what is your take on Louisiana's schools and education?

[1mintjulep]

I went to Bossier Parish schools from Kindergarten through High School. Supposedly, BP schools are some of the best (public) schools in the state, but I've always felt like I just got a so-so education.

It always seemed like the teachers and administrators were more concerned with getting the kids to be "good little boys & girls" than with providing a good education. Junior high & high school were the worst - I went to Elm Grove & Parkway, which were supposedly some of the best schools. 90% of the teachers at the time were about 1-2 years from retirement and had long since burned out and some of them clearly had a real dislike of kids, especially teenagers. The history and especially science teachers were too scared of controversy to really teach anything - my high school biology teacher decided to skip the chapter on evolution "since it's such a touchy subject."

Yeah. She just didn't teach it to us. So most of what I know about history and science I learned in college, or was self-taught. I also thought they were attempting to run the junior & high schools like a military academy (and kind of an inept one at that), and that the student body did not warrant that *at all*.

The sex ed program was decent (if completely hetero-centric), however. It was not, at that time, an abstinence-only curriculum and the teacher seemed to have her head on straight with regard to the topic, and I was glad at the age of 12 to get some useful info about what the hell was happening to me (I seriously thought I had a fatal illness for a while - my parents did not talk about sex), even if I was left to my own devices with regard to other areas. If it hasn't been changed to an abstinence-only curriculum by now, I'd be very surprised.

All in all, I think if I'd left school in the 9th grade, I wouldn't be any less educated than I am now. The last four years were fairly worthless, mainly because the teachers were either scared of their own shadows, or were just hanging on until they could retire - and sure enough, I think 90% of the faculty at Parkway turned over within 2 years of my graduating.

[LSU Tiger Z71]

My education was great in private school and have only heard great things about the Ouachita Parish system.

You should had gone to Byrd.