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This thread just illustrates the inequity in our society. We seem to expect that "disadvantaged" kids should be magically motivated to overcome despite tons of obstacles to success. While average students can languish in mediocrity and still expect a reasonable chance at success, despite their lack of drive and motivation because their schools and lifestyles left them better equipped.
You are only as good as your weakest link, and right now we are pretending those links do not exist.
What is sad --- the liberals are making it much worse.
In Texas it's "not fair" that the immigrant children have high drop out rates and low high school graduation rates. Apparently too much math is a barrier to them graduating --- so the solution? Drop math.
That Texas would follow California’s lead in lowering its K-12 requirements is a sign of the times. In 2006, Texas led the nation in approving tough graduation standards. But in the past two years, the federal government has increasingly pushed states to be on the same page when it comes to education.
What is sad --- the liberals are making it much worse.
In Texas it's "not fair" that the immigrant children have high drop out rates and low high school graduation rates. Apparently too much math is a barrier to them graduating --- so the solution? Drop math.
That Texas would follow California’s lead in lowering its K-12 requirements is a sign of the times. In 2006, Texas led the nation in approving tough graduation standards. But in the past two years, the federal government has increasingly pushed states to be on the same page when it comes to education.
Only 2 people voted against that bill. 147 voted for it. The bill had 5 sponsors, 3 of which were Republicans.
This thread just illustrates the inequity in our society. We seem to expect that "disadvantaged" kids should be magically motivated to overcome despite tons of obstacles to success. While average students can languish in mediocrity and still expect a reasonable chance at success, despite their lack of drive and motivation because their schools and lifestyles left them better equipped.
You are only as good as your weakest link, and right now we are pretending those links do not exist.
On an autocorrecting iDevice.
Uh; please tell THAT "disadvantaged kids" thing to dirt poor Asians and even Black Somalis who come here legally but THEIR kids are more likely to do Ok than many "minority" American kids.
Uh; please tell THAT "disadvantaged kids" thing to dirt poor Asians and even Black Somalis who come here legally but THEIR kids are more likely to do Ok than many "minority" American kids.
Different kids have different challenges. Those same schools that the poor Asians/Somalis/whoevers are going to funnel their efforts into ESL vs other topics leaving the natives to fend for themselves.
There aren't that many poor Asians or Somalis coming here. Most immigrants are coming from well educated and middle to upper middle class families.
I'll share this story someone posted on Facebook for me.
This kid was the best student in his class and had a very good GPA. Being the best at his school did not adequately prepare him for the rigors of Berkeley, even though he met the state qualifications to get in. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...3807.htmlstory
Now if the best kid in school is struggling to write a college essay, what does that tell you about the rest?
Sounds like THAT person has failed to apply themselves......sounds like the PARENTS do not really give a **** about their kids education. If that student wants to be a doctor....wow, I hope she does not succeed!
Enough with the BS guilt-trip.....some kids don't care about a formal education.....they can be janitors or fast-food workers.
If it was a problem of parental failure or a lack of application, the student would have failed the classes. That didn't happen. The material was never taught, or struggling students were just passed through.
This thread just illustrates the inequity in our society. We seem to expect that "disadvantaged" kids should be magically motivated to overcome despite tons of obstacles to success. While average students can languish in mediocrity and still expect a reasonable chance at success, despite their lack of drive and motivation because their schools and lifestyles left them better equipped.
You are only as good as your weakest link, and right now we are pretending those links do not exist.
On an autocorrecting iDevice.
So its not a inequity that those who make it have to pay and suffer for the choice and actions for those who dont make the right choices?
If it was a problem of parental failure or a lack of application, the student would have failed the classes. That didn't happen. The material was never taught, or struggling students were just passed through.
how fault is that? maybe a charter school would be better.
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.
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.
"Sorry, Charlie", I do not live in whatever state this kid lives in, and I refuse to accept any responsibility for the failed education she has received. It is up to HER to succeed. It is up to HER PARENTS to motivate her towards success. While it may be true that "It takes a village to raise a child!" (but I have my doubts), it certainly is NOT true, IMO, that it takes an entire city or a state or a country!
A senior in high school who has never taken any solid academic courses, but instead took the easy courses to get enough credits to graduate? No, her choices of what to take in school were HER choices, not mine! If she is not prepared, look no further than what SHE chose to do with her time in school!
Save your guilt trip. I won't buy into it!
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