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why should we intergarate...are not the schools set up in districts....why should my kid get on a bus for an hour to go to a school 4 miles away, when I live one block from a school
In case you didn't read the article, some of the best schools in the district are in the poorest neighborhoods in the city. What's more important for your child...education or convenience??
in our school system they did away with autoshop, metal shop and wood shop (aka industrail arts), becuase the admin felt it was "beneath" the students to even think about blue collar work..plus those electives are expensive
Not surprised, and yeah, that is another idiotic idea come courtesy of our know it all educational "experts" and federal bureaucrats and politicians. To wit, the condecending and supercilious outlook that every kid needs to go to college to be successful and that there is something demeaning about a blue-collar job.
The gleeful irony in all this is that most of these who pontificate on it and look down on a working class person, wouldn't know which end of the jack is up if they have a flat tire that needs changed and repaired. Or have a pipe that bursts in the middle of a cold winter night and needs to be fixed. Guess what, Mr. Phd...whose gonna come fix it for you? They don't want to pay $90 an hour to do the job? Well, learn to do it yourself.
Anyway, the world needs both those who can design central air units and those who can repair them. And some kids are more attracted to a working life than a professional one. Encourge them rather than discourage them, I say.
Actually, Parents much like their children, will automatically gravitate towards those people they feel comfortable around. It has nothing about practicing social diversity, it's about comfort levels.
You seem to be trying to refute my point, but the reality is that your comment supports it.
I stated that many adults preach social and racial diversity but don't practice it themselves.
You are correct that they are uncomfortable with it -- they are uncomfortable due to bias and bigotry.
If the adults practice diversity, the children will learn it.
There's obviously some controversy about this but in some ways it makes sense: blacks might actually achieve more or become better students if they went to a mostly black school and were educated by black teachers. The peer pressure about "acting white" would be eliminated.
Force integration in the 50s destroyed a lot of black communities and the burden was put on the black kids who had to travel miles away to go to a white school that was hostile to them.
I don't think it's a coincidence that urban blacks' disdain for education happened right after forced school integration and the Civil Rights Era.
We have black colleges. So why would it be wrong to have black high schools? A black school does not necessarily make it inferior to a white school or an integrated school.
There's obviously some controversy about this but in some ways it makes sense: blacks might actually achieve more or become better students if they went to a mostly black school and were educated by black teachers. The peer pressure about "acting white" would be eliminated.
Force integration in the 50s destroyed a lot of black communities and the burden was put on the black kids who had to travel miles away to go to a white school that was hostile to them.
I don't think it's a coincidence that urban blacks' disdain for education happened right after forced school integration and the Civil Rights Era.
We have black colleges. So why would it be wrong to have black high schools? A black school does not necessarily make it inferior to a white school or an integrated school.
Good afternoon,
Maybe you and the author right, yet if this theory is true, how do we reconcile the fact that many poor Blacks already attend majority Black schools with majority Black teachers, administrators and support staff, yet the "acting white" phrase is still being thrown around and intelligent Black students are given hell by their peers?
I still believe the way to solve these problems is to remove discipline problems immediately, test and group kids with similar academic abilities together, so the smart kids can reach higher without the unmotivated kids giving them problems. Maybe having a teacher from the same background can help, but I think a good teacher from any background can get the job done if he/she works hard to relate.
I like that you mentioned HBCU's, and I think some of the poor Black students need to be taken to these colleges early in life so they can see older students who are interested in education. I would even advocate partnerships with local schools to bring college age mentors into the classroom who can tell these kids why going to college is important. Many times kids are more receptive if advice is coming from an older peer that seems "cool" instead of a grownup teacher/counselor, etc.
We also need to take a comprehensive approach to education that covers these kids' life needs and challenges instead of trying to only trying to teach them. Their lives aren't all similar kids with involved parents and less damaging personal lives, so expecting the ones with life challenges to perform at the same level is quite weird. Those things get undone when they go home and many have to worry about abuse, neglect and other negative issues outside school that raise barriers to learning while they are in the classroom or doing homework/studying afterward. A few good models are Geoffrey Canada's work in the Harlem Children's Zone in NYC or Urban Prep's work on the Southside of Chicago.
