Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I agree with you completely on early childhood education.
As I've said earlier in this thread, I think having quality programs that reach out to these troubled youths would help. I'm thinking things like counseling, life skills, esteem and team building activities would help. There must be some way to reach the troubled youth and show them that their parents' way isn't the right way. I have numerous friends who are teachers and one of the biggest issues they face are weekends and holidays because kids from bad families DO want to do well. Teachers reach them during the day but then they slip slide back after spending time with their families. I believe the core issue we have to teach troubled youth is how to succeed despite their upbringing.
Absolutely. That is what I'm trying to do through the vehicle of teaching an abstruse college prep elective that the district requires of students who say they want to go to college. The reality is that most of them are reading on about a fifth grade level, roughly 50% of where they should be. That squares with the typical child here beginning school at age 5 with the vocabulary of a two-and-a-half year-old. What the district and state-level administrators don't (want to) acknowledge is that our students are being reared in many cases by criminals who are in and out of the justice system on a regular basis. This is just reality for many of our students, and the powers-that-be don't take that into their planning.
That said, we do now have in-school behavioral health services. It sometime seems that as many as twenty percent of our students see the counselor who has an office next to the clinic. For several years we did not have a clinic, so I'm glad that it has been re-opened. But being the official school for the "crazy children" is a mixed blessing. It's good that our new principal is keeping a grip on their behavior. We can't kick them out, but we can give them intensive treatment and we seem to be making progress. It's amazing what a good, supportive principal can do.
It's not so much an issue of whether or not wealthy people should have better schools. They always will, as they have the resources to ensure that their children will always be above average. The question is what we as a nation expect the standard to be for all children, or if we will have such a standard at all. For now, we don't ensure that all children who are citizens of this great nation receive the educational experience that middle class children receive, based on what the tax base is in the locality where the children live.
We supposedly decided before my time that separate is inherently unequal. That has not changed over the years. It's just that the separation now is de facto by economic level and not de jure by race. The main difference is that now the majority of the white children are in private schools and of course their parents don't want to pay twice, so the property taxes are kept low. The children who are affected are those who cannot afford private schools or who are not invited to attend. And of course, we know who those children are.
The state supreme court ruled that the legislature cannot be bound by the school funding law, so there is no recourse at the moment for the children in the public schools in Mississippi. I still maintain that the nation cannot truly be prosperous until all states experience prosperity. Ironically one of the most derelict of the streets in our school zone is the notorious Prosperity Street. I suppose it's just a nasty metaphor for the ghetto.
I've said here and on NUMEROUS other threads that I'd be HAPPY to have increased taxes if it meant every American had health insurance and every American had access to free, equal and quality education Pre-K to postsecondary.
Re: taxes
My SIL and her husband make over $300,000 per year. Their tax rate is nearly 50%. Yet they are liberals who believe everyone should have healthcare and quality education. They don't take issue with their tax rate but they do take issue with how its spent. So no, not everyone who pays high taxes thinks they are being "robbed at gunpoint."
How much would you personally pay? Please provide me a number, either in dollar or percentage.
What are your recommendations for the 'crappy parents'?
Stop making it politically incorrect to tell them to stop breeding like rabbits. Put posters everywhere that say if you can't pay for your kids dontnhave them. Give incentives to volunteers for sterilization.
So you want the state to raise the children instead of the parents?
There is nothing preventing the parents from "watering" their kids. Stop blaming society for crappy parents that won't "water" their kids.
We can spend our money on schools or jails. Take your pick. The party of personal responsibility has plenty funders who are getting rich on private prisons.
I prefer to spend money on education. Productive people pay taxes. And do not rob me coming home from the grocery store.
But we live in this culture, which is IMO, doomed past the point of no return. Getting more stuff is our god. Few care about our culture enough to do anything besides repeat their mantra of personal responsibility.
So the two schools in your experience had similar school equipment. Was it adequate and in good working order? Or were the buildings and the equipment in dire need of repair? Do you know if those conditions were mostly uniform around the country or if there were areas with better conditions than others? How was it that the high school ranked so high if its teachers were so awful? Did the students not need the teachers to teach them because their economic status was high?
A country that doesn't allow private schooling sounds like one that is using its public schools for indoctrination as much as education. Did you find that to be a factor? I'm not basing that on anything other than curiosity.
