Public school system nothing to celebrate

I am writing about the Idaho eighth-grade students article in Friday's newspaper on page A6. Why do they feel that 38 percent of the students being proficient or above the national average is good? If 38 percent was a grade it would be a failing grade. What that means to me is that 62 percent of the students are below proficiency. That is, one in six students are not reading proficiently. They are happy to match 17 other states with the same and/or similar terrible results. They will never fix the problems in our public schools until they first admit they have a problem. I encourage everyone to wake up, get involved and get informed. This impacts us all.

Getting involved is the only way you can change things and make them better. Start with reading William J. Bennett's book "The Educated Child: A Parent's Guide from Preschool through Eighth Grade," and "The Well-Trained Mind," by Jessie Wise and Susan Wiser Bauer. The public school system needs some serious help and parents need to trust the school but verify if they wish to make things better, which is one of Mr. Bennett's Ten Principles for Parents of Educated Children (trust but verify).

Do people really feel good about these results and what it means for our community and society? What kind of leaders will we have when 60 percent of the children coming up are below proficiency?

Unlike Mr. William Bennett, I have given up hope on the public system and feel it is beyond repair. Why do I feel this way? Because they will not acknowledge the problem, they put a bandage on the problem or throw more money at it, hoping that will do the trick. The schools no longer teach wisdom, values, principles, eloquence and a hard work ethic.

Today many schools no longer challenge students with the exception of some charter schools, which by the way are typically started by parents who are fed up with the poor quality of education their children are getting from their public school system. Many schools make things easier for the students so more students can pass standardized tests and they can brag that their test results are so good. They spin things to make terrible results look good. You can't fix something you don't believe is broken or needs fixing. Most likely they are aware of how terrible things are, but can't make it truly known because parents will pull their children out which would create more problems for the public schools. Then in some cases the parents are the problem due to lack of involvement, or complaining their children have too much homework and they don't have the time to help their children complete their homework.

As a result of my lack of confidence to fix the public schools, I have chosen to have my children taught under the classical method of education which is taught at Classical Christian Academy where students perform in the 80th percentile on a national test. Now that is something to write home about and feel good about. That means only two out of 10 children are below the national average, and eight are at proficiency and above. Classically trained students across the nation are consistently at or above the national standards.

Which test results would you like to see in our local schools, and for children that will be the future leaders of our community and country? How will the 60 percent get jobs if they are not proficient in reading? Are you willing to get involved to improve things?

Jolene Norcini is a Post Falls resident.