Originally Posted by MathGeek
I am a proud graduate of Jefferson Parish public schools, and in my life attended pubic schools in Caddo, Plaquemines, Calcasieu, and East Baton Rouge Parishes.
I've also seen inside of schools in a number of other states as a parent and/or a teacher. Louisiana has some problems, to be sure. But one thing I consistently like about Louisiana schools is their tendency to honor parental wishes.
My experience is that if a Louisiana parent has a problem with a curricular issue like sex ed or evolution or whatever, the child will be excused. Likewise if a parent wants to keep a child out of an extracurricular activity due to an issue of conscience or as a behavioral consequence, Louisiana schools do not present a problem. Additionally, I could not imagine a Louisiana school giving a parent grief if they kept their child home for a few days having identified some safety threat at the school (bullying, harassment, drugs, etc.) Finally, Louisiana is very friendly to home schooling.
In contrast, my experience with schools in other states is that they want to be the arbiters of what is best for each child. If the school has decided on a sex ed or evolution curriculum, then the parent becomes the enemy for asking that their child be excused. If extra curriculars have a minimum academic requirement for participation, then a parent is somehow harming her child or the team by parental enforcement of higher academic requirements for participation. If a school decides their classrooms, locker rooms, and hallways are sufficiently safe from bullying, harassment, and drugs, then the parent becomes their enemy by suggesting otherwise. And other states are much more likely to view home schooling as a threat, either to their funding, their pride, or to their access to brainwashing children in liberal ideals.
The most egregious example was several years ago when a principal intended to fire me (a math teacher in the high school) for reporting to parents that their teenagers were discussing weekend drug use in my classroom and suggesting that the parents might drug test their children using widely available at home drug tests. (OK, she was also mad that I bought a bunch of drug test kits and offered to give them to parents.) What is the problem in a free society with a math teacher better empowering parents to maintain reasonable boundaries regarding drug use of their minor children? The principal thought that the training of school children regarding drug use was the sole province of the government and wanted to restrict rather than empower the role of parents. She was scared that a teenager might be spanked as a result of a positive drug test. Wow!
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