Kid Suspended for Refusing to Answer Exam Question
 

Link here.

As if I needed more than personal reasons to oppose the WASL (Sadly as a person wanting to become a teacher, I will be dragged into the web of "teach to the test")

Personally, I think the principal went too far and clearly has lost sight of why she's in education (that or she likes insulting little kids). I know if I was the teacher, I would feel terrible that my superior made a student of mine feel ashamed about school.

Its terrible what they did to the kid. Its gonna be hard for the student to regain his faith in the educational system.

I never liked standardized testing. It always seemed excessive and pointless.

Wow that's really pushing it. Seriously, tests are not a great form to judge or base a student's performance in school. I really hate the emphasis of tests and one of the reasons why I refused to take SATs or ACTs because they are complete and utter bullshit and don't amount to anything.

The only reason there was pressure on the kid was because of the pressure on the administration which has got to change. The No Kid Left Behind is faulty and doesn't work. Perhaps someone who actually knows something should reform that plan.

I cant imagine a stupider waste of time then the SAT. It seems almost more like a tradition then an actual evaluation.

What the fuck?

I can just see the principal lathing on the sarcasm and hatred in the line "Good job, bud, you've ruined it for everyone in the school, the teachers and the school". Her attitude is disgusting and screams that she has some serious power problems (insulting a NINE YEAR OLD, WAY TO GO, SOME SERIOUS STREET CRED FOR THAT ONE GURL), and I really hope she gets some serious reprimands for this.


edit: argh, I just want to punch her face in. cannot express how dirty this is, she needs to be fired honestly, no one can be head of a school with an attitude like that

Disgusting. Utterly repugnant. As though we need another reason to believe the school system is failing in it's duties to society...

Kinda remindes me of my schooling experience...

I have always had a problem doing math, it was the only subject I had issues with. My math teacher in the 6th grade always picked on me for this, and again when I was in the 8th grade. He really pushed it when he called me to his desk about my work and said "the best students in this class is having trouble with these questions and here you are trying to do it"

I was so close to just dropping my book and leaving the school on the spot, I cried when I got home. My mom said that she would talk to the principle about this teacher seeing that he always put me down and pick on me.

Teachers and principles are there to teach and encourage you to do a good job, not judge you.

Sadly, like in Britain too, it seems teachers are under so much pressure to meet government-defined targets that they see a school as a production line for grades, and they'll take every shortcut they can to force kids into reaching those targets so their school doesn't look bad. They don't care so much about forming meaningful and decent relationships with their students, and so I think a lot of teachers are in their profession for completely the wrong reasons. It's no wonder so many kids are being home-schooled now; they usually do better, too.

Do what I did and just skip it. SATs don't mean shit to anyone any more.

I feel pretty sorry for the kid, especially at the fact that he was suspended for five days for it.

I think the principal should apologize to him and should not be such a pompous ass!

Ah, yes. But would you actually do something about it?

The principal wasn't in the right mind to suspend the child, seeing as he wouldn't answer just that ONE question. One question isn't going to bring anybody's score down as a whole. Unfortunetly, every state has that test, so it's completely unavoidable as to which state you go to hide.

so the principle IS a witch on the broomstick!!! she made the poor kid cry!!!

school is evil

Well, that was messed up. Apparently they just contradicted their own system suspending the kid for 5 days. I could understand it from the view of the principal to get high scores, but exactly HOW small is this school that the WHOLE writing score rides on ONE child? Sounds a little fucked up though. It was ignorant of the principal to even do that in the first place considering the age of the kid.

Ugh, you can't help but just feel angry about this. >_<

The suspension was uncalled for. I feel sorry for the kid, he has every right not to answer the question.
When the principal tells him that him that his score will reflect badly on the rest of the schools' overall score, I find this to be too much for a fourth-grader to be burdened with.
The principal should apologise to the kid, it may be too late for that though, as he will have lost faith in the education system after this incident.

