Do you think the schools expect too much of our children ?

No!! PS- everyone that posts in my discussions is rated!

Yes they are !

i think that sometimes that they do, because some kids just don't understand it and the teacher won't help them so they keep pushing more and more on them! Which in the end there over loaded and the teacher looks at them for the poor work!

Oh Boy!!! You obviously do not live in England then!!! I am an Instructor at the Signals School for the Army, and the standard that of Basic Recruit that we get is AWFUL !!! The Girls seem to be better than the boys...... But handwriting and spelling.... forget it!!!!

no, i dont think so... but the problem is the teachers dont teach what they are suppose to. An example is I droped my honors english because I didnt think i was ready for it. About a week ago, my teacher told us that we had to do twice as much work to get us cought up because the teachers last year didnt teach us everything. so basicly, the Collage Prep class is just as hard as the honors class.....so in a way schools do and dont....

Yeah...it's all about competition...

no it seems that most times they expect the absolute minimum out of our kids in order to push them through.

I think parents only have themselves to blame if they think schools are too hard for their kids. Remember the stink that was raised a few years ago when studies showed children in the United States were falling behind other countries like Japan? This is the outcome of that.

yes, its true that now-a-days , children need to know a lot, but schools are obviously in a big rat race and expecting more from children

It all depends on where you live. When I was in Georgia, the schools really didnt expect much of the kids. Now that Im in North Carolina and my son is in school, Ive noticed that the schools are very advanced.

I didn't feel like they did when I was in school (graduated high school 6 years ago), and I was in honors classes. But I don't know today. Frankly I don't think there is having to know too much, its just a matter of how schools push them to get there.

Ha! It seems the schools here want to be the parent instead of the teacher, and want us parents to do their job. I don't know if that's expecting too much like you say, but I feel they're not doing their jobs obviously.

no i don't

I think so I mean I don't have kids but my brother is constantly under pressure.

Being a teacher myself, I know that schools push as hard as they do because of government expectations through No Child Left Behind. We expect Kindergarten children to learn the things that used to be taught in 2nd grade, because by the time the children reach 3rd grade, we have to have taught them enough to be able to pass the required standardized tests. Most educators despise NCLB. It is almost impossible to comply with the standards it sets, and many schools are failing badly in their attempts. With the low priority education has been given by our government and the lack of funding, schools are trying as best they can. I would suggest that instead of finding issues with the way the schools are operating that you write your congressmen and express your views. Any changes in the public school system will have to come down from them. The schools themselves are battling to keep from having to close for non-compliance.

Yes i think.. there shld be some law which prohibits big admission tests for small children

yups..really

Yes I do. But it prepars them for when they go to college and university.

OMG YES My daughter started taking a spanish class two days a week in KINDERGARDEN. Shes now in 3rd grade she has what they call a simple geomatrey class 2 days a week.What happen to the simple stuff.

I'm 16 and I don't think senior high expects too much work from me - it's just weird if a student goes to school and does no work there. I just do what I'm assigned on and I don't even struggle usually. Ah yes, in case you're wondering what country the school is in, it's finnish "lukio".