DC Public Schools Reform and Michelle Rhee

[lokahi]

As a former teacher, I can tell you that this is all good rhetoric, but when you have a child who comes to school covered in roach bites with lice that hasn't eaten in 3 days, things take a different turn. The kids in DC need help. They are good kids who have been dealt the hand of growing up in NE or SE DC. They didn't grow up in Georgetown or Chevy Chase. Their friends have died, their family members have died, they have seen all of this and they're only 8 years old.

Think about how you feel when you haven't eaten in a few days, or when you're recovering from a traumatic event. Do you feel like going to school? I agree that parents are key to a child's education, but we have so many grandparents or aunts / uncles raising kids in the District, and they need help, too.

Ruby Payne, PhD does a great lesson on children in poverty and how they learn differently from other children. If you're interested in learning more about it, here's her website: Welcome to aha! Process, Inc.

[tenken627]

Originally Posted by HomerBrink

On the first day DC schools opened, Monday August 25, Michelle Rhee was in Denver at the DNC blasting teachers unions and the meda. Yet, her sycophants in DC say she is all about "the kids". If she is so concerned about "the kids" why isn't she popping in and out of the schools this week checking on how things are going? Very insincere, IMO.

Wasn't Rhee with Mayor Fenty at a middle school in D.C. on Opening Day, August 25th?

She was at the DNC, but left before the start of school I think.

[Moth]

Originally Posted by lokahi

As a former teacher, I can tell you that this is all good rhetoric, but when you have a child who comes to school covered in roach bites with lice that hasn't eaten in 3 days, things take a different turn. The kids in DC need help. They are good kids who have been dealt the hand of growing up in NE or SE DC. They didn't grow up in Georgetown or Chevy Chase. Their friends have died, their family members have died, they have seen all of this and they're only 8 years old.

Think about how you feel when you haven't eaten in a few days, or when you're recovering from a traumatic event. Do you feel like going to school? I agree that parents are key to a child's education, but we have so many grandparents or aunts / uncles raising kids in the District, and they need help, too.

Ruby Payne, PhD does a great lesson on children in poverty and how they learn differently from other children. If you're interested in learning more about it, here's her website: Welcome to aha! Process, Inc.

Hmmm...as an alum of DC Public, I do not recall anyone fitting a description that sounds a bit more like Darfur than DC. Hyperbole anyone?

Assuming for the sake of argument that you are correct, and there certainly is some truth in what you say, is not procuring an education really the only way out of such a situation? And not starting a family unless you are able, but it seems that is asking way too much. Otherwise, the dystopia you describe simply reproduces itself ad infinitum.

And I always thought the last 40 years had at least taught us that you cannot solve poverty by giving people money!

[lokahi]

Our urban areas of DC are similar to Darfur and have been neglected for many, many years. It's a tough call, Moth. Solving poverty isn't about money, it's about giving ppl. the skills to live a better life. But, you've made some good points. We can't try to fix it on a webpage, I suppose.

It's sad for me, tho b/c when I think about those kids, so full of promise, I want someone like Michelle Rhee to make sure that their schools are safe and that they can graduate from high school with college in their future. The next Albert Einstein or Marie Curie could be lurking in the Trinidad or Kenilworth areas and will they be able to graduate from middle school let alone high school with all the other pressures surrounding them?

[Moth]

Originally Posted by lokahi

Our urban areas of DC are similar to Darfur and have been neglected for many, many years. It's a tough call, Moth. Solving poverty isn't about money, it's about giving ppl. the skills to live a better life. But, you've made some good points. We can't try to fix it on a webpage, I suppose.

It's sad for me, tho b/c when I think about those kids, so full of promise, I want someone like Michelle Rhee to make sure that their schools are safe and that they can graduate from high school with college in their future. The next Albert Einstein or Marie Curie could be lurking in the Trinidad or Kenilworth areas and will they be able to graduate from middle school let alone high school with all the other pressures surrounding them?

While DC has some seriously distressed areas, comparing them to Darfur is a bit of a whopper. As for "giving people skills" that is impossible. But you can give them the opportunity to obtain those skills. And that is what the public school system is in essence. I made DC public, warts and all, work for me. So can they. I look back at my public school education with a mix of laughter and horror. Nonetheless, I did what I had to do, went on to college and went on with life.

[JimGriffith]

Originally Posted by lokahi

Our urban areas of DC are similar to Darfur and have been neglected for many, many years.

Oh come on, you can't be serious. Do people in Trinidad subside on $1 per day? Have the residents of Barry Farms been subjected to state-sponsored ethnic cleansing, militia raids and rape squads?


A lot of people were dealt crappier hands in life than me, I get that. But at some point individuals make their choices about how to play those cards.

Dropping out of school, having children when you can barely take care of yourself, and the "stop snitchin" ethos have damaged these neighborhoods more than any government neglect ever could.

If you've ever had the privilege to serve on a DC jury in a case involving drugs or violence, you'll probably get what i'm saying.

[HomerBrink]

Tenken- Some media sources say she left Denver to "rush back" to DC for opening day.
Whether that truly is the case or not I don't know as I didn't see any coverage of her opening day schedule. But even so, it's funny she found the time to go there the weekend before the schools opened when there were reports many schools weren't ready to open. I will admit my error if it truly is one. More proof please.

[lokahi]

It's like I said, we can't solve all the problems of the world on a webpage, but, when speaking of Michelle and her team, you have to realize the difficulties that they're up against and give them the respect that they deserve.

DC Gov't is not an easy place to work, and we can sit here, anonymous web posting armchair quarterbacks that we are, giving her the stink eye and hoping that she fails, or we can support her in the good work that she really is trying to do.

[Moth]

Originally Posted by lokahi

It's like I said, we can't solve all the problems of the world on a webpage, but, when speaking of Michelle and her team, you have to realize the difficulties that they're up against and give them the respect that they deserve.

DC Gov't is not an easy place to work, and we can sit here, anonymous web posting armchair quarterbacks that we are, giving her the stink eye and hoping that she fails, or we can support her in the good work that she really is trying to do.

No doubt. I actually think she has done a good job. Its only the payments for good behaviour that I have a problem with.

[TheseGoTo11]

She's doing an outstanding job, and Fenty's role in hiring her and knocking out all the useless Barry patrons is a sign of great hope for the city's future.