LAUSD Superintendent Calls for “Cultural Revolution” (Los Angeles, Bradley: school districts, university)

[Vicman]

When I saw the lines "LAUSD Superintendent Calls for “Cultural Revolution”" - I thought "Oh my! The Communists are taking over"

In all seriousness, it's just a PR job having the superintendent ask more from employees: Los Angeles Unified School District

As Richard Geib notes, the teachers mostly perform a good job, yet failure still happens!

"In retrospect, I am much more philosophical about the whole experience. The Los Angeles Unified District was mostly doing the best it could; most teachers were doing their job as best they could; most parents truly loved their children and wanted the best for them. There was room for improvement, but everyone (especially Principal Esther Rivera) was already working pretty hard. Yet still most kids were not learning, or at least not learning very much - neither in Spanish nor in English. The average seventh grader at Berendo was perhaps reading and writing at a third or fourth grade level; I was basically an elementary school teacher teaching middle school students. I worked my brains out to move my students up approximately a grade level per year and I resented people telling me I was not doing my job because these kids were so low skilled."

See: Los Angeles Unified School District: Inner-City Teacher Blues

Yeah, if only LAUSD could make Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, and V. I. Lenin come out from the grave and rule the worst LAUSD schools with iron fists.

[LALady]

Teachers get a raw deal - they get blamed for low performance of underprepared students. Then folks wonder why they leave the job in droves.

[Vicman]

As Geib says: "I worked my brains out to move my students up approximately a grade level per year and I resented people telling me I was not doing my job because these kids were so low skilled."

The LAUSD students need a "cultural" revolution. The district needs to grow some balls and admit that the communities stymie THEIR work and the district will bill uncooperative parents and "refer" troublesome students to boarding schools without the say of the parents.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Lots and lots of kids have useless parents that don't give a sh*t if their kids stay in school and learn anything. Until that changes, LAUSD will be ruled by "garbage in, garbage out".

[Vicman]

How about this?

The state of California could create super-strict military boarding schools for trouble-makers. A parent may refer a child to a boarding school for any length of time.

HOWEVER, the school districts may be authorized to use boarding school as a "punishment" in extreme discipline cases for people under 18. If a parent makes no appeal or is uncooperative (Not legally uncooperative as in aiming to reform the kid's behavior, I mean uncooperative as in does not pay attention to discipline problems) - The state may send armed men to "kidnap" the individual at his or her school or on the street and place the individual on a plane to the boarding school. The parent will be told that the child has been placed at the boarding school at the ruling of LAUSD and that the parent will be required to pay tuition until the child reforms or turns 18.

Also, LAUSD should make two different types of secondary schools - "Graduating" schools such as university-preparatory high schools and CATE schools, and "basic" schools that require students who failed middle school to learn basic skills before going to high school. If the students stay in "basic" school, they have no hope of graduating.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Vicman

How about this?

The state of California could create super-strict military boarding schools for trouble-makers. A parent may refer a child to a boarding school for any length of time.

Then-Mayor Tom Bradley advocated this in the early 80s and was laughed at. Not that he would have had the power to do so even if he was taken seriously.

Also, LAUSD should make two different types of secondary schools - "Graduating" schools such as university-preparatory high schools and CATE schools, and "basic" schools that require students who failed middle school to learn basic skills before going to high school. If the students stay in "basic" school, they have no hope of graduating.

Sort of like the UK system of "grammar schools" and "secondary moderns"?

I think it's probably time to phase out the comprehensive high school in general. It just drags kids down to the lowest level. Comprehensives should be broken up into smaller, specialized high schools.

[LALady]

Originally Posted by Vicman

How about this?

The state may send armed men to "kidnap" the individual at his or her school or on the street and place the individual on a plane to the boarding school. The parent will be told that the child has been placed at the boarding school at the ruling of LAUSD and that the parent will be required to pay tuition until the child reforms or turns 18.

.

This will NEVER happen. NEVER!

And low wages probably correlate with children who do poorly in school. Good luck trying to get tuition out of their parents.

[DontH8Me]

Can someone explain to me what a 'cultural revolution' is as it pertains to the LAUSD? I feel so dirty and ignorant for not getting it.

And I agree that HS should not be the only choice for students - there should be vocational schools available in the place of HS for those students who don't intend to go to higher education or don't have the brain power to do so.

[katenik]

Originally Posted by DontH8Me

Can someone explain to me what a 'cultural revolution' is as it pertains to the LAUSD? I feel so dirty and ignorant for not getting it.

And I agree that HS should not be the only choice for students - there should be vocational schools available in the place of HS for those students who don't intend to go to higher education or don't have the brain power to do so.

perhaps you didn't get it because that speech was pure admino-babble: "guided principles"; "research and data driven"; "parent engagement programs"; "create vision"; blah, blah, blah! education bureaucrats are very adept at prattling on for twenty minutes, and saying absolutely nothing. remember, these are the same people who boast when the kids they're supposed to educate make a "jump" from the 25th to the 27th percentile on standardized tests. it's not supposed to make sense; it's just supposed to sound good.

(and shouldn't the phrase be guiding principles?)

[Blockheadofaknew]

ok ok let's get to work now....,,,...,,, LAUSD-Employee