Reply to how to increase economic diversity in schools.

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "how to increase economic diversity in schools."

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nobody's stopping you six-figure crybabies from home-schooling your children.[/quote]

Nobody is stopping you from attending your neighborhood school.

And I'll let you in on a secret:   We are already home-schooling our children.  We used to do so full-time when they were toddlers, but now we home-school in the evenings and on weekends.  Why do you think our children do so well in school?

[/quote]

This comment is key -- an educator once told me that supplemental education (that is, education at home in addition to the core school hours) correlates strongly with culture.  Crudely and generally speaking, white and asian cultures in the U.S. are driven to educate at home because they do NOT expect the school system to do the whole job; whereas other cultures in the U.S. tend to expect "full service" from the school system.  I would like to see some more studies on this; but if true it would support the belief that it is culture, not race or strictly speaking SES, that predicts for high academic achievement. [/quote]

Education is a two way street.  There are two key verbs in education:  Teaching - the part that the teacher helps with, and studying - the part that the student has to do.  Ultimately a big piece of the responsibility is on the student to do the learning, and on families to support that learning.  But unfortunately a lot of families don't hold up their end of the bargain and abdicate their responsibilities.  There's a lot more to success in school than just showing up.  Yet, with policies in school that give kids passing grades even when they didn't work for them and didn't deserve them, and when they advance and graduate kids that couldn't be bothered to do the work, it sends a bad message.

And that applies to all other areas of life as well.  You have to do your part in order to succeed.  Merely showing up but then doing nothing should not entitle anyone to a meal and a roof over their head.  The rest of us have to work hard for those things, the rest of us have to be responsible, have to plan, and have to fend for ourselves.  The societal safety net is only supposed to be for those who truly have a compelling reason beyond their own control why they cannot support themselves, like the disabled or elderly.  Needing support because you were an irresponsible teenager who got knocked up isn't a terribly compelling reason.  Needing support because you can't hold down a job and keep getting fired because you can't manage to get yourself out of bed, have a bad attitude and are lazy at work isn't a terribly compelling reason.

We are cynical for a reason.  The rest of us in the hard-working middle class are deeply fatigued when we have to witness this kind of thing day in and day out, and when we end up footing the bill for the irresponsibility of others.  I have very little tolerance and sympathy for this kind of thing.[/quote]

What you say is so true and how it SHOULD work.  The achilles heel ALWAYS to this "just take goddamn personal responsibility everyone!!" argument is that it would be fair and legitimate if all families started on basically the same starting line, on the same track, in the same race.  If ALL parents had personal responsibility, appreciation for the importance of education (or even education as a non-negotiable), supplementing what happens in school at home... and a LACK of environmental stressors (violence, mental illness, neglect) that also totally impeded a PARENT's ability to model these things well, as well as a child's ability to function under the stress... If EVERY family started from the same basic starting line, then y es, the "Just step up and do what you know you're supposed to do for you and  your kids" argument would be 100% fair and realistic.

But we all know everyone does not start on the same starting block, or on the same track, or even in the same damn race.

And this isn't a "boo hoo for the unfortunate" post.  This is just about being realistic that it is an evidence-based fact that human nature is to model what you had modeled for you.  Problem solving, relationships, values... it is MUCH MUCH MUCH HARDER to go against what was modeled for you (botht he good and the bad) than to look around your family and your community and then do something DIFFERENT than everyone you see.  Sometimes including your teachers.

My mom died when I was 16 and I moved in with my dad in another state.  I communted on public transportation to high school (I guess I was a residency cheat at that point) for 2 1.4 hrs EACH WAY for the remaining 1 1/2 yrs of school.  I was exhausted, it sucked... but I was at a good public high school, thats' where all my friends were, and I'd just lost my mom.  It was NEVER even a thought for me that I would drop out of school or leave school, I just had to make it work.  Was tht because I'm some super special, dedicated, work-oriented human being?  No.  I had parents who'd drilled into me the importance of education and we'd gone through a lot for me to go to that school, so no way did it occur to me to leave.  But that was what was MODELED for me.

PP and others like you, it always seems crystal clear to me that you have little or no exposure to the home lives of hte kids you're judging.  I'm not talking poverty specifically, becaues there are plenty of poor families who work their asses off for their kids to get good or great educations, and who supplement however they can and who reinforce with their kids that they WILL finish high school and hopefully college.  THat is hardly a unique value to middle and upper class families.  But the family and environmental major dysfunctions, violence, substance abuse, neglect, gang violence, awful nutrition... PP did you really make all your "I did my part, why aren't you doing yours?" life decisions after going through those combinations of stressors?  Because that is the reality of most of the families and kids who are really failing in school.  That, combined with schools in the most stressed neighborhoods usually not having hte best teachers or the best supports that allow teachers to just teach (and not be social workers/discipline specialists).

I'm sorry, it is ignorant and totally unproductive to hold this "Take personal responsibility, that's what everyone else does" view as if everyone had basically the same starting point.

Starting point means everything, and it's so incomprehensibly difficult to go against all those negatives and DREAM UP or IMAGINE "Oh, schools aren't going to give my kid everything educationally that they need, I need to supplement.  Hmmmm, I don't know myself a lot of what my kids needs to, so now I will dream up how to supplement my own knowledge while teaching my kid at home.  Never mind our worries about where we'll live next week or the older kids who harass me and my kid every time we enter and leave the building."

Get real.  If you want to hold everyone to some standard of personal accountability, make sure you are dealing with a level playing field to start with and everyone's on the same field.  I'm sure the few things in your life you didn't know or have modeled for you, you didn't appreciate being held accountable in some impossible way for being supposed to have just "figured it out" on your own and done it.   This conversation only gets real if we acknowledge that not everyone starts with the same toolbox or the same environment from which to engage as students.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics