ProtectiveDad

In My Own Words

From the age of 11, I knew I wanted to teach; a trait that is rare in men. I had a very influential teacher in Junior High, and knew I could be just like him. I graduated from the Univ. of Colorado with a dual degree in Education and Spanish, and was very happy. Unfortunately, I soon realized that the bureaucracy of the school system, combined with administrators who often arrogantly believe they are omnipotent and behaved like tyrants, began to squash the love I had of the profession. I taught in several different districts, at various schools. And all the while, I heard all the complaints about American public schools. Did I see lousy teachers? Once in a while. But what I saw that shocked me most was the very poor adminstration, parents who look for excuses for their kids instead of pushing them to excel, and a school system that thinks that spending money makes up for deteriorating discipline and out of control behavior. I left education in frustration and never looked back. But then I married a teacher and we had two kids. And soon, the reality I had sought to forget came crashing back. As a parent, I am again angry as hell about the societal decay that is destroying our schools. Yes, there ARE great schools out there, and I love greatschools.org for helping me find a home for our kids. But I'm beginning to feel the urge to rejoin the battle, this time not as a teacher, but as an active parent and possibly school board member.

Parents I'd Like to Meet

If you are also eager to improve the schools in the Golden/Denver area, let me know. If you are a parent who has horror stories about local adminstration and teachers and wants to do something about it, contact me. We are both polyglots (I'm fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, my wife speaks English, Spanish and French), and are both experienced in foreign language acquisition. If you need help with this or want to know about local schools that specialize in languages, contact us.