Reply to Truancy In DC HS Is Shocking - Why No Urgency To Address?!!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Truants need jobs and law enforcement. [/quote]

Right, these students need some sort of vocational school and a jobs program. Saying "You don't know how to multiply but we're putting you in Algebra 1 at because of your age" doesn't help anyone.

We need tracks that meet all students where they are, and for the students on the very low end this might mean doing what can be done to set them up best for gainful employment that matches their skill level.[/quote]

OSSE requires Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra II for high school graduation, so DCPS is limited in terms of the degree to which they can do this. They could push Algebra I to 10th grade for some students, but that doesn't solve much. [/quote]

If they had a separate school for the chronically truant and kids who are at high risk of dropping out or graduating with little to no skills due to social promotion, they could design a curriculum that more practically served these kids needs.

A 15 yr old who is absent from school 60% of the time does not need and will not benefit from a standard Algebra class. But you could design a curriculum that taught the aspects of that class that ARE useful to that student, in a class with other students at a similar level, in a school geared toward preparing kids for a vocation as opposed to college. I have seen this work. Not for every kid, but you can help a lot of kids this way. Design a school to actually meet their needs, where the the challenges they are facing at home are understood and accepted and the school is prepared to support them, and you get get at least some of these kids on a track that ends in employment and a functional life.

The problem is that DC wants to treat every single student as though they have the exact same potential in life. So they will act like a chronically truant kid at Ballou with a parent in prison and a history of drug use and criminal activity should receive the same education as some kid at JR with two lawyers for parents and a perfect attendance record and 200k sitting in a 529 with his name on it. I'm not saying the kid at JR is a better human being or "deserves" more. But from a practical standpoint, these two kids cannot have the same expectations in life and it is actually cruel to the kid at Ballou to pretend it's the case. Because then when it doesn't happen, it's like it's the kids fault. It's not. He does not have the same opportunities as the kid from JR and never will.

We really struggle with the idea that life is inherently unfair and we don't actually live in a meritocracy. But if you just accept and then ask "how can we help people avoid the worst outcomes in life, how can we help even people who have been dealt a crappy hand in life some baseline level of stability and possibility in their life?" then you might actually be able to help people.[/quote]

Just 200K is the 529…? [/quote]

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