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There are poor people everywhere so why is MS so much worse than other areas? There has to be a reason.
Mississippi is a poor *state*, that's why. Take a state like New Jersey where I grew up. The cities are poor, and their schools are horrible (Newark, Camden, East Orange, and so on). But NJ has something MS does not: Rich towns with good schools that bring the state average up.
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Mississippi is a poor *state*, that's why. Take a state like New Jersey where I grew up. The cities are poor, and their schools are horrible (Newark, Camden, East Orange, and so on). But NJ has something MS does not: Rich towns with good schools that bring the state average up.
Very true, and also, New Jersey has a better history of investing in education as a state, compared to Mississippi. The rich invest in private schools rather than public schools, at least in Mississippi.
Very true, and also, New Jersey has a better history of investing in education as a state, compared to Mississippi. The rich invest in private schools rather than public schools, at least in Mississippi.
But school itself is not the solution to the problem. Kids are heavily influenced by their parents and home life. Do nothing to address that and you are wasting your money. Sure, some kids "get it" but most don't and end up living the same lifestyle they were born into.
You can't overcome the effects of poverty/illiteracy at home in 180 days a year for so many years.
One thing that Mississippi does have going for it is the Mississippi Teacher Corps. It attracts the same caliber of candidates that Teach for America does, but the participants report that they are given much more support according to their friends who have joined TFA. It requires a two-year commitment to be placed into a high-needs middle- or high-school while doing coursework for a Master's degree at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. In return, the teachers are given a MacBook laptop and a highly-structured series of lessons during the summer and follow-up sessions during the school year.
Our school has had quite a few participants placed here. The last stayed almost five years, well beyond the requirement, until she had to return home to care for an aging parent. Apparently that was resolved, because she is now a participant in the Mississippi Principal's Corps, which is working hard to develop instructional leaders for the same high-needs schools. I used to read their blogs on a regular basis until most of them were made private.
It was very interesting to see the comments of these young people who had grown up with all the advantages that lead to matriculation from the top colleges and universities. Once they reached the Mississippi Delta, many of them were astounded that such conditions existed in their own country. I believe the old blogs are still online. If anyone knows young people who are interested in helping, have them check it out.
One obstacle to the MTC being able to make lasting change is that it is limited to the higher grades that are taught according to subject matter. Solving the problem of five-year-olds beginning formal schooling with the vocabulary of a typical two-year-old seems to require some sort of systemic change. That's where universal pre-school would make more of a difference. Unfortunately, in Mississippi, that is seen as free day-care for dead-beat parents who would get to slack off all day while the taxpayers took care of their kids. There are a lot of very forward-thinking people working on the problem, but it requires a co-ordinated approach among various agencies, not just the schools.
Pulitzer Prize winner William Raspberry of the Washington Post, who passed away a couple of weeks ago, started a program in his home town of Okalona called Baby Steps. The primary goal of the program was to assist parents of babies and young children by teaching them the things that most people think come naturally, such as actually TALKING to the children. That doesn't always happen in dysfunctional homes. He said that it was the best thing he had ever done in his life.
This is from a column that showed the progress made after the program had been going for a short while:
Quote:
OKOLONA, Miss. -- "Mr. Raspberry! Mr. Raspberry! I have something to tell you," the young woman called as she caught up to me during a break in the Baby Steps program a week ago. Then, grinning with delight, she told me.
She had recently taken her toddler for a routine doctor's visit. "And you know what the doctor said? He said, 'You've been talking to this baby, haven't you?' "
It was my pleasure and my honor to be able to meet Mr. Raspberry at a fundraiser for our community intervention agency and to subsequently correspond with him over the course of time. I shared this metaphor with him that he asked to use. I don't know if he ever did.
Quote:
There is a man with shackles on his arms and legs. But they are unlocked. But he has shackles on. But they aren't locked. Why does he have shackles on when they are not fastened?
I share this image with my students as well. They understand that sometimes the shackles provide an excuse for not moving forward and taking responsibility for your own life. I try to motivate my students to take the shackles off their minds so that they can be free. Unfortunately, for some people, life without shackles is too--scary, hard, unpredictable, whatever.
In my opinion, those unlocked shackles provide a lot of insight into why Mississippi's problems are so intractable.
Remember though, the failure of the child is the teacher's fault. That's what our state leaders are saying now that they are pushing new teacher accountability standards. I suppose it shouldn't matter whether or not they actually go to school.
Yeah and watch as state of MS finds itself in a teacher shortage as teachers realize that the odds are stacked against them teaching at risk children with a system set up to punish teachers for things that are out of their control.
Very true, and also, New Jersey has a better history of investing in education as a state, compared to Mississippi. The rich invest in private schools rather than public schools, at least in Mississippi.
The top private schools in Mississippi look like junior college campuses, and they charge much more. The mid-range schools aren't so demanding academically, but they do a decent job of getting their students ready for the state universities while providing the academic and social activities that are so important in our state. In areas where the middle class puts their kids in public schools, the quality of education is just fine, and on a par with other areas of the country. My hometown has the distinction of having one of the best schools in the state. Our top students regularly attend Ivy League schools and have for generations. (It was good enough for the last five generations of my family to produce four doctors and a rocket scientist! )
The strange thing to me is that so many kids from my town choose to go the the school where I teach instead, because the standards are so different. A student who can only hope to make C's in the town school would be in the top 10 at the school where I teach. In fact, many of our top 10 students come there with the express purpose of being the valedictorian of an undemanding school in order to get scholarships. I find that to be very troubling, and I warn the students that they will not get the preparation that they need to be as successful as they could have been had they taken a more demanding high school curriculum. Unfortunately, many of them come back their freshman year of college to tell me that I was right. At the very least, I help them prepare for the competition that they will face when they are finally sitting next to the students from those top schools. And fortunately, many of them do have the tenacity to stick it out and make it in the end. That's when I know I've done my job.
Yeah and watch as state of MS finds itself in a teacher shortage as teachers realize that the odds are stacked against them teaching at risk children with a system set up to punish teachers for things that are out of their control.
We already have a teacher shortage, which seems to be effectively ignored by the state leaders. In fact, I was quoted in today's paper with the same question I keep asking here:
Where is the plan to attract teachers who will exceed the ability of the ones we have now who are so incompetent?
The state wants missionaries instead of professionals, and unfortunately, there aren't enough of them to staff all the positions in the state. I'm one, but even I have my limits. After 27 years, I don't ever see breaking $50K/year, so I'm looking into my original plans to make some money. I don't expect the district to be able to find anyone who can fill my shoes. My position, yes, but not my shoes.
Yeah and watch as state of MS finds itself in a teacher shortage as teachers realize that the odds are stacked against them teaching at risk children with a system set up to punish teachers for things that are out of their control.
Exactly. What teacher would want to go to an inner city school anywhere knowing they will be faulted if the kids fail ?
And Race to the Top holds teachers responsible for failures.
Mississippi has a higher rate of poverty in general than the other states. One big part of the problem is substandard health care. The rural nature of the state makes it difficult and doctors don't want to practice in the rural counties.
Here is an interesting article about health care and learning from Iran.
How does lack of health care lead to higher levels of poverty?
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