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Thread summary:

Philadelphia schools fail at attempt to run schools like business, schools operating without government control, teachers and administrators to blame, parents and students without personal responsibility

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Old 06-29-2008, 09:20 AM
 
Location: Alexandria, VA
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washingtonpost.com

The article says that an attempt to improve the schools in Philadelphia by running them like a business and taking away government control did not work.

They always blame the teachers and administrators when a school fails and do not blame the students (who do not want to learn) and the parents who do not push the kids to behave!
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Old 06-29-2008, 09:53 AM
 
11,151 posts, read 15,803,738 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by total_genius View Post
They always blame the teachers and administrators when a school fails and do not blame the students (who do not want to learn) and the parents who do not push the kids to behave!
Something that we teachers hear frequently is "Miss (or Mister), you failed me!"

It's never, "Miss, *I* failed!"

In the students' minds, the responsibility for grades ALWAYS lies with the teacher. The fact they never completed class projects or turned in homework is, obviously, irrelevant.

It's quite sad, actually.
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Old 06-29-2008, 12:07 PM
 
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Well, first thing's first. Philadelphia is not exactly known for anything being well-managed.
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Old 06-29-2008, 12:08 PM
 
Location: Fort Mill, SC
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But the point is it isn't being run by the government.
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Old 06-29-2008, 01:10 PM
 
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The public schools in Philly have always had a horrible rep. Always. It's only going to change when the current population stops feeding off the gov't handouts and decides that educating their young is the only way out of their situation.

So far, that is nowhere near happening.

I knew five ppl who were teachers in Philly, wanted to make a difference with the kids- but left after less than 6 years, as they were met with such resistance from parents, admins, community and students. There is a huge part of the population there that does not want to work at grabbing the brass ring; they'd rather have it given to them for free. Life doesn't work like that, which is part of the reason Philly schools remain terrible. And it doesn't help when you have someone like Bill Cosby coming along, telling the young black kids, stay in school, stay away from the crimminal element, don't get pregnant, work hard-- and that is met with cries of protest from the "black leaders". 'Tis easier to be a victim- that pays better in the short term, not in the long term. But, we're all about instant gratification nowdays, so, why work?

It's shameful, to me, to waste all that potential talent in such a great city. But unless you have a population that WANTS to work, wants to be educated, wants to WORK to get out of poverty- nothing is going to change. What a terrible waste of a potential workforce.
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Old 06-29-2008, 01:51 PM
 
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If you have gangs members attending schools that will always be a problem. Even these type so called private public schools are governed by state laws where they can not kick out thsoe that are not there to learn.Real private schools work because the parents and ckildren want to go to school to learn and those that don't are soon gone.
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Old 06-29-2008, 02:32 PM
 
Location: Pennsylvania
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Creating a system that is as fubar as some of the Philadelphia schools has required the effort of all invested parties: students, families, administrators (including the carpetbagger former superintendent who is now probably running the New Orleans school budget into the ground), teachers, politicians. One can argue over percentage of responsibility, but every group can legitimately point a finger at every other group, including themselves.

There are pockets of success in Philadelphia schools, even the 'lowest' ones, but as a system, yikes. Meanwhile, parochial schools have closed in large numbers over the last generation and private schools remain out of the reach of many families.
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Old 06-29-2008, 02:43 PM
 
2,589 posts, read 8,621,693 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by total_genius View Post
washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines

The article says that an attempt to improve the schools in Philadelphia by running them like a business and taking away government control did not work.

They always blame the teachers and administrators when a school fails and do not blame the students (who do not want to learn) and the parents who do not push the kids to behave!
are you surprised?
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Old 06-29-2008, 03:25 PM
 
2,589 posts, read 8,621,693 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldiebutgoodie26 View Post
The public schools in Philly have always had a horrible rep. Always. It's only going to change when the current population stops feeding off the gov't handouts and decides that educating their young is the only way out of their situation.

So far, that is nowhere near happening.

I knew five ppl who were teachers in Philly, wanted to make a difference with the kids- but left after less than 6 years, as they were met with such resistance from parents, admins, community and students. There is a huge part of the population there that does not want to work at grabbing the brass ring; they'd rather have it given to them for free. Life doesn't work like that, which is part of the reason Philly schools remain terrible. And it doesn't help when you have someone like Bill Cosby coming along, telling the young black kids, stay in school, stay away from the crimminal element, don't get pregnant, work hard-- and that is met with cries of protest from the "black leaders". 'Tis easier to be a victim- that pays better in the short term, not in the long term. But, we're all about instant gratification nowdays, so, why work?

It's shameful, to me, to waste all that potential talent in such a great city. But unless you have a population that WANTS to work, wants to be educated, wants to WORK to get out of poverty- nothing is going to change. What a terrible waste of a potential workforce.
i lived in philadelphia as a student, and found the local residents surprisingly hostile toward students, teachers, and education, in general. when i arrived, the teachers were engaged in a labor dispute, and i can't tell the number of people i heard making disparaging remarks about them. most were particularly annoyed that some of the more experienced teachers in the city were earning a whopping $50K for a "six-hour workday and the whole summer off!"


as the birthplace of the nation, and home to two major universities and one minor one, i had expected philadelphia to be a much more "intellectual" city. however, the predominant ethic there seemed to steer kids' expectations toward becoming things like auto mechanics, manicurists, and postal workers, rather than having professional careers. a friend who was born and raised there told me that his own cousins and older relatives treated him with mild disdain because he chose to continue his education beyond high school; they considered him "soft." nothing i heard or witnessed while away from the university environment made me think his experience was an isolated one. further, there's another large element that seem not to raise their kids to think of their prospects at all, which is doubly difficult to overcome.

i agree that the city has a lot of potential that goes wasted, but i don't think there's much hope for any place where the masses don't appreciate the value of education, and "getting through" high school passes for high achievement.

Last edited by katenik; 06-29-2008 at 03:36 PM..
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Old 06-29-2008, 05:22 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles Area
3,306 posts, read 4,141,285 times
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This experiment with privatization in Philly was a complete joke. The schools were not "run like a business" despite being run by a business because the government tied the hands of the business. For example the teachers continued to be part of the teacher's union and the administrators were not even employees of the company, they remained government employees!

One of the big problems with the education system is in the way teachers are hired, fired (err...the lack of firing) , promoted, equal pay among all teachers,etc. But since the teachers were still part of the same crappy union the company was not able to work as it would without them. So considering the same teachers/administrators were working for the company I don't think blaming the teachers etc is out of the question.

So basically they had a company come in tied their hands and forced them to run the schools in the same way they did and are now surprised that the schools didn't improve. What a surprise.
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