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There are enormous funding inequities for inner-city schools leading to a variety of factors that have an impact on students.
For instance there is a higher ratio of students to teacher, sometimes in excess of 35 + students for one teacher- not an ideal learning environment. Generally speaking, inner-city schools don't attract quality experienced teachers, but instead get rookie teachers who simply don't have the skills to manage the classroom or they get teachers who have been pushed out for one reason or another the choicer schools. Teachers who care but can't get a handle on how to teach in a chaotic environment, teachers who are burned out who just don't care anymore and are just putting in time, teachers who care and who try but can't get support from their principal, etc.
Other factors: children who come to school hungry have a hard time focusing on class when their stomach is empty and grumbling. Family factors- the lack of responsible adult guidance to provide a stable home and value in education, a disruptive family environment due to substance abuse, an impoverished environment that doesn't support learning, and last but not least parents who work 2-3 or more jobs to try to keep a roof over their head and food on the table who simply can't do as much with their children as they would like.
Add to all that, a bureaucracy that is broken, short-sighted administrators, districting drawn such that people living in inner-cities have almost no voice, and a complete lack of incentives to make things any better. It is easy to dismiss children in inner-cities as a product of their environment, but how is that productive or helpful?
If we value ALL of our children, we should care that many inner-city children aren't being given the education or tools to lift themselves out of poverty. Clearly some children are thankfully resilient enough to do so, but many aren't- there are just too many factors weighing against them.
You can rant all you want, but I haven't said a word about "icky" people, so leave me out of it.
I am sorry. That came out wrong when communicated on the internet. What I meant is, the general attitude of Joe/Josephine Public is that way towards people of "lower" socioeconomic class. Not You. I am sorry for how I communicated that to you.
Last edited by FlowerPower00; 11-30-2014 at 05:51 PM..
There are enormous funding inequities for inner-city schools leading to a variety of factors that have an impact on students.
For instance there is a higher ratio of students to teacher, sometimes in excess of 35 + students for one teacher- not an ideal learning environment. Generally speaking, inner-city schools don't attract quality experienced teachers, but instead get rookie teachers who simply don't have the skills to manage the classroom or they get teachers who have been pushed out for one reason or another the choicer schools. Teachers who care but can't get a handle on how to teach in a chaotic environment, teachers who are burned out who just don't care anymore and are just putting in time, teachers who care and who try but can't get support from their principal, etc.
Other factors: children who come to school hungry have a hard time focusing on class when their stomach is empty and grumbling. Family factors- the lack of responsible adult guidance to provide a stable home and value in education, a disruptive family environment due to substance abuse, an impoverished environment that doesn't support learning, and last but not least parents who work 2-3 or more jobs to try to keep a roof over their head and food on the table who simply can't do as much with their children as they would like.
Add to all that, a bureaucracy that is broken, short-sighted administrators, districting drawn such that people living in inner-cities have almost no voice, and a complete lack of incentives to make things any better. It is easy to dismiss children in inner-cities as a product of their environment, but how is that productive or helpful?
If we value ALL of our children, we should care that many inner-city children aren't being given the education or tools to lift themselves out of poverty. Clearly some children are thankfully resilient enough to do so, but many aren't- there are just too many factors weighing against them.
Paragraph 1: Please provide some documentation on your first statement. Per-pupil costs are generally higher in low-income schools, meaning in general class size is smaller. I have heard, anecdotally, that the more inexperienced teachers get placed in lower-income schools.
Paragraph 2: Many schools participate in the school breakfast program, in fact, I believe almost all large city schools do so. Free and reduced price breakfasts are available. School Breakfast Program (SBP) | Food and Nutrition Service
Lack of responsible adults is probably a big factor. I think the families where the parents are working 2-3 jobs are probably more responsible than others, though those parents may not be able to go to PTO meetings and such.
Para 3: Yeah, big school systems have a lot of bureaucracy, in fact most systems seem to suffer from that. I don't know how that problem can be solved; it seems to be ingrained.
Para 4: I don't think anyone on this thread has said they don't care about inner-city kids.
I will use a different tone, but I do feel the attitude on this thread is to blame poor people for their plight. Yeah, there are "icky" people living in inner cities, but there are icky people in white collar circles Michael Milken and Madoff. Who has done MORE harm to society? Inner city kids who grow up in gun fire or people who cause corruption and economic chaos?
No one is blaming poor people for their plight, but there are issues that come with children of poor people that you simply don't see as much in a more financially stable community. That is reality. No problem can be fixed if you refuse to be honest about it.
