RHEE-SULTS: A LITTLE RED MEAT FOR THOSE senti-MENTAL Rhee/Kaya supporters... ENJOY!! Fight Back!

[Anonymous]

The poor get plenty of uplift and plenty of opportunity in this city - far more than most other places - but not enough of the poor do their own part and seize opportunity - instead, many rely on the handouts as a core part of their regular living rather than as what is supposed to be a temporary boost to give them a hand and lift them out of poverty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The poor get plenty of uplift and plenty of opportunity in this city - far more than most other places - but not enough of the poor do their own part and seize opportunity - instead, many rely on the handouts as a core part of their regular living rather than as what is supposed to be a temporary boost to give them a hand and lift them out of poverty.

I hear 47% to be precise

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The poor get plenty of uplift and plenty of opportunity in this city - far more than most other places - but not enough of the poor do their own part and seize opportunity - instead, many rely on the handouts as a core part of their regular living rather than as what is supposed to be a temporary boost to give them a hand and lift them out of poverty.

Define "not enough". Also, we do plenty to uplift the mentally ill in this city--far more than in most places--but not enough of the mentally ill do their own part and seize that opportunity. Ditto drug addicts.

This just seems like "common sense conservative" bloviating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:18, Rhee shook things up. And she made things worse.

That's the issue. Despite virtually unlimited money, unchecked power and rampant cheating, NOTHING has changed in DCPS.

Read the report. It's sobering.

I'm no Rhee apologist, but that is not strictly true. There are procedural administrative changes that have definitely improved. Students do get their books on time, facilities are better maintained, there is PS/PK availability (which is not solely the result of the Mayor). When you say nothing has changed, completely ignoring some objectively positive changes, it damages your credibility.

We don't use books, you do realize that teachers were discouraged from using textbooks, and that we don't have a curriculum until this year adn it is rolled out monthly. Hmmmm, I didn't think so. Don't believe everything you read in the Washington Post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not understanding a big part of this: for all you frustrated parents, railing at the system, hating Fenty, hating Rhee and hating the schools...why are you sending your kids to those schools? What exactly are you setting out to change?

For the record, I voted for Fenty and was optimistic about him. I was agnostic about the mayoral takeover of the schools - hated the underhanded way he went about it - got elected in the Democratic primary first and then announced it after he was in effect elected mayor via the primary but later I was convinced it was a good idea. Was also agnostic about Rhee at first until I saw her make my daughter's school worse. And then I watched while she refused to take any responsibility for her mistakes and while her supporters acted as if anyone who criticized her were gleefully supporting failing schools.

My point is - I didn't start out hating Fenty or Rhee at all. Their massive screw ups and unwillingness to learn from them turned me off. And many of their supporters continue to frame this as a difference of intentions as in Rhee wants accountability and good teaching while people like me cling to mediocrity when the truth of the matter is that it was a matter of inexperience and incompetence.

The worse thing is the lies. Those who are not in DCPS may not see it, but even you think did do a good job would you want someone in a position that lies, from the egregious lies on her resume to the DC CAS test scores. That, plus the lack of experience. Rhee supporters, why would you want someone like that to run any organization that is connected to educating your or anyone else's children? I don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The poor get plenty of uplift and plenty of opportunity in this city - far more than most other places - but not enough of the poor do their own part and seize opportunity - instead, many rely on the handouts as a core part of their regular living rather than as what is supposed to be a temporary boost to give them a hand and lift them out of poverty.

