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Well, actually the rich are in danger, as a result of their own actions. Their greed and lust for social and political power have generated a great deal of opposition and distrust. This has been brought to a head by Trump and his pandering to their interests. But their past practice of providing much higher levels of funding for schools near where they live, should be and is, coming to an end. And the reason is, that this is America and to stack our school system to perpetuate their elite advantages, is against our way.
In our state, funding equalization puts all the property tax funding for education in a common pot and distributes it evenly to schools throughout the districts, according to the number of students they have. It's not a perfect solution, as schools in areas with high property values still seem to have more resources. Possibly, contributions from wealthy people can be earmarked for individual schools.
Social-climbing families want to get their students into such schools, sometimes driving them long distances each day, just so they can bump elbows with rich kids. I know such a family, that has lived near me. Their children have been taught to be social and financial snobs. They do not know any of the children who live in our neighborhood, but only those who live in a high-cost area, near the school they've attended. They seem to be disinterested or unable to relate to anyone outside this small circle of affluence.
I don't think that in 16 years living here, their children have spoken a single word to anyone on this street. Their kids were sent to a Montessori School, until the cost got too high. They're not allowed to play any traditional sports, but whack Wiffle balls and badminton birdies around.
Now, they're moving into a high-end house in that school's area, that is worth more than twice their property in our neighborhood. I don't know how they can afford it, but I guess they want that status so much, that they will gamble that their income can be stretched to cover it.
Their children will have to go out into the real world before long and they will find that they'll have to interact with the common riff-raff, from which they've been isolated up to now. It's sad that parents from low-income families like theirs, aspire so much for affluence, that they would twist their children's values to such a degree.
Last I checked, California had a similar model whereby every school recievesthe same per pupil funding. The difference is that schools in wealthier communities tend to have many parental orgs who do massive fund raising and gift their local schools with stuff / programs their taxes don't pay for. Middle class and poor communities don't have the same ability to raise as much funds and gift.
Parents can and do spend $ hundreds per hour to increase the liklihood their kids get into highly selective schools. Then there's the whole Asian/ immigrant thing whereby families, regardless of means, place incredible emphasis on education. One is unlikely to find these kids parked In front of the TV or obsessing over nonsense on social media.
Yep, and usually race is introduced into the topic with memes like "grandparents born in 1990" or "kids wearing $100 sneakers but no books in the home" "families with more kids than they can afford" The inference that this is directed at blacks is hardly subtle. Or they post comments about how english language learners are breaking the entire system, clearly a slam against hispanic immigrants.
My grandson attends a highly rated open enrollment fundamental public school. In order to get a kid in the school parents have to take the initiative to fill out a lot of paperwork, go to an orientation, participate in a lottery for the kids to attend and if they are selected they also have to agree to spend a certain number of hours a month volunteering at the school.
One of the parents at his school is a black lady who has 4 kids, two toddlers and two kids attending school. The school is 3 miles from her home, she walks there every day with all four kids and then sits in the park adjacent to the school with her toddlers until her two oldest kids get out of school. But she's not alone, there are four other parents who sit out there with her all day while their kids are in school because they live too far to walk back and forth 4 times a day.
And I'm sure they aren't the only poor parents who 'care' about their kids, unless someone tells the parents about open enrollment schools they usually have no idea they exist so they just put the kid in the neighborhood school, some of which are pretty awful. In my Grandson's school 32% of the kids are low income but their test scores are the same as other kids. The only group of kids who test lower than average are English language learners but by the 6th grade their test scores are comparable to other kids.
I went through a tough couple of years when my kids were young, I am glad that during that time no one came at me with their BS about "why did you have kids when you are poor?" or accusing me of not caring about my kids, because I probably would have hurt them.
It’s a nice story.
I have to ask. Instead of sitting there all day, can’t they do something more productive? Like going to work? If they have no work, can’t they volunteer for the school?
I would like to challenge the "equal opportunity" motif. Liberals believe it's not "socially just" for wealthy areas to have better funded and overall better quality schools than poorer areas. But, don't wealthy areas pay more in taxes? Why is unfair to get what you pay for? Heck, if I am able to afford to live in whatever neighborhood Obama lives in, you bet I'm going to demand good schools! Do liberals really believe that Bill Gates should be forced to send his kids to crappy schools just so things can be "more equal"? Or if we try to make every school the same, what will be the incentive for any school to be decent? Won't rich people just flock to private schools or homeschooling? Would the next step be to make homeschooling illegal so no one has an "unfair aadvantag"? Just wondering how far we should take this equality stuff. It seems like the book Animal Farm.