They had virtually the same equipment and facilities. The good school of course had better equipment - I meant the equipment was newer, and they had a nice stadium and a few basketball courts.
The condition was uniform throughout the city not the country. 100 miles out of the city, students would be studying in mud huts and playing in dirt field.
Of course they used public schools for indoctrination just like what the American public schools have been doing. This is why I am against the public schools.
There is absolutely no reason that parents can’t organize together and form their own private schools to educate their children except for one reason: they don’t care about educating their children.
We can spend our money on schools or jails. Take your pick. The party of personal responsibility has plenty funders who are getting rich on private prisons.
I prefer to spend money on education. Productive people pay taxes. And do not rob me coming home from the grocery store.
But we live in this culture, which is IMO, doomed past the point of no return. Getting more stuff is our god. Few care about our culture enough to do anything besides repeat their mantra of personal responsibility.
I prefer to spend money on education, also. The question is will the money be well spent or not, especially on kids that don't value education?
You guys keep making it out like throwing money at the poor will somehow make their lives better.
No, I'm not a rightwing nutjob. I will happily pay up to 50% of my salary in taxes if I think it will work to lift people out of poverty. But again, throwing money at the problem doesn't solve anything. Remember those signs that say don't feed the bears? There's a reason why we don't just feed the bears.
We can spend our money on schools or jails. Take your pick. The party of personal responsibility has plenty funders who are getting rich on private prisons.
I prefer to spend money on education. Productive people pay taxes. And do not rob me coming home from the grocery store.
But we live in this culture, which is IMO, doomed past the point of no return. Getting more stuff is our god. Few care about our culture enough to do anything besides repeat their mantra of personal responsibility.
If that is true, we should pass compulsory sterilization right now.
Just imagine how many children’s lives we could have saved.
Except that is not true. Poverty is not the reason for committing crimes, especially in a country where poverty doesn’t even exist. Virtually nobody is poor in America if we use the world standard. People choose to stay that way or don’t know a better way.
They had virtually the same equipment and facilities. The good school of course had better equipment - I meant the equipment was newer, and they had a nice stadium and a few basketball courts.
The condition was uniform throughout the city not the country. 100 miles out of the city, students would be studying in mud huts and playing in dirt field.
Of course they used public schools for indoctrination just like what the American public schools have been doing. This is why I am against the public schools.
There is absolutely no reason that parents can’t organize together and form their own private schools to educate their children except for one reason: they don’t care about educating their children.
What is your experience with the indoctrination that you believe American public school engage in?
We claim to provide every student in the United States with a free appropriate education. Clearly in the country you are describing, that is not the custom. If you prefer the educational system where you attended, why are you in the United States? And how presumptive it is of you to come to another country and then claim that our customs are all wrong!
If that is true, we should pass compulsory sterilization right now.
Just imagine how many children’s lives we could have saved.
Except that is not true. Poverty is not the reason for committing crimes, especially in a country where poverty doesn’t even exist. Virtually nobody is poor in America if we use the world standard. People choose to stay that way or don’t know a better way.
Exactly! And if we don't ensure that they are exposed to the fact that THERE IS ANOTHER WAY, if we don't strive to ensure that all children will grow up WANTING a better way, then we will ensure that there is yet another generation that does not know that THERE IS ANOTHER WAY!
If I am able to get a gang member to try to finish high school, I can help that person's family to try another way. If I am able to convince a young woman to take charge of her fertility, I will be able to help her and her planned offspring to have a better life. If I am able to convince a struggling student that it is better to go to a community college and train for a job at the hospital rather than working in the laundry there, then I have the prospect of helping another family. When you multiply these small changes over a decades-long career, then progress can be made, even while other families falter and fail. No one is counting the young people who get off public aid, but they exist because I know them.
Clearly if you escaped a life of playing in the dirt outside your mud hut, you value education for yourself. Why are you so opposed to every American citizen receiving a quality public education, poor or not?
What is your experience with the indoctrination that you believe American public school engage in?
We claim to provide every student in the United States with a free appropriate education. Clearly in the country you are describing, that is not the custom. If you prefer the educational system where you attended, why are you in the United States? And how presumptive it is of you to come to another country and then claim that our customs are all wrong!
Go ask the high schoolers about socialism, a horrible system worse than the Fascism and Nazis. You will find, they, just like my fellow students, will sing the praises.
I don’t prefer my education system. I gave the example to show the issue is with students and parents, not the schools.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
