English: People with Asperger’s Syndrome are often preoccupied with particular, specialized areas of knowledge, such as this boy’s interest in molecular structure. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A program with John Stossel tonight about education make me queasy. It seems that Teachers’ Unions, school boards and the federal government are all sleeping in one giant bed these days and the cost of keeping the bed warm and cozy is unimaginable. Actually, it isn’t the cost that bothers me nearly as much as the fact that no child is receiving the education he/she was promised.

A failing school within a school district receives more money, none of which anyone knows how to manage, to produce less-educated kids. If a charter school within a district is doing a super job with less money per student, it make the bad schools with more money per student look even worse. They can’t have this. So, what do they do? They close the charter school who was graduating 100 percent of the senior classes, of whom all were accepted at four-year colleges. Many of the students finished the four-year colleges in three years. This is the school they chose to close, not the failing schools.

Am I still living in America? I think I may have drifted to another planet while I was sleeping one night. We give more money to schools that are bankrupt, graduating less students, three-fourths of whom can’t read beyond a fifth-grade level, and close the schools that are graduating all of their students who read on a college level. Am I the only one who sees the stupidity of this scenario?

The sad truth is this: If you aren’t educating your own children, they probably aren’t receiving an education. I have two gifted children. One child has Asperger Syndrome. This is a form of Autism. My son did not socialize outside of our family. It was part of his identity as a child with Asperger’s. This drove his teachers crazy. I received notes daily that said: “Ms. Stanley, We feel your son would benefit from testing to better place him according to his abilities.” Read: Test him for special education.

At the end of his seventh-grade year, I paid a psychologist to test my son. He was gifted, just as I had known. I took his test with his I.Q. to his teachers. I told them, “Since my son is more intelligent than all five of you combined, I think I will take him out of public school and teach him at home myself.”

My son graduated ahead of his class and has received three degrees, so far. I told you this story to say, If you want your child to receive an education, teach him yourself. Most teachers are too lazy to find the way your child learns. I can say this because I have taught school. My daughter teaches school. We put our hearts and soul into teaching. We’ve had to work with teachers who were there for the paycheck and the summer vacations.

Find out what level your child is reading at. Ask your child some questions that children his age should be able to answer. Ask what your child is learning at school. Are the teachers spending a week teaching that two moms or two dads is just as good as one mom and a dad? If they are, they aren’t teaching your child how to make change for a dollar.

No matter what country you live in, be a part of your child’s education. America is slowly going under and taking the best and brightest children with her. Keep your foot on the back of someone’s neck until you find out why your child isn’t being taught how to read on grade level. Make sure your child is ready to graduate and move on to college.

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• Testing is killing learning (salon.com)