When Schools Fight Against You

As a family we always tried to instill a love for learning within our children. Even before our children were school aged we would look for opportunities all throughout the day to play spelling games or math challenges. By the time our children started kindergarten they already knew how to read and could do basic math. When our youngest entered kindergarten he was the only one in his class who could read, and he tested on the 2nd grade level.

However, instead of congratulating us as parents for our hard work of preparing our children, the public school system took the position that our son did not fit into their school's curriculum. They tried to change him. They tried to make him fit into their vision of what a kindergarten student should be. Instead of stimulating his eager mind, they had him doing trivial activities which didn't always interest him. Consequently, he was bored, and at home we saw evidence that his passion for learning was being replaced by bad habits he was picking up at school (socialization).

We had numerous meetings with the teacher, and principal, to come up with a solution. We suggested skipping him to the first grade, they refused. Their answer was to put him in a corner, or in the hallway, by himself, to work on worksheets, while all the other kids played. (like he's being punished) It was as this point that we began to get notes home indicating that our son was having behavioral issues. That is when we saw the big picture. Our son was being tracked into becoming a "problem child." (Special Education?) We tried everything, we had additional meetings with the principal, and we even went to the school board, but to no avail. The school took the position that they were the experts and knew what was best for our son. Instead of seeing him for his gifts, they saw a "problem child" who did not fit nicely into "their" school's compartments.

Ultimately, we took him out of the school and homeschooled him up until the 5th grade. He entered back into the public school system in the 6th grade when he was only 9 years old. He has tested as Gifted, gets straight A's, and outperforms all his peers, both black and white. We saw our son's gifts and there was no way were going to let a school system kill them as they do too many black boys.

Homeschooling was our answer, but I'm sure we are not the only ones who had a difficult time dealing with an uncooperative teacher or school system. What are your stories, and how did you deal with it?