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So today was my first day mentoring an inner city minority student (12th grade) in lab in order to get her working on some real science that she's never had the opportunity to have access to in her life. Let's go over the checklist in educational background for someone entering the 12th grade in this program:
Have you ever taken chemistry? No
Have you ever taken physics? No
Have you ever taken biology? A little bit
--So what does DNA do? I have no idea
Do you know algebra? No
Ok how let's start off easy,
How many micro- and milli- liters are in a liter? No clue
How many milli- grams are in a gram? What does 500 milligrams look like in numbers on a scale that reads in grams?
If you divide 10^6 by 10^3 what number do you have left over? How about 10^-3 divided by 10^-6?
Shocking America. Wake up. You've failed your underprivileged youth. This 12th grader stands no chance, the buck was simply passed along to someone else while she was allowed to pass all the way into 12th grade when her math skills are borderline 3rd/4th grade level. How does anyone who has never studied basic physics/chemistry and doesn't even know what DNA does stand a chance at getting into college when her dreams are to become a doctor? At some point, we need to wake up and say the failure ends right now. For all of the whining about how minorities in underprivileged areas are leeches on tax payer dollar handouts, you'd think people would want to break the cycle of failure that leads to it in the first place. It's not this girl's fault every single adult in her life up until now has completely failed her in an epic fashion. And you wonder why so many people get caught in the cycle of failure that drains inner city youth? Look in the mirror. Everyone is responsible for this failure that leads to the same cycle all over again of poverty and crime. Fail America.
that is why Ted kennedy wrote "No Child Left behind", because we need to have a STANDARD that everyone goes by...no more promoting a kid, just to be with their peers....meet the standard or be held back
that is why Ted kennedy wrote "No Child Left behind", because we need to have a STANDARD that everyone goes by...no more promoting a kid, just to be with their peers....meet the standard or be held back
It'll never happen. GWB's and Ted Kennedy's No Child Left Behind set standards that the black community hates. Vying to soon replace NCLB is the Common Core Initiative - Common Core State Standards Initiative | Home
We'll be having this same depressing discussion in another 10 years.
Where does this wacko idea come from that the "black community" as if we are a monolith doesn't care about education.
Probably too much media influence.
The fastest growing group of college enrollees is black women.
I think most of us agree the education system is broken. I live in one of the wealthiest areas of the country a d our schools on the whole really aren't that great considering how much money we ha e access to.
We have lots of structural problems that need to be addressed from out approaches to learning, materials, and institutional discrimination.
But most of all we need the will to prioritize and fix it. If we don't believe that all American children should have a good education, we will keep falling behind globally.
So today was my first day mentoring an inner city minority student (12th grade) in lab in order to get her working on some real science that she's never had the opportunity to have access to in her life. Let's go over the checklist in educational background for someone entering the 12th grade in this program:
Have you ever taken chemistry? No
Have you ever taken physics? No
Have you ever taken biology? A little bit
--So what does DNA do? I have no idea
Do you know algebra? No
Ok how let's start off easy,
How many micro- and milli- liters are in a liter? No clue
How many milli- grams are in a gram? What does 500 milligrams look like in numbers on a scale that reads in grams?
If you divide 10^6 by 10^3 what number do you have left over? How about 10^-3 divided by 10^-6?
Shocking America. Wake up. You've failed your underprivileged youth. This 12th grader stands no chance, the buck was simply passed along to someone else while she was allowed to pass all the way into 12th grade when her math skills are borderline 3rd/4th grade level. How does anyone who has never studied basic physics/chemistry and doesn't even know what DNA does stand a chance at getting into college when her dreams are to become a doctor? At some point, we need to wake up and say the failure ends right now. For all of the whining about how minorities in underprivileged areas are leeches on tax payer dollar handouts, you'd think people would want to break the cycle of failure that leads to it in the first place. It's not this girl's fault every single adult in her life up until now has completely failed her in an epic fashion. And you wonder why so many people get caught in the cycle of failure that drains inner city youth? Look in the mirror. Everyone is responsible for this failure that leads to the same cycle all over again of poverty and crime. Fail America.
You need to be mathematically gifted to be able to divide by 10, 100, and 1000? I bet a carpenter should at least know basic geometry or how to do quick division... Not everyone will be a scientist or engineer, but a plumber, carpenter, machinist, and electrician should all have basic algebra and math skills. I know for a fact that my friend who is a machinist must be able to do division and work with decimals/fractions with high accuracy.
Other countries are laughing at us. Their kids are routinely taking differential equations and linear algebra in high school while our system is producing kids that can barely do division in the same grade.
The child (12 grade!) you are working with should probably be in 7th grade. Not taking chemistry is not so much a crime, but not knowing what DNA is or unable to do algebra is a big problem. This girl probably should never have been promoted from grade to grade. If she were a gifted athlete it would be a stereotypical story of a great basketball player who can't read or write.
Who advocates this? Educators and politicians preoccupied with a child's self-image instead of results. I hate to make this a left/right issue, but it usually the left, driven by race politics, that tolerates failure.
You have said nothing about her home life. What are her parents like?
