I have to PM you the story lol...
Yes holding kids back isn't always the best idea.. I have no idea your grandson's size or academics etc.. But I once taught a boy who was very very very behind. Like lower then kindergarten level when he was in grade 2. He was not the biggest kid, but he was a bigger kid. The school refused to consider holding him back because he would be one of the bigger students in gr 2 if he repeated, but not nearly the biggest. I told my admin, "we don't hold kids back because they are smart but too short to move on, so we shouldn't push a tall kid through just because he's tall".. Again, not sure where your grandson is academically, but this boy was at a play school level going into grade 3 and he wasn't the biggest boy by far.
My grandson isn’t mentally handicapped or anything, but the first two years of his life was spent inhaling meth and not being fed properly. So when we took him at 3 he couldn’t walk or say tree. He has come a looong way. We know he has more to go and we help him at home to get there, but it will be work until the day he is done and starts his career, lol.
He is in a split grade 3-4 class. He is taller than all the grade 4’s but in grade 3. No way we could hold him back. Plus it would have been tough to pull him away from his friends. What we should have done was put him into school a year later, then he would have never known. I believe he is mildly autistic, he used to flap his hands, still spins to concentrate, but every month he gets better. Thing with him is, if he likes something he tunnel visions into it until he knows every fact, will study it everywhere on the net until he knows it all, and his memory is outstanding. He just needs to find a job he loves and has interest and he will excel. He may never be able to tie his shoes though, bwahaaa.
I'm openly not against all of what Ford is talking about. I am opposed to some, like class sizes. I'm unsure his exact end goal is in this regard, but the smaller the class sizes the better in any grade. I know some ppl were bitching on my facebook that 28 kids in a high school class is what he's aiming at. Not sure if this is the true fact, but in some classes 28 is fine, but in others 28 is not. If you have a high level grade 12 math class with 30 kids, thats fine. They are high acedmeic kids to begin with. But those lower level math classes wouldn't be productive with 28 kids per clss. If Ford wants 28 kids in lower level math classes, then expect your frustration of the basic math skills of your employees to be worse.
He is going for up to 28, but only for hischool, so grade 10-12. Not for the lower grades.
He has also mentioned that teachers need to be better at their attendance. I guess there is a high non attendance rate. I havnt actually looked into the amounts, but it must be pretty high or he wouldn’t be making comments like, as teachers retire and are not replaced, I guess the ones left will have to make sure the show up to work. See I don’t see this at my grandsons school because it us really small and the teachers are like the ones at your school. They teach there because they actually care, not for summers off.
Again, I'm all for some of what I read Ford is trying to do. Like I said earlier, the sex ed changes are becoming ridiculous. I like Ford's proposals in this area.
I taught kindergarten at a full day kindergarten school. It is my beleive that most can't handle it. The afternoons was a nightmare lol.. But my kids go to full day day care that actually teaches things to the kids and my kids can handle it. The big difference is at full day kindergarten they are pushing education on kids whose brains aren't ready. Some kids are ready, most arent. In kindergarten they are doing math/laguage that used to be done in gr 1 and gr 2. So they are doing full day kindergarten and demanding they do things that they are not capable of and the kids can't handle it and get burnt out and teaching them in the afternoon is misery. But at my kids full day daycare, they teach the kids life skills like putting the clothes on, they teach them about animals, colours, alphabet etc.. but its pure play based learning. The full day kindergarten isn't play based learning, its sit in a desk and learn lol.. There are kids that can handle this and do well though.
No they brought in full day prekindergarten. So year before kindergarten, and they expected them to do school, be behaved, lol. There is an ece in every class. These kids were just barely potty trained, some where not yet. It was brought in to bribe people’s votes by saving daycare costs. I bet when he gets rid of prekindergarten that will be the teacher that is lost. So there will not be any effect on the school.
SO this full day kindergarten pumps out a handful of kids who did well and can read and basic write, but the other majortiy came out well behind these kids becsuse their brains were not ready.. So right after kindergarten the gap in learning is huge just because full day academic kindergarten is too much for them.
I would be 100% supportive of full day play based learning kindergarten. IT would be great because those kids who tend to come from a home which doesn't teach kids basic life skills need to be in a situation where it is being taught to them before they start gr academic classes. If it aint being taught at home, the faster they are in a school the better chance they have at being successful in school.
Please believe me in that I work at a school of 30 teachers. About 15 are like me and do whatever nessicary to help kids and give up thousands of hours a year to support kids when they can. Another 10 are amazing teachers tht I still think go above their job description and take extra time to suport. And there is about 5 teachers who should really consider a different career. I'd say half the teachers in schools are like me. Some are more noticeable than others though.
