Revere Public schools, what were you thinking?

Had an interesting conversation with the kids yesterday. They were going through all their school papers and the teachers are all saying homework must not just be typed, but in some cases emailed to them the night before.

Ok, I can kind of accept that teachers are tired of reading kids bad handwriting, but the automatic five point deduction for hand written homework is just wrong. Do these teachers assume that every child has a typewriter, much less a computer at home. This is not what education should be about. This is letting a families income decide if a child will pass or fail.

Is the school system suggesting that children who's parents or guardians do not make enough income to purchase a computer do not deserve to be educated? Are they suggesting computers are more important to a child's education than their teaching.

I already have reservations about the teaching methods used in Revere schools. Teachers do not teach, but instead assign 'projects' to be completed by the student. Student reports are taking the place of teacher teaching as a form of education.

I have already spent over one hundred just purchasing school supplies for two children. Five subject notebooks for each class for the eight grader, and three, two subject notebooks for the fifth grader. Mechanical pencils instead of number two standard pencils, because class rooms don't have pencil sharpeners, and the blade of a sharpener is considered a 'weapon'! Pens of many colors, and enough highlighters to paint my home.

At best each child has already decided that they can do no better than B's no matter how good their work is. Not because they don't have the intelligence to do better, but because they do not have access to a computer on a daily basis. Should I encourage them to still try to do well in school. Or should I agree that they, should give up on themselves, just as the school system has given up on them.

Don't allow a child's financial situation to decide how well a child does in school. Tell the school system they are there to educate, not humiliate our students.