. Still, I somehow can see you two living together without sharing a bed so to speak.

#6 Ytsken on 2009-08-02 20:19 (Reply)

> Still, I somehow can see you two living together without
> sharing a bed so to speak.

Which brings up an interesting thought (at least to me), since Fentons sleeps hanging upside down, and Lindy in a bed (how does she keep from poking the mattress to shreds?), well...you know.

#6.1 Mortar on 2009-08-03 23:23 (Reply)

1) I am certain that Lindesfarne's society has created different mattress types for various species. I'd assume for hedgehogs it would be something like a foam-rubber mattress with self-sealing capabilities.

2) Since Fenton's a gentleman, I doubt that the "you know" situation has ever occurred. Well, not yet, anyway.

3) If you really mean that "you know" question, I have to ask how old you are. While their sleeping differences may make (post-marital) all-night snuggling difficult, it does not in any way preclude "other activities."

(Lindesfarne, I hope this wasn't too embarrassing. If so, you can edit or delete it as you see fit.)

#6.1.1 CharlieG on 2009-08-04 08:55 (Reply)

There's a reason why reading was considered sufficient - if you can read and are motivated, you can continue learning on your own. But what was considered sufficient and what was considered desirable were two different things. Reading and arithmetic were the basics of what were required to function well in our civilization.

I guess you could break down education into three levels: Learning the tools to learn (reading, arithmetic, use of reference materials), learning the basics to function in your culture (history, civics, geography, etc.), and learning what's necessary for a trade. This included higher education and apprenticeships.

And, lest we look down at the education levels of bygone days, consider that some states now have job certification programs that ensure employers that a job applicant can preform at a certain skill level. The test I happened to see could be aced by anyone with a 6th Grade education.

#7 Harry on 2009-08-02 21:01 (Reply)

This is off-topic, but, CharlieG, the latest comic strip features a Charlie_G submitting a question to the Caliban Academy (did I get that right?) school board-(this may not be totally accurate, since the cartoonist could have put down a vague perception, or changed for humor)
Charlie_G: Have you tried to tie the curriculum together? ...Showing how math, science, geography, and history can all impact a single topic?

Board Member: We did... But the students didn't seem to have the attention span for it. ...So we scrapped it after a week.

Charlie_G: Maybe the problem wasn't the students' attention spans.

Just thought that was neat.

#8 Akaduur on 2009-08-07 04:28 (Reply)

Well... If you look above the strip on this side of the portal, you'll see a tab marked SUPPORT. If you click on it and read the info below it, you may figure out how this 'coincidence' occurred. (And it is coincidence! I've never Twittered in my life!)

Oh, and Ytsken: some time ago, Fenton and Lindesfarne did share a home for some time. Both Kevin and Kell knew of the situation. The joker in the deck? Well, they took over R.L. and Angelique's mansion while they were in jail on trumped-up charges. They were caring fo Angelique's 20-some skunk children from a marriage between Kevin and R.L. Both of Lindesfarne's parents knew that not only would there be no time for 'other activities,' caring for that many children at the same time would make both Fenton + Lindesfarne think about the possible results of those 'other activities'... and probably decide to take any chances in that regard.

#9 CharlieG on 2009-08-07 13:57 (Reply)

School begins in actual fact already since the very first stage of family life. What the parents do, would all be duplicated by the children in terms of their behaviour. So parents should never ignore the influence they exert onto the kids^_^

#10 Denny Jobangebote (Link) on 2009-08-26 09:36 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. Standard emoticons like :-) and ;-) are converted to images. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above:
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry
Submitted comments will be subject to moderation before being displayed.