Quote Originally Posted by toggpine View Post
Sadly, I don't think so.
I haven't yet encountered the school system beyond Kindergarden with my own child, and they are pretty lax about correcting spelling and grammar at this point. They want the right sounds written down, so elefant is as good as elephant for now. It will be interesting to see how our school district does things.
In some of the bigger public school districts (like Sis's), it seems they are more worried about the kids self-esteem than preparing them to be successful. While we shouldn't crush their spirit, we also shouldn't allow an "Everything is fine. There are no mistakes." attitude either. What's going to happen when they walk out those high school doors and that's not how the real world works?
I don't know the specifics of your daughter's school in Connecticut, but it could have gone either way. How scary that the child who received English as a foreign language, was the top in her native speaking class! Yikes!
Many times, our non-native speakers have a different attitude toward learning, because in many of their countries, it is not free education, and it is a privilege and a family honor to recieve an education. The motivation to learn is higher in our students who are not American born. I'm sure many families culture the esteem for education in our country, but many do not see the value, and the kids pick up on that family attitude.

Occasionally, I've had native speakers placed in my ESL grammar or note-taking classes. They somehow got placed in the class as a way to get credits without working hard. They often did poorly because they refused to work. It is such a waste.