Geez. Personally, if it were my kid, I would've lit into the principal quite hard. Educational folks are there there to teach and encourage, not belittle. I place my child there for ~8hrs/weekday and expect to get a benefit out of it, not something that'll require therapy.

Take it to superintendents, school board, school distict, etc and make sure that lady's career is fucked over big time. This should be a huge red mark on that bitch's record. Kids bother me at times, but they're kids. Stuff like this doesn't float the boat. Someone who lets loose lines like that even on ACCIDENT shouldn't be teaching, much less in a principal's position.

Yes it does. Just in the opposite direction. The woman should have told the boy it didn't matter what he wrote on the test--she wouldn't be mad at him.

But instead, she lied to him, and made him scared of school....

Idiot

It's not a matter of 'WOULD' as much as 'COULD'. Judging from the additude of the principal, I do not think there is much reasoning with her. So rather than try and battle the principal endlessly over what she said, I think I'd do evrything I could to encourage the student and pray I undo some of the damage she did.

I'm in the midst of a class where I volunteer in a classroom (gaining the required 40 hours (min) to apply to the certifying program). I recall being one of the last series of classes to take the WASL and not have to worry about passing to graduate... Although I failed the writing portion and passed math (which makes no sense because I excell in english and suck at math).

no child left behind has always bothered me and now i've got another reason. i can't wait for some real education reform... only about 2 yrs and 2 months left of waiting until (hopefully) a president with better ideas is in office

On an aside, somehow reading that reminds me of Kanzaki and her schooling (lol anime). On topic though, it's sad, but not uncomprehensible, that they'd (the principal and the school) want to focus more on boosting their "educational image" rather than comfort and try to understand Tyler's point of view of the question. He was being courteous and minding how others would feel, especially his principal. In the end, it's unfortunate he got punished for this.

This is entirely the fault of "No Child Left Behind". It's got to be the worst way of going about fixing our educational system anyone could dream up. Unbelievable.

It strikes me that this principle shouldn't have a job anymore. I've always seen the principle as being the head authority when it comes to the responsibility of the well being and development of all children at their school.

In this case, the principle blatantly brushed aside the well being and development of a single child for the sake of her own personal image. Its not even about the rest of the kids taking the test, its about the school getting high scores so the principle looks good. This woman's vanity crushed a fourth grader. Despicable.

I personally can't stand the No Child Left Behind Act, or standardized tests, or anything of the sort. I can barely stomach public schools as a whole. My girlfriend and I got in a huge argument because I saw a campaign sign on someone's front lawn that said "No Excuses! Invest in Public Schools!" and laughed derisively and said "how about NOT."

You'd think a principal would be a little more grown up, and not so childish that she can't find out WHY the kid wouldn't answer the question, and try to understand from his point of view. She shouldn't be in any leadership position at all, period.

The interesting thought that came to me when I read about this is that the child is in a very terrible position and couldn't garner anything positive out of it either way.

We've already seen one result.

The other would've been if he took the chance and wrote exactly what was on his mind. Imagine the potential uproar that may cause: a call to the parents, counseling, and a possible suspension over "disrespect to authority".

Look, the kid is damned either way. It's bad luck at its finest.

Okay, while I AGREE that it's a really stupid thing to have suspended a kid for, both morally and as far as intelligence, I can not, for the LIFE of me, figure out why you people think this is such a HUGE BLOW to this poor child.

You're all acting as though he was raped and hung up on the town fucking square to writhe in the hot, summer sun.

He was suspended. For insubordination. This is fucking LIFE, and while I think it's a little early for him to get a taste of it, its something everyone will need to go through. Sometimes, you play by the rules. Othertimes, you don't.

I think BOTH reactions from each side are equally as ridiculous, here. "O my poor son is wounded for LIFE."

He didn't answer a question. He shouldn't be punished for that. The end.

Wow, this is very stupid. That principle should lose her job for telling him he ruined everything for everyone in school.

I don't get why everyone is blaming NCLB for this screw-up. If I read this properly, the fault rests on the back of the principal who didn't treat the situation with the amount of sensitivity the age group she dealt with required, and is just shifting the blame to legislation because its convenient for her public image. A cheap cop-out answer that the loud liberals will eat up like Nerds candy.

