Reply to So much less frenzy these days - does that mean Common Lottery is really really working?

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Reply to "So much less frenzy these days - does that mean Common Lottery is really really working?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Bear in mind that not everyone's standards are the same. [b] For some schools, particularly where there's a very high FARMS percentage, there is an ingrained notion in the education community around Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, of the school's primary function being to serve first and foremost as a safe place to get kids off of the streets and get them fed.  Education and behavior are secondary to that - and that primary function may even be to the detriment of that first (for example, we can't make the classwork too hard or the discipline too harsh, lest kids end up back on the streets)[/b].

That's important to some folks.

But to others, where kids skipping school and running wild on the streets is not an issue, where kids going hungry is not an issue, that doesn't meet their needs or standards.  Those folks are far more interested in an education that IS challenging.

And then there's the in-between.

And then, there's folks who are blissfully unaware of any of these paradigms...[/quote]

As someone working in a very high FARMS DCPS elementary, I just gotta say um, NO!  What's your source for "the education community" in high FARMS schools somehow majority believing that safety and food are the primary purposes of school, and education and behavior are secondary?  Where are you getting that from?  I can tell you that in the 2 high FARMS DCPS schools I work and worked at, there was a very clear culture that educating the students was primary, and that to do that we had to make sure we did all we could to address the factors that most get in the way of them being "present and available for instruction": they've eaten, and as much as possible they're not being traumatized by other students or staff in school.  And where that student is acting our or another student is creating a problem for other students, we do what we can to manage that behavior without detracting from instruction.

Of course these are incredibly difficult balances to strike, and no one I know actually working in a high FARMS DCPS feels they have all the resources they need to do all of this well - or even adequately.  Our primary job is to educate each student to the best of our and their abilities.  I strongly strongly disagree that somehow the majority mindset is that our primary job is safety and nutrition.  Where are you getting that from, what is your source that this is the "mindset in the education commuity" re: high FARMS schools??[/quote]

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