My mother who is currently 84 has been telling me to take my kids out of public school for years, and home school my kids instead. She has been warning me that public school systems have been dumbing down our kids for years.

When I had one child, I thought that would be a great option, but when my second child came along, I soon realized that I would have a more difficult time trying to teach two kids at home, considering they are 7.5 years apart.

I also knew my limitations, thus realizing I could not teach my kids math or science above a certain level; such as geometry, trigonometry, or calculus. I also realized because I am the youngest in my family out of all of my numerous cousins,  I would have to discover alternate socializing options for my kids.

How do I know schools are dumbing down our kids?

I am seeing it happening firsthand. My kids are being taught a less than stellar education. They think I am being mean, or hyper critical when I edit their language arts skills, or lack thereof. My kids think I’m being unreasonable when I tell them to write coherent sentences, using complete sentences, and correct grammar. When my mother attended school many years ago, she told me she had a class size of about 40 students. The teachers were strict. Kids had to learn, or they were not allowed to pass onto the next grade. Today,  kids are passed up to the next grade, even though they can’t complete a simple sentence, and do not have any knowledge of American history.

In today’s public schools, kids are offered a myriad of learning options, that have nothing to do with gaining a basic education, such as learning how to dance, learning about other countries, and they are offered several languages they may never use such as Mandarin. Although, I am upset over public school budget cuts, removing all the “extras” from my daughter’s school system such as computer keyboarding, and other languages kids may need to know such as Spanish.

My mother was taught at a small public school many, many years ago. The kids at this small school were not offered numerous sports, and group activities. But she has perfect penmanship. She gained a wonderful knowledge of the English language. My Mother was taught our country’s history, so that she would have a working knowledge of how our government works, and what previous history America had.

In my Mother’s day in school, kids were also taught more useful business skills, of typing, writing business letters, how to act professionally at work, and how to dress at work.  When I was in high school professional skills were not taught, but typing was offered. Professionalism is not taught at public schools today. And just to let you know, I am not completely out of touch with the public school system, my 20-year-old graduated about three years ago, and I still have a child attending school.

Sad to say, public schools are dumbing down not only the system but our kids as well.