Well, Sass, I'm moreso angry that there's a person in position of authority on the scale of a principal who acts like a complete fucktard. It'll bum the kid out for a while, absolutely. Head person from the school comes up to you (as a child) and says "way to go, pal! You made us look bad. ALL YOUR FAULT."

Main thing is that the principal was childish and stupid about the whole approach and was very selfish in establishing an image for herself. Put yourself in the parent's place. You trust an establishment to teach your child and the head boss of it comes out and tells your kiddo that they fucked up big time over something that wasn't wrong at all. You wouldn't be pleased with the school's administration '~' I'm putting myself in the parent's place. I'm a fan of corporal punishment and all that. Babying the youth isn't something that should be done to a major extent, but the kid didn't do a thing wrong, period.

Plus, my mother was a headmaster/principal. The school board of the private school got flooded with young parents who don't know that she galvanized the school from bankruptcy about fifteen years prior. Some uppity bitch spread rumors about my mother and the board voted her off for no real reason, and now the school is being driven into the ground. Five years later, my mom still can't score a job as a principal, and there are bozos like this running around in the business. Gets under my skin a little. Now you've got folks who are treating children as numbers and benefits to the faculty.

Also... People, please don't try passing the buck to something that Bush passed. This is the principal's fuckup and hers alone. Don't try to spin this around and start going "BLOL REPUBLICUNTS".

edit: Gablar. Packrat beat me to it =d

I totally agree that there shouldn't be a person in this position at all - AT ALL. You should never do that to a young child.

But I think the parents are ALSO wrong for acting like the kid is scarred forever. It's a way for them to over dramatize the situation to self-benefit - which I frankly find morally wrong as well.

I guess I could have been more clear. Sorry~ ;_;

Well o'course there's some spin or tear-jerking going on :3 I'm pretty sure this article was written to catch the bitch principal's skirt on fire (or pants if thats her thing~).

If No Child Left Behind had not been in place, the principal would not have felt pressured to achieve as perfect as possible test scores.

And that's a problem WHY? :tpg:

"No, thats okay Mrs. Busczki, you can go ahead and run your school however you like. The worse they do, the more funding you get from the government to 'try to improve' your grades next time anyways."

You guys haven't seen the ueslessness of standardized testing until you've written the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test). What a load of crap that was.

ofcourse they would do that. That kid was smart. Smarter then most kids his age. I think it's all part of that stupid status quo trash.

If I had a 5 day suspension for every question I skipped on tests like that, fuck I would've been out of school more than in it. Gotta love the American education system. :p

In all seriousness though, I think yeah, the parents are overdramatizing this, and the kid also. On the other hand, 5 days for not listening? Even if they can justify the suspension, 5 DAYS WTF!!! I've gotten less for a helluva lot more than just not listening to the teacher.

The fact that the higher ups think this is perfectly acceptable....fuck even if I ever move to the states, which I won't, but if I did, I would make sure to move back before having schoolage kids, no fucking way that school system is safe for kids. That much weight on standardized tests at that age....sickening.

That's bullshit.

"Good job, bud, you've ruined it for everyone in the school, the teachers and the school"

And that is horrible. Principal needs to be reviewed in her dealing with elementary school children.

To be fair, how bad is suspension really? I've never thought it was such a serious punishment because if the cause was unreasonable, your parents would sympathise with you. Now he gets 5 days out of school doing fuck all instead of working. Sounds like quite a good deal to me; he'd probably get worse for answering the question.

Although yes, the Principal was out of line to blame him for all of that, if he has the reassurance of everyone but her, how much is that going to affect him?

The situation certainly sounds outrageous, but it's a bit strange that the kid didn't acquiesce to the request, even after the principal herself told him it was okay... What was going through his mind, exactly?

Apparently he didn't want the principal to know that he thought she was a witch.

They really should have talked to his parents before taking such actions though.

