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This whole thing about 50% of the school children being at poverty level . . . now these stats get published and Charlotte is gonna be labeled as "at risk" blah blah.
That stimulus package has money for "at risk" schools.
How ridiculous. Let's get ourselves declared an "at risk" school district so we can qualify for more handouts from the Feds. And let's take it a step further. The education lottery money. A massive chunk of it goes to "at risk" four year olds. AT RISK FOUR YEAR OLDS???? What the hell is an at risk 4 y/o???? Oh, yeah. It is a child whose momma smokes crack and is living in subsidized housing and and is too stoned out of her head most of the day to notice what her kid is doing, so the state has figured it is better to have the kid in a program wh/ is essentially subsidized child care for gubment check recipients. And supposedly that will keep the child from being influenced by other crackheads at age four. I GUESS!
Shameful. What a society we have become - where it is a goal to get labeled AT RISK.
Maybe some money might be better spent "sterilizing" crack-head momma so she won't be producing "unnecessary broods"! That small amount might save billions!
What's scary is the correlation between poverty and sub-standard school results and testing. And you generally don't see trends like this reverse - especially in suburban areas. Perhaps smaller or more schools. But that would just infuriate the public who would feel that they are subsidizing a faltering school system. Perhaps more private schools - but who could afford it.
The problem does not lie within the schools, but within the homes. Even the worst schools produce a handful of great success stories each and every year. Schools are only part of a child's ubringing and real-world education.
When you examine the reasons that low performing schools tend to primarily be located within areas highly concentrated with poverty, the results certainly speak for themselves.
Is it because of less funding? Less than standard teachers and administrators? No.
It's because of the community in which they (the low income children) call home. Putting all political correctness aside, in MOST cases, there are really only three reasons that people live in poverty:
Lack of education and/or value of education
Lack of motivation and/or pride
Lack of the mental capacity and/or the ability to change their current situation by becoming educated
All of these are vicious cycles, that more often than not, are passed from parent to child.
Conversely, schools in higher income areas will continue to perform at higher levels, primarliy due to the fact that most wealthy parents value education to a much higher degree, as that is the reason they have been successful.
The problem does not lie within the schools, but within the homes. Even the worst schools produce a handful of great success stories each and every year. Schools are only part of a child's ubringing and real-world education.
When you examine the reasons that low performing schools tend to primarily be located within areas highly concentrated with poverty, the results certainly speak for themselves.
Is it because of less funding? Less than standard teachers and administrators? No.
It's because of the community in which they (the low income children) call home. Putting all political correctness aside, in MOST cases, there are really only three reasons that people live in poverty:
Lack of education and/or value of education
Lack of motivation and/or pride
Lack of the mental capacity and/or the ability to change their current situation by becoming educated
All of these are vicious cycles, that more often than not, are passed from parent to child.
Conversely, schools in higher income areas will continue to perform at higher levels, primarliy due to the fact that most wealthy parents value education to a much higher degree, as that is the reason they have been successful.
It says that Charlotte is really no longer the nice middle class city I enjoyed raising my kids in - Charlotte is progressively becoming a city of "haves" and "have nots".
My guess is that you could actually apply the 50% marker to just about any major urban area in the country. I'm sure almost any city of it's size would have comparible poverty levels- or even worse in MANY cases.
It says that Charlotte is really no longer the nice middle class city I enjoyed raising my kids in - Charlotte is progressively becoming a city of "haves" and "have nots".
But Loves, is this each of our faults, or based upon poor decisions?
I grew up here as well, I remember when Hwy 51 in south Charlotte was the end of the world...
Yikes...this is crazy. Driving around Charlotte you would never even know that this is going on. I hate to think what this is going to do to our Real Estate Market and Growing City. I hope this is just a local story and not everywhere.
The last thing we need to do is to take any money from that socialist bailout package. We all need to take a stand...help our own and help these parents find a way out of their situation the best we can.
My friend used to teach at a school in Boston with similiar stats. She used to struggle to teach just because the parents did not care, most children in her class where not cared for well at home...so on and so on. One child would come to school on Monday starving because her drug addicted mother did not feed her all weekend.
Personal responsibility needs to be taught a bit more in this country and we all need to stop being so Politically Correct so that we can help people fix their own situations.
Sadly, I believe that we will continue to throw more money into CMS and they will continue to plead poverty... thank goodness I only have 1 more year until my child is out of CMS!
We continue to spend a ridiculous amount of money busing kids all over town to achieve 'equity' - think of the gas, maintenance, etc. this costs each day! Then we say that schools with a high percentage of free and reduced lunch need additional teachers and smaller classes. Then we split the schools up into districts with their own 'asst. superintendents and office staff'. (I could not believe the number of administrative positions in CMS making upwards of $75,000!!!!) NONE of this works - we spend more and more but ... test scores are still declining, the 'achievement gap' continues to broaden.
I believe we have to have neighborhood schools and we have to require a commitment from the parents in each school. It has been proven that putting a poor/black/minority student in a seat next to a rich/white/asian student does not increase the poor childs achievements. It starts at home and until parents step up to the plate, nothing will change.
I went to CMS (too long ago) and it has been a joke for far too long. If I could have afforded to I would have sent my child to a private school. He will be a senior next year (thank goodness!) so I am almost through! I do feel very sorry for the parents of young children that have years to go in CMS!
It says that Charlotte is really no longer the nice middle class city I enjoyed raising my kids in - Charlotte is progressively becoming a city of "haves" and "have nots".
This will be the start of white flight, which will at first not be very noticeable due the the new stores, building, housing etc...
I think the University Area will suffer.
Any other opinions.
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