Innovative Ideas to reduce educational disparity

[Anonymous]

Looks like the trolls are out of their caves now.

[Anonymous]

This thread seems to think that only poor kids are disruptive. I work at a private school and... no. There are disruptive kids everywhere. When you have a couple dozen kids in a room and a few of them are very disruptive, it can derail a whole class. This is called Children.

You may not remember it from when you were a kid, but they were there then too. Some of them were forced to go to special ed schools back then, and there is more mainstreaming now, which educators believe is a good thing.

[Anonymous]

People here love these mostly false stereotypes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have SN child - GTLD with very high IQ. Generally nonviolent, but who would love to misbehave if he gets support of class or another clown. Why not to have fun instead of studying if teacher lets it go or cannot control class? He will use absolutely every opportunity due to immaturity.
The only environment this kid can learn is regular magnet (not GTLD one). The reason is - magnet kids are more accommodating and pushing this kid to learn instead of fulling around with other clowns all day.
Basically in any non-magnet class my child goes for lowest common denominator in work and behavior.
This is in support that mixing kids is really bad idea.
If you will put my child in mixed class, he will learn nothing... On the other hand he is not disruptive in magnet environment. He is absolutely disruptive (non-violently) in regular environment.
For us magnet is life saver, otherwise my child would get nothing out of public education in MCPS. I am sure that there are many kids like mine, but most of them did not get to magnet.
Probably most of them are fulling around our public systems and will end up with zero knowledge.

Oh, cry me a friggin' river! My responsible, mature, high IQ child didn't even get into a magnet. If your genius is 'fulling' around in public school, send him to private. Other children who are there to learn should have to suffer because your 'clown' wants to have fun!
Geez.

+1 So if the genius child didn't make it to magnet, then what? Just let him disrupt the class everyday because it's the school's fault for not putting him in a magnet? It's always the teacher's fault when kids misbehave because they can't control the class? I bet you have a hard time controlling your one ADHD child, but you expect a teacher to control 28 kids, some with SN issues? FFS.

My DC went to magnet, and there was a GT/LD child in the class. That child was disruptive - threw a pencil, sharp end out, ran out of the class multiple times, etc.. Teacher had to go chasing after that child. They finally pulled the child out of the class and into a SN class which is smaller than the other GT class which had 28 kids. Win on both sides.

Eventually when an ADHD child reaches adulthood and enters the real world, the employer and society won't care one whit about your child's ADHD. My friend has a SN child -- moderately autistic. She's been trying to prepare him for the real world early on. One day, he will be off on his own. She can't mother him forever. She knows her DC will need to eventually be able function without her intervention all the time, as all of our kids will, but she knows she has to start preparing him a lot earlier than most of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread seems to think that only poor kids are disruptive. I work at a private school and... no. There are disruptive kids everywhere. When you have a couple dozen kids in a room and a few of them are very disruptive, it can derail a whole class. This is called Children.

You may not remember it from when you were a kid, but they were there then too. Some of them were forced to go to special ed schools back then, and there is more mainstreaming now, which educators believe is a good thing.

Some of the teachers who have to deal with this disruption everyday don't think so, and I would agree, especially when some of these parents don't seem to try too hard to get their kids to behave.

[Anonymous]

Way to stay on task people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Way to stay on task people

disruptions in classes is part of the problem for the disparities. How can kids learn when the teacher is focused on one or two trouble makers all day?

[Anonymous]

Disruptive students are everywhere. Public Schools, private schools, Focus schools, Title 1 schools, high SED schools, magnet schools, etc. Part of a teacher's job is to handle everyone in the class. It's much harder when there's 30 or 35, then if there's 18, but they still have to do it.

It's not only special needs children or ED children that are causing the problem. And yes, there's always at least one, or more, in every class. The public schools my kids are in are not handling this well at all.

Pointing this out, however, does nothing to solve educational disparity.

[Anonymous]

Disruptive kids go the principals office in private school. Plus parents are called.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disruptive kids go the principals office in private school. Plus parents are called.

Disruptive students get "counseled out", i.e., expelled, in private school. Which doesn't actually fix the problem, it just makes it somebody else's problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to send my kids to tutoring until I realized how much free, guided, enrichment is available online.
This isnt about money, its cultural.

It takes money to have a computer and high speed internet access.

The school should provide access to the needed content without having to resort to outside instruction.

Moreover, people are using culture here to describe parental apathy. It could be that a parent who is uneducated themselves doesn't know that outside instruction is necessary in "one of the best school systems in the country". I suppose that a parent's low level of education may be cultural, but it's not apathy. If a parent is busy working 2 jobs trying to keep food on the table and a roof overhead, they are not apathetic, even if they don't have a lot of time to provide outside enrichment.

I was a SAH mom. I volunteered in schools. I provided all the types of enrichment that have been described in this thread I am about as far from apathetic as a parent can be. I was shocked and appalled at how much instruction I had to provide because of MCPS deficiencies. I had the benefit of a strong education in a public school. It had some weaknesses, but it was so much stronger on the fundamentals, which meant that I could identify and address problems as they came up. When we bought our house, school quality was a primary concern. I assumed I would have to occasionally answer a homework question or quiz my child on spelling words. I never envisioned that I would have to become a reading/grammar/math/science/social studies teacher.

I've met parents with struggling students, none of whom were indifferent to their child's education. Yes, I'm sure there are some apathetic, neglectful parents. (I strongly suspect you'll find some of those even in high SES brackets.) However, I think most are trying, like the rest of us, to help our kids to the best of our abilities, even if those abilities vary widely.

The purpose of public schools is to offer a free education to all children, regardless of their parents capabilities and/or interest in educating their children. If you felt it necessary to provide a tutor or online tutor equivalent for your children, then I think it has failed in that purpose. Thank goodness you understood your childrens' needs and had the knowledge required to get them the necessary help.

Internet access available as part of Comcast program; recycled computers available from nonprofits. Public library; school library. If people would stop making excuses, people would step up (if they have drive and ability). If they have no drive or ability, it won't matter how much money you spend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Internet access available as part of Comcast program; recycled computers available from nonprofits. Public library; school library. If people would stop making excuses, people would step up (if they have drive and ability). If they have no drive or ability, it won't matter how much money you spend.

This is the "poor people are poor because they are lazy, and they only have themselves to blame" argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disruptive kids go the principals office in private school. Plus parents are called.

Disruptive students get "counseled out", i.e., expelled, in private school. Which doesn't actually fix the problem, it just makes it somebody else's problem.

which ends up being the public schools' problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disruptive kids go the principals office in private school. Plus parents are called.

Disruptive students get "counseled out", i.e., expelled, in private school. Which doesn't actually fix the problem, it just makes it somebody else's problem.

In a wealthy area like this you’d be surprised how often the opposite happens. Challenging children of wealthy parents spend a few years in public school and it doesn’t work out due to their behavior, so they go looking for a private school and say they want things like more one on one attention, less time sitting, etc. The schools need to fill the seats, especially with wealthy parents, so they overlook behavioral issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disruptive kids go the principals office in private school. Plus parents are called.

Disruptive students get "counseled out", i.e., expelled, in private school. Which doesn't actually fix the problem, it just makes it somebody else's problem.

which ends up being the public schools' problem.

Exactly
when it SHOULD be the parent’ problem

But guess what? It’s easier to blame the teacher.