Well, yeah, weird kid. Looks like his parents try a little too hard to bring up a li'l model citizen, y'know? Kid was deadly afraid of authority figures, and now he's got a taste of how unfair and downright self-serving they can be. Maybe it'll help him in his quest to learn how to think for himself. His parents are tools to think he's scarred from that. Looks to me like he'll get over it after a solid week of videogames, and he'll come out of this with a worldview slightly more realistic than the one his parents have probably shoved down his throat.

But yeah, she was definately out of line, and that kid will have a much harder time trusting educators for the next several years. He'll get over it and grow up to reform the school system, though, so no harm done, right? ^_^

This shit's right outta Daria, kids. :P

4th grade I had a teacher like that principal, and in 8th and a few in high school
hooray for the educational system.

couldn't they have simply contacted the perents first. He didn't want the priciple to know he thought of her as a witch? How freakin innocent is that. I hope that kids broken spirit haunts her forever o-o

Hahahahaha, what. This sounds like a joke. If not, that's even better.

In my day, when we didn't answer a question, we just got it wrong.

It's spelled "principal" guys. I bet this 4th grader even knows that.

Let's me give you an example from my nephew's life:

He had an interest in the way the Titanic was built. In the engineering behind it. One of his teachers automatically claimed he had an obsession with "death."

His father is in the Air Force, so my nephew liked to wear camouflage pants and shirts to school. Immediately, he was considered to be "troubled' because of his taste in clothes.

So, this little boy, who would write he thought his principal was a witch on a broomstick, probably would be considered being into witchcraft and Satan...

My problem with the principal is she LIED to the boy. She LIED, folks. The writing part had nothing to do with the percentage.

And whatever happened to the Minimum Basic Skills Test?

You beat me to it. I was getting tired of seeing "principle" in every other post.

I'm not sure what to say to this. The kid seems to have been put in a no win situation, where if he answers the question, he gets in trouble, and if he doesn't, he gets in trouble. But I guess if he would've wrote down his thoughts, he would've been correct. The principal definitely deserves something for what she did, five days is a huge amount of punishment for such a small thing.

Horrible, etc.

But what relevance does his height and weight have to the story?

Republifuckers. Gotta love 'em.

Both the ones who created the retarded No Child Left Behind and the ones who leave children behind to try to make the rest of their school look good by No Child Left Behind standards.

Yeah that was really starting to bother me. It was becoming ironic people bitching about the education system yet cannot determine which word to use in the situation even though they sound the same, they are spelled and defined differently.

it reminds me of the time I had an assignment to write out a story using new words that I found in the dictionary. I wrote a funny story about my teacher.

She was M-A-D
but guess what? I learned the words, much better than simple memorization

I wrote a sonnet about how much I hated english class. Bitch made me rewrite it.

I also lost my Salutatorian title because I "plagiarized" a homework assignment, en francais. It was a front. I wasn't acting like their model Salutatorian, so they took it away. Everyone knew it. Frankly I didn't want to give a speech anyway, but it's the principle of the thing. ;)

High school really turned me off to the whole education system.

I'm actually curious, what's so bad about public schools?

This still doesn't make sense. So the kid's afraid to let his principal know he thinks she's a witch. Why? He's afraid of getting in trouble, or of her becoming angry. But by not doing the assignment, he causes her to become angry (which he should have seen coming--sounds like multiple people were talking to him) and gets in major trouble.

Why the heck couldn't he have written something NOT about her being a witch? Sure that's the first thing that popped into his head, but think again!

Now, I'm not on the principal's side. At face value, I'm totally on the kid's side. But my problem is that this story doesn't make SENSE to me.

yah, it does sound kinda like the kid has no social skills....
I mean, it's great that he knew he shouldn't write that his teacher was a witch, but was he really so one-track minded that he couldn't just think of something else?
but you know...kids....they have low processing power

Yeah, it's all bullshit. One test question isn't the end of the world, let alone the school. It's also not the end of his life.