I believe Bill Gates should be forced to send his kids to crappy schools, not because of his wealth, but because he MADE our schools crappy and is now taking his kids out of the mess he made. Same reason why I believe Congress shouldn't be exempt from Obamacare.
I believe Bill Gates should be forced to send his kids to crappy schools, not because of his wealth, but because he MADE our schools crappy and is now taking his kids out of the mess he made. Same reason why I believe Congress shouldn't be exempt from Obamacare.
This is so asinine that it completely lacks of basic human decency!
1. Why should anybody be forced to do anything? Slavery?
2. Why shouldn’t Bill Gates or anybody have the freedom to decide how to educate his own children?
3. How did Bill Gates make you poor? At far as I know billions of people including myself have a job because of Bill Gates.
4. Did Bill Gates make his money illegally?
This is so asinine that it completely lacks of basic human decency!
1. Why should anybody be forced to do anything? Slavery?
2. Why shouldn’t Bill Gates or anybody have the freedom to decide how to educate his own children?
3. How did Bill Gates make you poor? At far as I know billions of people including myself have a job because of Bill Gates.
4. Did Bill Gates make his money illegally?
Bill Gates - as well as Jeff Bezos - certainly has contributed to gentrification and displacement in Seattle.
It’s a nice story. I have to ask. Instead of sitting there all day, can’t they do something more productive? Like going to work? If they have no work, can’t they volunteer for the school?
Every one of the people who stay in the park have at least one baby or toddler with them. I am not aware of volunteer opportunities for parents who have an infant or toddler with them are you? I've only spoken to three of the parents so I can't speak for all of them but those three have spouses who work.
I'm really sorry that these people don't fit into your stereotype of the poor, I know that must be very disappointing
I guarantee you whoever designed computers had nothing but paper, pens and books when graduating from high schools!
I don't know why you're trying to stick so hard to an illogical argument but there's a reason why the Amish are not renowned for skills in computer programming.
There's also a reason why OTJ training is important, and it's because you cannot effectively teach somebody real world skills with just a paper, pens, and books.
Bill Gates - as well as Jeff Bezos - certainly has contributed to gentrification and displacement in Seattle.
They started businesses that employ thousands of people in good paying jobs and they pay taxes that benefit the local economy. Do you think that we should ship those companies overseas and replace them with more Walmart stores with employees getting EITC and food stamps so that we can avoid gentrification?
This is so asinine that it completely lacks of basic human decency!
1. Why should anybody be forced to do anything? Slavery?
2. Why shouldn’t Bill Gates or anybody have the freedom to decide how to educate his own children?
3. How did Bill Gates make you poor? At far as I know billions of people including myself have a job because of Bill Gates.
4. Did Bill Gates make his money illegally?
I'm saying, Bill Gates is going around demanding that we have this and that in schools and it's horrible for us yet he thinks it too low for HIS kids. Same for the tech guys who want all this questionable tech in the "education" process for our kids while sending their own kids to schools where tech and screen time are limited. Or Michelle Obama, who thought it best to suggest what all our kids have in their lunches while sending her own kids to fancy schools that weren't subjected to. And the same for Congress, which insisted that we must get Obamacare "for our own good" but made sure to exempt themselves from it. Or Hollywood celebrities who insist that we need to have our guns taken from us while going around escorted by armed body guards to protect them and live in a protected gated community.
It's basically a sense of entitlement and hypocrisy that I'm against!
I'm saying, Bill Gates is going around demanding that we have this and that in schools and it's horrible for us yet he thinks it too low for HIS kids. Same for the tech guys who want all this questionable tech in the "education" process for our kids while sending their own kids to schools where tech and screen time are limited. Or Michelle Obama, who thought it best to suggest what all our kids have in their lunches while sending her own kids to fancy schools that weren't subjected to. And the same for Congress, which insisted that we must get Obamacare "for our own good" but made sure to exempt themselves from it. Or Hollywood celebrities who insist that we need to have our guns taken from us while going around escorted by armed body guards to protect them and live in a protected gated community.
It's basically a sense of entitlement and hypocrisy that I'm against!
"In a speech delivered to the Council of the Great City Schools, the former CEO of Microsoft outlined his foundation's plan to standardize public school curricula, improve teaching quality, assist charter schools, and and collect better data to guide future changes."
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