In case you didn't read the article, some of the best schools in the district are in the poorest neighborhoods in the city. What's more important for your child...education or convenience??
the point is the schools HAVE MAPPED AREAS
where I live today, one side of the street goes to one school and the other side of the street goes to another school....both are about 9/10ths of a mile away, so distance isnt the issue there..one scholl is a little bettter than the other..yet the FACT IS I LIVE IN THE ARES for this school, rather thatn that school...
that is the point
it has nothing to do with color, or even money....some schools do better than others..but the real question is where did you CHOOSE to live (and the ratings change yearly anyhow)
if the 'best' school way al the way across town, and the 'worst' school was across the street, then my kids goes to the worst one.. but bet you bottom dollar, I will be at that school everyday to ENSURE that my child gets a proper education
many of the 'worse' schools are that way because PARENTS DONT CARE, and TEACHERS CANT TEACH STUDENTS THAT DONT WANT TO LEARN
where I live today, one side of the street goes to one school and the other side of the street goes to another school....both are about 9/10ths of a mile away, so distance isnt the issue there..one scholl is a little bettter than the other..yet the FACT IS I LIVE IN THE ARES for this school, rather thatn that school...
that is the point
it has nothing to do with color, or even money....some schools do better than others..but the real question is where did you CHOOSE to live (and the ratings change yearly anyhow)
if the 'best' school way al the way across town, and the 'worst' school was across the street, then my kids goes to the worst one.. but bet you bottom dollar, I will be at that school everyday to ENSURE that my child gets a proper education
many of the 'worse' schools are that way because PARENTS DONT CARE, and TEACHERS CANT TEACH STUDENTS THAT DONT WANT TO LEARN
I fully understand what you are saying here. I understand school / neighborhood boundaries, etc. You live in this area, you attend this school. That was the standard policy where I grew up. However, I attended a high school outside of my local high school boundary because it was believed that the local high school offered an inferior education. That turned out not to be the case, but that school did have other problems. My parents made what they thought was the best choice at the time.
I also know that some school districts have programs whereby you can live within the designated attendance area for a particular school and petition the school district to attend another school within the school district but outside of the designated boundaries of the local neighborhood school. This is voluntary.
There are many reasons that bad schools are bad. It's not only the undisciplined students that are the problem. It's also parents that don't particiapte in the kids' education for a variety of reasons and excuses...substance abuse (reason), laziness (excuse), working two or three full and part time jobs (reason) leaving no time to address the child's education, just not caring (excuse), and on and on.
It's also teachers who don't give a damn about the kids or the job. They're just there to draw a check, nothing more. I had my fair share of those while going through school. On the other hand, there are still some teachers who care what happens to the kids and go out of their way to see to it that these kids get what they need. Sometimes it may be a little extra attention with assignments, paying attention to the fact that some kids come to school hungry or sleepy, indicative of some kind of problem at home, or being a surrogate parent in that this may be the only adult in the kid's life that shows that kid any kind of meaningful attention and encouragement. Lack of sufficient quality and quantities of books, lab equipment, and other educational materials are also part of the problem.
In some cities with very large school districts such as Los Angeles or Chicago, the money allocated to schools is not always allocated equitably, and what money is allocated may be needed toward maintenance and repairs as opposed to being used for books and other learning materials. Yes, I know that part of the Federal dollars equation is the number of students attending the schools, but that's just part of it.
I say all that to say that no caring parent wants his or her child to receive a substandard education. That's one reason that a lot of parents don't have a problem with their children being bussed to a better school. There is nothing wrong with fighting to improve the local neighborhood schools. You are correct in that parents have to play a vital role in putting pressure on the school principal and school district to improve a bad school. My mother did it when the local elementary school went to hell on a handbasket. She didn't have any kids in that school (we were all grown) but she fought for the ones who were there. I've seen several local schools go from very good to absolute garbage over the course of several years for all the reasons (and more) that I listed above.
If it means that my kid has to be bussed across town to a better school because there is no fixing the local school, so be it. That is a smaller price to pay on a temporary basis than the cost of an inferior education, which will cost you for a lifetime.
Thank you for the response. I understand your frustration with the major cities effectively controlling the rest of the state. That is why I am for as much local control as possible, but it has to start at getting the federal government out of the equation and giving power back to the states. At that point we can advocate for more county/local control.
I have a question, how do these U.S. Congressmen and Senators (federal) you listed have any affect on state education? Is it because they direct federal education dollars to the state and insist on the funds being handled in a specific way? You lost me there since I figured the Governor of California and the California Assembly would have more of an effect on the state's education than Boxer, Pelosi, Feinstein, Waters, etc.
My reference was to the line of thinking that is propelling California off a cliff. It was less pointing out finite reasons of how, but the whys. Like I said it is a socialist mentallity that is governing our state, whether anyone wants to admit it or not. We had a real shot at changing the status quo with the trigger laws and reforming education in our state. The first thing Brown did was dismantle those efforts.
I have an aunt who is a tenured teacher in La Puente which isn't exactly a high income area of Los Angeles. She complains thatshe might have 30 kids in her classes now. Funny thing is that when I was in K-12 there were never less than 30 kids in each class. I do know full well how hard she works. I'd also point out that she moved from being a liberal democrat to a conservative independent in the last 2 years. I'll give it some time and then ask how she's being affected by Browns moves.
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