Yeah, you tell that to a teenager who can't read properly who happens to be lucky that I'm paying my own money for a reading tutor to teach her how to read. She has no clue what is ahead of her if she can't get this skill down but she's basically a good kid who goes to school every day and does her homework and gets passed along from year to year. There are thousands of kids like her in the system coming out into a job market that no longer has decent-paying manufacturing jobs for people with limited education. It's easy to dismiss them as not doing enough to seize opportunity but even the kids who are trying to "seize opportunity" are suffering from deficits that started way back when they were toddlers. If you want the city to function properly there needs to be more friggin' opportunity to seize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You've just explained in a nutshell why DCPS is going to suck as a school system until gentrification progresses much further than it already has. Unemployment among young people in DC is around 50% because we've pursued policies that ensure the poorest of the region's poor must live in the District. Fortunately that is changing. Hopefully in 5 years from now, unemployment among DC's young people will be around 20%. And MD's (and VA's) will be similar.

So long as the purpose of all of the District's institutions is to remediate regional poverty, those institutions are going to suck at what they're nominally supposed to be doing.

Say, I know what would fix that. Here's what we do, we find some land that no one wants to live on, set up some villages and towns, and move the poor out there - you know, kind of like a special place that's reserved just for them. That way, we don't have to accommodate their needs in the District and they can get special help and live only among their own. It worked with the Cherokee in 1831. Why not the poor in 2013? They'd get exercise too if we made them march out there!

You know what they say about people being too dumb to learn from history....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poor get plenty of uplift and plenty of opportunity in this city - far more than most other places - but not enough of the poor do their own part and seize opportunity - instead, many rely on the handouts as a core part of their regular living rather than as what is supposed to be a temporary boost to give them a hand and lift them out of poverty.

Yeah, you tell that to a teenager who can't read properly who happens to be lucky that I'm paying my own money for a reading tutor to teach her how to read. She has no clue what is ahead of her if she can't get this skill down but she's basically a good kid who goes to school every day and does her homework and gets passed along from year to year. There are thousands of kids like her in the system coming out into a job market that no longer has decent-paying manufacturing jobs for people with limited education. It's easy to dismiss them as not doing enough to seize opportunity but even the kids who are trying to "seize opportunity" are suffering from deficits that started way back when they were toddlers. If you want the city to function properly there needs to be more friggin' opportunity to seize.

There are tons of opportunities to be had in Washington DC. Fortunes being made here every day. BUT, people have to do their part. If nobody's even putting in the effort to learn even the most basic foundational skills like reading and basic math, they will go nowhere. Won't have much luck getting a job if you can't even fill out a job application. But many of these kids have cultivated the "school is wack" attitude, they don't understand how much they HOLD THEMSELVES BACK with those screwed up values and attitudes. Likewise, other things like habitual tardiness or skipping altogether? With habits like that, even if you do get a job, you won't keep it long because your boss will fire you and hire someone more reliable. This is fundamental stuff, folks. And the worst part of it is that it's deeply culturally ingrained. Yet nobody really wants to address it.

[Anonymous]

A lot of these kids need to hear from the folks going back later in life to get their GED and trying to get their lives back on track to try and get a good job and get out of poverty. They would hear a lot of regrets about squandered time with all the wrong priorities in youth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poor get plenty of uplift and plenty of opportunity in this city - far more than most other places - but not enough of the poor do their own part and seize opportunity - instead, many rely on the handouts as a core part of their regular living rather than as what is supposed to be a temporary boost to give them a hand and lift them out of poverty.

Yeah, you tell that to a teenager who can't read properly who happens to be lucky that I'm paying my own money for a reading tutor to teach her how to read. She has no clue what is ahead of her if she can't get this skill down but she's basically a good kid who goes to school every day and does her homework and gets passed along from year to year. There are thousands of kids like her in the system coming out into a job market that no longer has decent-paying manufacturing jobs for people with limited education. It's easy to dismiss them as not doing enough to seize opportunity but even the kids who are trying to "seize opportunity" are suffering from deficits that started way back when they were toddlers. If you want the city to function properly there needs to be more friggin' opportunity to seize.