I have taught in inner city, high risk schools and I have taught in other schools. The problems are different and the students are much, much harder to educate. Period. It's not their fault but it is their reality. You can not fix the problems with the children in these communities until you do something about the adults who are not doing an adequate job of parenting in their homes. Some people are not equipped to parent. That does not make them a bad person, and many would be capable 7-10 years down the road, but ultimately their children are going to pay the price for their choices.
You can preach all you want about brain-storming and "we are all the same" but that isn't going to fix the problem. No matter how well meaning you are it will not change the fact that poor urban children start out school unable to compete with their middle class suburban peers.
It has NOTHING to do with "icky" people or white collar criminals - whose children I am sure did just fine academically.
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No matter how well meaning you are it will not change the fact that poor urban children start out school unable to compete with their middle class suburban peers.
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Which means, the system isn't working as it is. The system needs to be diverse and accommodate children from these backgrounds. The one size fits all isn't working for many kids. So what can be done?
Maybe stop using property tax to fund schools. Impose a tax on cigarettes, booze, and bars. Legalize marijuana and tax it, use the moneys from those taxes to fund schools.
Are there many reasonably funded community based programs readily available to the children in at risk families?
Which means, the system isn't working as it is. The system needs to be diverse and accommodate children from these backgrounds. The one size fits all isn't working for many kids. So what can be done?
Maybe stop using property tax to fund schools. Impose a tax on cigarettes, booze, and bars. Legalize marijuana and tax it, use the moneys from those taxes to fund schools.
Are there many reasonably funded community based programs readily available to the children in at risk families?
Money isn't going to fix it.
Lowering the out-of-wedlock birth rate and raising the age of first time pregnancy will help.
__________________
When I post in bold red that is moderator action and, per the TOS, can only be discussed through Direct Message.
Which means, the system isn't working as it is. The system needs to be diverse and accommodate children from these backgrounds. The one size fits all isn't working for many kids. So what can be done?
Maybe stop using property tax to fund schools. Impose a tax on cigarettes, booze, and bars. Legalize marijuana and tax it, use the moneys from those taxes to fund schools.
Are there many reasonably funded community based programs readily available to the children in at risk families?
I don't understand why you think there is inadequate property to be taxed in a city. There are plenty of taxes on cigarettes and booze now. Bars pay property tax, sales tax, liquor taxes and probably others. The marijuana tax wasn't the windfall the state of Colorado thought it would be. State sales and income taxes are also used for school funding in CO. It's not all local property tax based. Falling short: Colorado recreational pot revenues not as high as expected ? RT USA Public School Finance Division | CDE
Colorado public schools receive funding from a variety of sources. However, most revenues to Colorado's 178 school districts are provided through the Public School Finance Act of 1994 (as amended).
"In budget year 2014-15, this legislation provides for over $5.9 billion of funding to Colorado school districts via state taxes ($3.95 billion), local specific ownership (vehicle registration) taxes ($135.4 million), and local property taxes ($1.85 billion). Moneys provided via the Public School Finance Act of 1994 are available to each school district to fund the costs of providing public education."
- See more at: http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefinanc....qjxo8cEy.dpuf
Most cities have recreation programs; most of these have funds for low income kids. That's another area I was active in when my kids were younger. There are the "Big Brother/Sister" programs, all sorts of summer programs and the like.
It's good you have an interest in this issue, but do take the time to find out what's already being done before being so critical.
Paragraph 1: Please provide some documentation on your first statement. Per-pupil costs are generally higher in low-income schools, meaning in general class size is smaller.
There are usually a higher proportion of special education students in urban public schools. That means that while these schools may have more funding and more teachers, most of that extra funding and most of those additional teachers and specialists are working with only a subset of the enrollment. This is something that's often overlooked and very difficult to account for when simply looking at per pupil expenditures and "average" class sizes.
In a very simplified example, let's say you have 40 kids, 8 of which are special education, and two teachers each making $50,000. That means that while you have an "average" class size of 20, in reality you have one class of 32 and one class of 8. And while $2,500 is spent "per student" for teacher salaries, in reality the students in one class are seeing $1,562.50 per student for teacher salaries, while the other class is seeing $6,250 per student in teacher salaries.
While I'm certain, again, that 90% of the problems in urban schools are being brought in from home by the students, there definitely are some funding issues that despite decent steps taken by the Federal government and many states, is still an issue. If nothing else, the issues surrounding finances or the mandates required for special education needs to be addressed, because it's a huge challenge for urban and rural districts, where these students are overwhelmingly concentrated.
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