What I especially hate is the pressure on the kid. This is elementary school here. This was one of my worst and best times in my life, moreso the later years than the early years. I remember when I was in grade 1 and there was this kindergarten kid that was afraid of me. So what does he do? He tells on the teacher that I beat him up and the teacher (being the bitch that she is) comes over to me and asks me if I beat him up. I said no at least three times, but she kept repeating the question as if accusing me. The pressure pretty much made me cry. Thinking back to that, it pisses me off.

This is a result of sheltered parenting. His mother needs to let him go scrape his knee every once in a while and let him play with other kids and have a sense of humor. He’s never going to be able to enjoy himself in life if she keeps covering his eyes and ears. His story probably would have made everyone laugh and got him a good result. He’s literally going to be a 40-year-old virgin with all the ‘respect’ he shows. What a tease to all the hot emo chicks that start catching onto him in middle school and high school.

It's obvious who the villian is here if I hadn't have seen this I would have thought something like was part of a crappy film or cartoon, the principal is who should have been expelled here the kid didn't know any better >.>

Many children that exhibit such qualities of "respect" in their earlier years go on to rebel against the practice.
Plus, it is unfair to blame all of that on this sort of customary sheltered parenting--it doesn't really become sheltering until the child is a teen, and, even then, it's still debatable as to what should be categorized under that term.

Clearly a dramatization. I don't think size and weight has any bearing on what would have been his score.

But then again, kids his age, size and weight have a tendency to cry when they're embarrassed, confused, upset or hungry. Another dramatization. Though I admit, insisting that an entire school's rating was on his shoulders was a bit much. That would've made me hungry enough to cry any day.


No. He blows up because he's embarrassed. He's embarrassed because now he can't be a normal kid because his mom's a psycho bitch who thinks she's going to get rich by suing an already deprived Board of Education. He won't take the test no matter what state he's in? Good thing the state of National Security isn't riding on this.


So does every kid's attitude toward school, eventually. He's just an early bloomer. Shyer? He shouldn't be talking to girls yet anyway. Afraid of all tests? Yes, because he's afraid that Global Warming and Arctic Drafts will somehow ensue if he leaves a creative question unanswered. That much I don't blame anyone for. Doesn't do well in classes anymore? Because now he doesn't think he should have to do anything because his mother won't stop making out with his boo boo.

I think it's just too dramatic of a scene to be taken seriously. Mothers against WASL? How about 'Board of Education Against Intellectually Deficient Children'? It's not like they're being shipped off to sweat shops if they fail.

Eesh, poor kid.

I noted that some of you asked why he didn't put another answer down. He was nine years old...that's why. His mind was not mature enough to be able to understand that (or come up with some alternative thoughts). Some children might be, but he was not, and that is not of his own fault.,

I already forsee this leading to the woman trying to get rich from the BoE. However, it's not the BoE's fault...it's the NCLB policy coupled by the prin at that school. The NCLB is idiotic. When I was in HS, they were just starting to implement that. We were the first class to take it, but the results didn't count. I did fine in Math but horrible in history. Why? Simply because the class I had consisted of students from a variety of nations and the teacher rather had EVERYONE learn the material than 30% of the class. Hence, we didn't get too far, too fast.

Now, granted, I would say that it would be best if they had split that class into two classes. Those who needed more time could have it, and those who didn't could go faster or go through history with more detail.

Nevertheless, the way it is now, teachers in HS in the US CAN'T spend that extra time with students because they have to cover so much material. I saw several teachers literally retired or just out-right quit because they hated this new policy. It's not because they were 'quitters' but rather it went against their mode of teaching (The mode of having everyone or mostly everyone understand the topic VS going through everything you have planned and if no one gets it, just shrug and say 'That's life').

I'm not saying that those schools that have really low scores should get extra aid...because that money should be given to those who NEED AND DESERVE it (a combination of both, not one or the either). How this can be done is beyond me at this point.