It needs to be ingrained right from the start that if kids don't master basic skills like math and reading, early on - a lot of the remainder of their schooling, working life and so on will be nothing but frustration and struggle. Give a man a fish and feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for life. As for getting passed along year to year, that's another mistake. All that results in is that kids get farther and farther behind compared to their peers. Instead, the failing students should be pulled out for extra reading and math to get them up to speed, rather than just passing them from grade to grade even if they are failing every class. But DCPS is not doing any of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You've just explained in a nutshell why DCPS is going to suck as a school system until gentrification progresses much further than it already has. Unemployment among young people in DC is around 50% because we've pursued policies that ensure the poorest of the region's poor must live in the District. Fortunately that is changing. Hopefully in 5 years from now, unemployment among DC's young people will be around 20%. And MD's (and VA's) will be similar.

So long as the purpose of all of the District's institutions is to remediate regional poverty, those institutions are going to suck at what they're nominally supposed to be doing.

Say, I know what would fix that. Here's what we do, we find some land that no one wants to live on, set up some villages and towns, and move the poor out there - you know, kind of like a special place that's reserved just for them. That way, we don't have to accommodate their needs in the District and they can get special help and live only among their own. It worked with the Cherokee in 1831. Why not the poor in 2013? They'd get exercise too if we made them march out there!

You know what they say about people being too dumb to learn from history....

You're right of course. Unless the District pursues policies that maximize the number of poor inside DC, and ensure that the surrounding states can avoid any responsibility for these people, it's *exactly* like the Native American genocide.

The region's poor already live on a reservation. And a half century of public policy have gotten us to this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You've just explained in a nutshell why DCPS is going to suck as a school system until gentrification progresses much further than it already has. Unemployment among young people in DC is around 50% because we've pursued policies that ensure the poorest of the region's poor must live in the District. Fortunately that is changing. Hopefully in 5 years from now, unemployment among DC's young people will be around 20%. And MD's (and VA's) will be similar.

So long as the purpose of all of the District's institutions is to remediate regional poverty, those institutions are going to suck at what they're nominally supposed to be doing.

Say, I know what would fix that. Here's what we do, we find some land that no one wants to live on, set up some villages and towns, and move the poor out there - you know, kind of like a special place that's reserved just for them. That way, we don't have to accommodate their needs in the District and they can get special help and live only among their own. It worked with the Cherokee in 1831. Why not the poor in 2013? They'd get exercise too if we made them march out there!

You know what they say about people being too dumb to learn from history....

Here's a better idea: DC gives poor residents a monthly stipend to live wherever they like. Say $1500 per month per family. And counseling to find the best house for their money, in the best possible school district. In six months 90% of DC's poor would be living in MD and VA.

There is a powerful coalition that benefits from the current system of apartheid: suburbanites, DC politicians, etc... Not so good for the families, though.

[Anonymous]

"I am not understanding a big part of this: for all you frustrated parents, railing at the system, hating Fenty, hating Rhee and hating the schools...why are you sending your kids to those schools? What exactly are you setting out to change?"

Here's why I AM frustrated. After devoting years to improving local public school, supporting Fenty to be elected Mayor and then the DCPS take-over, the goal was to remain an active DCPS parent that would see my children through MS and HS, in a BETTER DCPS than existed pre-Rhee. Years later, because of her inanity and our DC leaders' complacency, I'm out about $200,000 and counting in private school tuition. So YES. I'm BITTER. Happy for my kids who finally are not guinea pigs in an ongoing experiment, but disgusted that so much good will was exhausted and wasted along with many of the hopes for DC famillies who don't live with the luxury of such an option as we have.

[Anonymous]

21:38: I know your pain. My kids finished high school, and we also eventually went the private route. My anger is that this is not being addressed with sincerity by the elected officials. We don't need the social experiment or the union solution, or even blaming Rhee or crediting Rhee for things. Either this is serious and it matters or not. This boils down to wasting the future of so many lives, and having it happen before our eyes, during their lifetimes. What do we do?

[Anonymous]

Those with more familiarity with the system as it stands now: can the system fairly be described as un-fixable in its current