As for blaming this on America - my first responsibility is to raise my children to adulthood equipped to have a reasonable chance for success in whatever they choose to do. It is ridiculous to include me (and other people like me) in your list of people who have failed to educate this girl.
Start with her parents. Not parents of other kids.
Given the proper culture towards learning and enough time, you can get this inner city child up to speed.
Exactly. What we aren't even talking about here is that some teachers tag students as unteachable at an early age and stop teaching them altogether. So they never have the chance to stay in track as they have been falsely labeled as problem kids.
There is a ton of evidence that Latino and black kids are punished more harshly and suspended more frequently than their white peers for the same offensives. And behavior issues are consistent across the groups, but punishments vary widely.
My wife is Philipino/Chinese who went to Chinese private schools when she was young. I am blessed to have the mother of my children coming from a culture that values education. We have an 8 and 9 YO. The 9 YO is in advanced classes probably the smartest child in her school. The 8 YO is very smart but he is a boy and unfortunately has his fathers attention span. When he came home with a note saying his reading comprehension was a little sketchy (something we were aware of) we went into fully blown tutor mode, the entire family. Reading for comp every night on top of homework and the reading we already do. Dig up 9 YOs reading assignements from the previous year and drilled him with the same stories and questions. Looked for things he enjoyed reading and made sure it was readily available and encouraged him to read for fun. Pushed him to work at school in a reading program designed to focus on comprehension. They read a short book and answer questions on the computer. We worked him through several levels that became more difficult as you moved up
Not only did his reading improve but he also sees how much of a priority that his parents put on education and understands that nothing short of hard work and success is acceptable.
I dont trust the public schools but im willing to work with them to make sure my children get a top notch education. When we recieved that note from the teacher it was a full court press to make sure there is no doubt that he is not only keeping up but is excelling in his school work. By the end of 2nd grade his reading comprehension had recovered and he is ahead of where he should be in reading and math.
I feel like we do the minimum, anyone who does less is failing their children, not the schools, or the system or any of the other excuses. Anyone who leaves their childs education in the hands of someone else deserves what they get
And you wonder why so many people get caught in the cycle of failure that drains inner city youth? Look in the mirror. Everyone is responsible for this failure that leads to the same cycle all over again of poverty and crime. Fail America.
Nice grandstanding but no cigar.
I'm not responsible for the failures of inner city youth and their messed up families. I live way out in the doondocks and have my own set of problems to deal with. Everything starts with the family. They are the ones who get the Failing grade. Fail Inner City Families. They view schools as nothing more than free babysitting. The culture needs to be changed from within.
Liberal white teachers who mean well but are clueless about urban culture are the last thing these poor kids need to be lectured by.
So today was my first day mentoring an inner city minority student (12th grade) in lab in order to get her working on some real science that she's never had the opportunity to have access to in her life. Let's go over the checklist in educational background for someone entering the 12th grade in this program:
Have you ever taken chemistry? No
Have you ever taken physics? No
Have you ever taken biology? A little bit
--So what does DNA do? I have no idea
Do you know algebra? No
Ok how let's start off easy,
How many micro- and milli- liters are in a liter? No clue
How many milli- grams are in a gram? What does 500 milligrams look like in numbers on a scale that reads in grams?
If you divide 10^6 by 10^3 what number do you have left over? How about 10^-3 divided by 10^-6?
Shocking America. Wake up. You've failed your underprivileged youth. This 12th grader stands no chance, the buck was simply passed along to someone else while she was allowed to pass all the way into 12th grade when her math skills are borderline 3rd/4th grade level. How does anyone who has never studied basic physics/chemistry and doesn't even know what DNA does stand a chance at getting into college when her dreams are to become a doctor? Fail America.
Ok I am going to chime in on this, since alot of folks are saying this kid is going to end up on welfare.
That list of questions you have listed there, I can only answer yes to two of those questions. (the DNA one, and Do you know algebra, yes with a calculator or with use of paper)
I am on the borderline of Gen X and Gen Y category and I went to a suburban school and Im a college graduate and a productive member of society . So it is not impossible.
When I look back on it now. Most American school sucks except the ones in well to do areas as they have more resources and Most schools have water down curriculums and if you are a inner city kid you are totally screwed and the odds are not in their favor for a productive learning environment. Now that I think back I did not learn much from it at all and it was not challenging at all. I learned more in college than I did during my entire 9-12 years in the public school system .
Where the blame lies school system/gov't /teachers and parents. I am not surprised one bit . All schools in the America public school system are not created equal. I heard in some areas of Detroit some of the kids are not even getting books in the inner city schools and teachers are not showing up to teach these students leaving them in empty classrooms or giving them mediocre assignments in the high schools.
Last edited by tt0001; 06-26-2013 at 01:37 PM..
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I bet a carpenter should at least know basic geometry or how to do quick division... Not everyone will be a scientist or engineer, but a plumber, carpenter, machinist, and electrician should all have basic algebra and math skills. I know for a fact that my friend who is a machinist must be able to do division and work with decimals/fractions with high accuracy. 
(the DNA one, and Do you know algebra, yes with a calculator or with use of paper) 
. So it is not impossible.