Back to the kid. There is no reason he should have been suspended for refusing to answer a question. A blank answer is wrong. A unclear answer is wrong. Two answers for a one-answer question is wrong. A wrong answer is wrong. If you get a wrong answer, you lose a point or don't get a point depending on the type of test. That's all that should happen given the circumstances. The prin should be fired, no questions about it. The parents though should relax. There IS a point where you need to comfort the child, but at some point you gotta "jolt" them back into their normal selves.

Even though I highly disagree with the principal's actions and how he handled the blank answer, I also think that it wasn't that hard to solve, either. Yes, I disagree with everything that happened after the kid didn't answer the question. But, seriously, he could have just wrote down ANOTHER answer.

Yes, mortis, he's 9. However, I can easily see someone like 6 come up with an alternative answer to a question, in which there original answer wasn't good in there opinion. I seriously don't think that it was that hard, even for his age, to come up with an alternative answer to put. That way, the problem would have never happened, and there would be no trouble on his, his parents, and the schools fault.

I agree with Hitman. As someone who works with kids, I can safely say that any 9-year-old kid functioning at an A-B honor roll level could easily come up with alternative answers to a question such as this.

You know what... I can't stand EITHER!

The Kid: WTF man, you stupid or something... if he's that afraid to write about his principle, then he'll probably take drugs just so others won't beat him up. He obviously hasn't been taught by teachers/parents how to be independent, strong and willfull.
Another thing, IF he's an A or B student and I agree with Blue and Hitman, it should have been no problem to write another answer...

The Principal: OMG, what a dick (I'd rather not use the female form of it)... but I hate these kind of people...

And god talk about cheese, "he cried" - omg I got scolded... what a wimp he's 9! That's OLD k! And the age/weight like that sooo should effect his personalities... obviously they are trying to make you feel for the kid "omg he's sooo small and shy, poor thing"

On the other hand, a 9-year old child who can steadfastly refuse to do something that multiple adult authority figures told him to do probably doesn't need to be taught how to be "independent, strong and willfull".

^Arg, and you are right about that... I guess then he's just bipolar... what else? I mean it looks like there's an alternative for almost every argument on this thread here... or just bratty... *not the nicest person here- I hate kids*

OK, that was just frakkin' weird. Off topic much? Someone ban that foo'.

What the kid coulda/shoulda done is really of little value here, since the point of the thread (IMO) is the injustice in getting suspended for not answering a question. It's an exam, folks. I've SKIPPED exams before, and you know what happened? I LOST POINTS. You don't suspend a kid for making you look bad, and that's the real point here, isn't it?

But since we're talking about the kid and he'll probably never see this thread... All through school, I never could bring myself to bullshit through an exam, which is why in high school I never broke 80% on anything english/lit-related. My parents brought me up to be honest to a fault (yeah, that's possible), so I found it hard to write things I knew to be bullshit. So maybe this kid's got the same deal. I mean, his parents look to be as smothering and melodramatic as mine were, so maybe that's it.

Also, once your mind gets on track, it can be pretty hard to shift gears and rethink the whole thing. The kid had an awesome story in mind, and couldn't use it, but it was so good he couldn't think of anything else in time. Sounds plausible, right? It seems pretty clear that this bitch (I said it for you, Tsunade :P) is overly concerned with her image as percieved by herself and others, so IMO it was probably a good judgement call on the kid's part to not write that story.

When I was nine, I had to write a story about a school field trip to the zoo. The animals escaped, and I came to the rescue with big guns and futuristic ammunition, Rambo/Schwarzenegger-style. My english teacher had a brief cameo, when I mistook her for a tiger (hey, it was foggy) and pumped her full of lead... and whatever else was in those bullets. She called it "unrealistic". I called it "fiction". I got a B. :D

Cool. I wrote outta this world stuff like this when I was in Primary School. One of them even when on to become a model essay~ Yeah! Its really important to allow writers, especially young ones express their creativity. The things you can get from them are sometimes simply astounding (in a good way).

Wow...
Well, I'm of the opinion that school is the worst days of one's life and Further Education is the best.
This only serves to remind me as to why.

That bitch should be screamed at until emotionally unstable and see how she is at the end of it.
Might learn two things called "humility" and "Empathy" whilst she's at it.

