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I thought one of the arguments for neighborhood schools (other than proximity) was that your child goes to school with his/her neighboring kids? In the blue plan, my address has a choice of six elementary schools - seems like pretty low odds that kids will go to school with their neighborhood friends.
(Not that I have any kids, but find this whole thing quite interesting since I grew up in a small town with one elementary school that everyone went to!)
I thought one of the arguments for neighborhood schools (other than proximity) was that your child goes to school with his/her neighboring kids? In the blue plan, my address has a choice of six elementary schools - seems like pretty low odds that kids will go to school with their neighborhood friends.
(Not that I have any kids, but find this whole thing quite interesting since I grew up in a small town with one elementary school that everyone went to!)
The blue plan is definitely not a a neighborhood school model if all the kids are spread out over 6 schools! Plus seems like it's going to cost a TON of money to have buses going to potentially 6 different elementary schools for every neighborhood in Wake County, plus magnet schools! Which makes me think it won't really be much different that what is place now: lots of choices on paper, few choices in reality. I have always had a long list of magnet choices to apply to, but my kids have never been allowed to actually go to one!
The essence of neighborhood schools is that all the kids in the neighborhood actually go to the same school.
IF reassigning students all over the county to schools not near their home was such a great idea, how come the rest of the country does not do it? How do other school systems score so well without the crazy busing system?
Let me state again. Reassigning poor performing students only equalizes the schools themselves, not the students. Everyone is forgetting this point. We have tried this system and it has failed the students in every possible way.
Students need to come to school wanting to learn. That want is not created by the school system. It is created at home. That is where the problem is.
Just because someone's parents can afford a nice home does NOT mean they are instilling a strong work ethic in their children. There are PLENTY, PLENTY of spoiled little brats who were born with a silver spoon and have no idea that they really need to work for anything. Just because someone was born to wealthy parents who can afford to live in a "good" school district should not mean they are "entitled" to anything. Maybe their parents worked hard to get where they got, but the children have not. Children should not be *punished nor rewarded* for the things their PARENTS have done. Not when it's paid for with public tax dollars. All children should have equal opportunity to prove themselves. Period.
And, because of their parents failings, these children should be left behind? Only to fail their entire life, and continue the cycle of poverty? To what extent is it acceptable to blame a six year old for their parents failure to nurture? And what responsibility does society as a whole have for helping these children succeed?
I have a great idea, why don't we just remove all of these troubled kids from their homes and put them in a group home with a more "nurturing environment"?
Oh wait, let's just throw money at the problem and pretend it helps.
How about sending these kids to a school where they can learn from the more affluent kids? I am sure they will just fit right in.
It's all pie in the sky crap. A society can not take personal responsibility for everyone, as wonderful as that may sound to many. Unless parents, not the school or peers, take responsibility for their child's success, it will never happen.
We like to tell ourselves that a school in a disadvantaged neighborhood has the same quality of teachers, administration, curriculum, programming etc because this is a democracy. Which really isn't the case.
Sorry, but each school has to be funded according to its needs in order for each child to succeed.
Absolutely agree. This is the surest way try and help ALL kids who are struggling to be successful.
I have a great idea, why don't we just remove all of these troubled kids from their homes and put them in a group home with a more "nurturing environment"?
Oh wait, let's just throw money at the problem and pretend it helps.
How about sending these kids to a school where they can learn from the more affluent kids? I am sure they will just fit right in.
It's all pie in the sky crap. A society can not take personal responsibility for everyone, as wonderful as that may sound to many. Unless parents, not the school or peers, take responsibility for their child's success, it will never happen.
You make some great points here.
I think that since we cannot control whether parents are more or less involved and/or interested in their children's educational advancement, the only remedy we have as a society is to ensure that ALL schools have equal funding, programs, etc.
In areas with low performance, I'd advocate for higher teacher pay and more rigorous recruitment of top notch teachers, as well as extra programs to help kids who need more support.
Beyond that, there's not much more that can be done to help on a school level.
It's all pie in the sky crap. A society can not take personal responsibility for everyone, as wonderful as that may sound to many. Unless parents, not the school or peers, take responsibility for their child's success, it will never happen.
So schools and society should give up on kids that have a bad home life? If we can't do anything to fix it anyway, then why bother, right?
I wonder what would happen to crime rates, say 10 years after such a policy is adopted.
Well if I wasnt scared for the education of children I am now!
do some kids realy get on the bus at 6am? Is there somewhere I can get a bus schedule?
It seems like all of this is turing kids into an early type of workaholic but with learning.
If they get on a bus at 6am, ride on buses for a long time, sit in a class where many of the kids dont speak English and then arent challenged (thus not interested), get a lot of homework 9to make up for the lack of productive school day) and now have to get to bed early:
What are we expecting these kids to end up like?
Family seems to turn into stress and work time.
All these years of all the talk from the elected schoold boards and what did everyone end up with. Now when elections happen again with more promises, what happens, we stay in the cycle and nothing changes and sometimes gets worse.
You cant put kids on buses for hours a day not expect it to affect the kids with everything from learning time to sleeping time so that is not the answer.
Question:
If the schools have a high amount of non English speaking children, how is anything that takes place in the classroom going to not hurt the other kids since the day is only so long and now time is diverted. Schools in the past never had to deal with this issue but now are forced to. Next we cut P.E. and wonder why kids cant calm down and concentrate, next put them on buses for hours and wonder why they are tired in the classroom.
i am starting to feel like if I am not rich the options keep going downhill for the prospects to succeed.
The blue plan is definitely not a a neighborhood school model if all the kids are spread out over 6 schools! Plus seems like it's going to cost a TON of money to have buses going to potentially 6 different elementary schools for every neighborhood in Wake County, plus magnet schools! Which makes me think it won't really be much different that what is place now: lots of choices on paper, few choices in reality. I have always had a long list of magnet choices to apply to, but my kids have never been allowed to actually go to one!
The essence of neighborhood schools is that all the kids in the neighborhood actually go to the same school.
Yeah I agree - the blue plan is the "feel good" plan meant to placate the people in favor of busing, in reality there is no way to implement it. I did some checking this morning and I have different elementary school choices than my neighbors across the street and next door. Now, really, if everyone on my block chose a different elementary school, there's be no way to accomplish getting them all there. I DO notice most of the kids that are currently bused do not have the current school as a choice under the blue plan and NONE of them have it as a choice under the green plan. I can see where this is headed.
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wow!
