Possible solution to PG County schools: Segregate schools based on income

[pgtvatitans]

Originally Posted by boreatwork

The school situation in Prince George's County isn't the best, but its not that serious. I went to college too! The same kids from EVERYWHERE ELSE, USA are no better than the kids from PG. They have the same dumbfounded look as everyone else when the professor asks a question. My white college professor from Tennessee said its funny how the PG kids sit together. The only reason he noticed that is because he was only getting dialogue from the PG kids. Life goes on

It is that serious though. We are at the bottom of the state now. Although we have many who are doing well and going to college, we have many who aren't. That's a real problem. We can't run away from that. Just have a select few that succeed is not what you want as a school system. Your goal should be to have all the kids succeed, but of course we know that is not realistic for any school system.

I think the only way school can be divided is if you invest in more resources for those low-income schools. It is very different teaching low income kids compared to middle class or higher kids. These kids from poor homes often have a lot of social issues that prevent them from being successful. How do you expect kids to succeed if they haven't ate a meal since lunch yesterday? It's that real sometime. If the school system doesn't make the effort to provide the resources and personnel (people specifically trained to deal with kids in these backgrounds) then it won't matter. The school system should be doing a better job putting people in better positions to help these kids out but unfortunately we have people running the school system that are very disconnected from the issues going on in these schools.

[EdwardA]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

It's called private school.

Why should folks pay property taxes and be forced to pay for private schools? Then the question has to be asked what is the purpose of government?

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by meatkins

I think the only way school can be divided is if you invest in more resources for those low-income schools. It is very different teaching low income kids compared to middle class or higher kids. These kids from poor homes often have a lot of social issues that prevent them from being successful. How do you expect kids to succeed if they haven't ate a meal since lunch yesterday? It's that real sometime. If the school system doesn't make the effort to provide the resources and personnel (people specifically trained to deal with kids in these backgrounds) then it won't matter. The school system should be doing a better job putting people in better positions to help these kids out but unfortunately we have people running the school system that are very disconnected from the issues going on in these schools.

I think it's too much to expect from school. Their main focus/intention is to educate kids for a small handful of hours a day in basic subjects, and that's basically it.

To have someone provide all the other, you'd need two teachers per kid - i.e. functioning 'parents'.

Schools required to take on all the social issues, behavior problems, pyschological problems and everything else...it's just another thing altogether. I don't know what it would be called, but shouldn't be under the umbrella of 'school'.

That being said, I think what you say is true, that it's needed. But, perhaps some other type of institution could supply that. Maybe churches, community groups, who knows...

[pgtvatitans]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I think it's too much to expect from school. Their main focus/intention is to educate kids for a small handful of hours a day in basic subjects, and that's basically it.

To have someone provide all the other, you'd need two teachers per kid - i.e. functioning 'parents'.

Schools required to take on all the social issues, behavior problems, pyschological problems and everything else...it's just another thing altogether. I don't know what it would be called, but shouldn't be under the umbrella of 'school'.

That being said, I think what you say is true, that it's needed. But, perhaps some other type of institution could supply that. Maybe churches, community groups, who knows...

Well that's where parents would really help. If there were more active parent involvement, it would make a difference. Unfortunately the county cut the parent liaison positions which I think were really helpful to those teachers and also provided a connect to the parents in the community. It's a very broken system.