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I thought you said children are naturally interested in learning.
1. How do we define better teachers? Are you in support of getting rid of unions?
2. Access to what technology? Which technology does the poor schools have no access to?
3. Smaller classes won’t help if the students aren’t there.
There is nothing that I have said that refutes my contention that children are naturally interested in learning. As far as your other questions, do you own research and post what you found in regards to those issues I'll be right here waiting.
This is what I have been saying, but it seems to be ignored by some. NJ has been doing the same experiment for the past 30 years, not just in one school district, but in 31 school districts. Money doesn’t work. It’s time for a new and different approach.
This is what I have been saying, but it seems to be ignored by some. NJ has been doing the same experiment for the past 30 years, not just in one school district, but in 31 school districts. Money doesn’t work. It’s time for a new and different approach.
Which part of “they want more of your money “ do you not understand? :-)
I went to a public school, and I was one of the top students in my class, so I thought I was all that and a bag of chips. But then I realized one thing all the top students had in common: we all came from upper-middle class families. We could afford tutors, test prep, laptops, college-level classes, and healthy meals, all without ever having to work a part-time job. We weren’t inherently smarter or morally superior; we only succeeded because we were given the financial opportunity to do so.
Every child should have the chance to build a happy, healthy life for themselves, and sadly that isn’t the case.
I went to a public school, and I was one of the top students in my class, so I thought I was all that and a bag of chips. But then I realized one thing all the top students had in common: we all came from upper-middle class families. We could afford tutors, test prep, laptops, college-level classes, and healthy meals, all without ever having to work a part-time job. We weren’t inherently smarter or morally superior; we only succeeded because we were given the financial opportunity to do so.
Every child should have the chance to build a happy, healthy life for themselves, and sadly that isn’t the case.
Every child does deserve that but you are correct sadly its not the case.
You can give every child a good teacher, good books, top technology, a hot meal, extra curricular activities BUT if they go home to an abusive situation, absent parents, gang ridden neighborhoods, or no home at all than all of that at school is not going to matter. Happiness starts at home. Yes, a few kids will overcome, beat the odds and become successful but unfortunately those kids are not the norm. Most kids will follow in the footsteps they were born into.
I went to a public school, and I was one of the top students in my class, so I thought I was all that and a bag of chips. But then I realized one thing all the top students had in common: we all came from upper-middle class families. We could afford tutors, test prep, laptops, college-level classes, and healthy meals, all without ever having to work a part-time job. We weren’t inherently smarter or morally superior; we only succeeded because we were given the financial opportunity to do so.
Every child should have the chance to build a happy, healthy life for themselves, and sadly that isn’t the case.
Every child should have but that depends on their parents.
Every child does deserve that but you are correct sadly its not the case.
You can give every child a good teacher, good books, top technology, a hot meal, extra curricular activities BUT if they go home to an abusive situation, absent parents, gang ridden neighborhoods, or no home at all than all of that at school is not going to matter. Happiness starts at home. Yes, a few kids will overcome, beat the odds and become successful but unfortunately those kids are not the norm. Most kids will follow in the footsteps they were born into.
Unless the state takes over the responsibility of child care and raising children, every child only deserves what their parents can provide.
I went to a public school, and I was one of the top students in my class, so I thought I was all that and a bag of chips. But then I realized one thing all the top students had in common: we all came from upper-middle class families. We could afford tutors, test prep, laptops, college-level classes, and healthy meals, all without ever having to work a part-time job. We weren’t inherently smarter or morally superior; we only succeeded because we were given the financial opportunity to do so.
Every child should have the chance to build a happy, healthy life for themselves, and sadly that isn’t the case.
Ridiculous! So you were smart because of economics? My husband came from nothing- lousy alcoholic parenting, poor, many disadvantages. He decided he didn’t want to be like them, and worked his tail off in high school, graduating third with a full ride to college.
Money does not solve these problems! Bleeding heart liberals think if you throw people money, it will “fix” them.
I worked for years in a school district where this theory was put in to practice. The “disadvantaged” kids ruined our school. They caused teachers to quit and district parents pulled their children out and in to private schools.
It’s mostly a parenting problem, or lack there of- as well as generational and culture acceptance. Blaming others is easy.
Last edited by Sharpydove; 11-14-2017 at 02:45 PM..
I don't care if you don't buy it, the alternative to not educating kids is a lifetime of poverty or incarceration. California spends a little under 10k a year per student on public education, it costs $75,000 to keep an inmate in a state prison for one year. The correlation between literacy and incarceration is irrefutable: "Dropouts are 3.5 times more likely to be arrested than high school graduates. Nationally, 68 percent of all males in prison do not have a high school diploma. Only 20 percent of California inmates demonstrate a basic level of literacy, and the average offender reads at an eighth grade level"
Schools are more critical for kids with lousy parents than for other children, it's their only possible way to escape the vicious cycle that their parents are probably trapped in.
I'm not touting California's education system since it leaves much to be desired, but one thing they do right is to direct troubled high school kids into alternative schools. These usually have very small classes and have unique approaches to the way they teach these kids. I have a friend who taught math at one and he had a really tough time with kids falling asleep or just zoning out until he realized that the kids could actually do math, they just didn't realize they could, so he framed his teaching in the context of sports scores, i.e. batting averages. All the kids in his class tested at grade level at the end of the year. This is a video for a new "unschool" in Sacramento County, it isn't just for troubled kids but for any high school kid who wants a different kind of learning experience which is built around their individual passions: https://www.sanjuan.edu/domain/7783
Personally I think it's a tragedy to write off any child.
You're not reading what I'm saying.
I'm not saying we should just leave those kids like that.
Just because the situation needs fixing doesn't mean you do any random thing. Their lack of motivation comes from their parents, not the lack of money at their school. Poverty and the lack of motivation cannot be fixed by us throwing money at them. We need to fix the parents.
Every child does deserve that but you are correct sadly its not the case.
You can give every child a good teacher, good books, top technology, a hot meal, extra curricular activities BUT if they go home to an abusive situation, absent parents, gang ridden neighborhoods, or no home at all than all of that at school is not going to matter. Happiness starts at home. Yes, a few kids will overcome, beat the odds and become successful but unfortunately those kids are not the norm. Most kids will follow in the footsteps they were born into.
But we haven't given every child a good teacher, good books, and top technology. And extra curricular activities cost money that many parents have to spend on housing, food, and clothing. Just in our district, we have over 200 teacher vacancies nearly four months into the school year. I have no working technology in my classroom and am struggling to use a projector that is displaying almost more speckles than pixels. I've had to write my own curriculum materials because those provided by the district are over ten years old and insufficient to teach up to my standards. Our school has two copiers for the entire staff, but when it runs out of toner, it's SOL time for teachers.
Most students will follow in the footsteps they were born into because they don't know any better. But a few, like Sharpydove's husband will have an epiphany and reject the only life they know for a path out of despair. If he had been in a school that could not have prepared him for that full-ride scholarship, I imagine that his outcome may have been very different.
I have a student whose mother struggles to provide for her children. She often doesn't have enough food at home for her and her younger sister to get through a week-end. Last year there was one week-end where the two girls had to share one packet of ramen noodles for both days. I advised her to stock up on food in the cafeteria during the week in order to have more food available at home. She is a smart girl, but she will end up having to work to support her mother rather than being able to continue in her extra curricular activities. It's just a matter of time. That is just one story among many.
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