Though that said, the whole "kid could think of something else..." angle well, maybes aye, maybes no. Think it this way, your under the pressure of time and what not, maybe the image of the principal as a witch (as to describe the only fathomable reason why she's there in the first place) is all that's showing up...

That's halerious....I wish my school career was like that.

I knew someone who wrote something amusing and even slightly insulting about a teacher during middle school for a creative writing assignment similar to that test question, but no one really cared too much.

I probably would have tried to come up with a different story to avoid any trouble.

I believe you're absolutely right! How very unperceptive of me!

Man, I feel sorry for the kid. They really are assholes for doing that. I think the right course of action to take was said earlier...

What the fuck is happening to this world? Personally, if I had that kind of conviction of not answering a question on a test, I wouldn't answer it. What's it to the administration if I don't want to answer it? So much as to get a high pass rate as to completely blow off a student? That's complete bullshit.

Well, I suppose it's subjective, really. I like public schools in that there's a LOT of social interaction with many diverse types of people, but most of the public school systems (high school, anyway) that I've seen or been in have had a few nasty flaws.
One is that the classes are too large for the teacher. 30+ kids in the same classroom with one teacher is, unfortunately, probably NOT going to help them all learn at the same speed. It's been shown that some children learn faster or slower than others, and placing them in a class with 30 other kids isn't going to change that, especially when the blocks of time that have been allocated for each class are too short for the teacher to give personal attention to each child. Now, I know what most people would bring up here in reference to my last post, and yes, I agree, if public schools received more funding, they could probably build more classrooms and hire more teachers. That makes sense.
But the second flaw is that the teachers are usually NOT proficient in what they're trying to teach. To put it simply, 80% of all math and science teachers at my senior high school were first and foremost SPORTS COACHES. They also taught Driver's Education classes. They would teach classes out of the textbooks. They would answer questions from the back of the book. And sometimes when the back of the book was wrong due to a typo or something of the sort, I would have to correct them. A student correcting a teacher shouldn't happen THAT OFTEN. Now, once again, yes if they had more funding, they could probably hire BETTER teachers.
But here a problem still remains, the third and biggest one that my school had, which was the administration. Every GOOD teacher we had (and I'm not talking just "fun" teachers, I'm talking teachers that made you want to learn and inspired you, which is what teachers are supposed to do) was FIRED, or was refused a pay raise while one of the ubiquitous sports coaches got his salary practically doubled.

My father taught junior and senior high for about 13 years, and finally ended up quitting due to the politics and shenanigans of the school administration board. He swore if he ever got into teaching again, he would get certain things in writing from the board, before even beginning the job. That's how bad it was in his eyes.

I had it fairly good, in my opinion. I was homeschooled, excelled in math (completing Geometry by the time I was 9, and Algebra by the time I was 12 - learned a bit of pre-cal and trig in between those years as well) and english, though my grammar, punctuation and capitalization all speak contrary to that, I'm sure. When I was 13 I decided I wanted to go to high school, as a 10th-grader. So I did. I fit right in socially, which, in retrospect, was odd - I was always a shy kid, but I felt more at home with people 3-5 years older than me. Then again, it's always been that I felt more at home with friends that were older. Everyone thought of me as "the smart kid" as well, and I had quite a few girls asking me to help them with their homework, which I never took them up on because I was too shy the first two years of school.

I do blame the shyness partially on homeschooling, though. I had very little social interaction, though the interaction I did have has garnered me lifelong friends that I still regularly communicate with to this day. Besides which, a lot of people who go to public schools are very shy anyway, so it's not all the fault of isolation per se.

So overall, public schools are OKAY, but I feel it should be an alternative, rather than the norm. Homeschooling, being taught one-on-one with a parent or guardian, has consistently shown (at least around here) more rapid education. Some would argue that it is also far more biased, but I doubt that, considering how biased teachers can be despite the rules, and besides, kids are going to be influenced by their parents anyway. At least this way you know your mom and dad are actually smart.