Reply to School Segregation and the Boundary Issues

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Reply to "School Segregation and the Boundary Issues "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It isn't that poor children can't learn.  It is that poor parenting produces poor learners.  DC first and foremost has a colossal parenting problem.  It is considered racist and classist to point out that obvious fact, but it is the truth.[/quote]

Whenever I hear bootstrapping stories or people talk about their favorite model minority du jour (Vietnamese boat people?!) I want to always point out that most of these poor families were usually stable and the families supported and encouraged the kids in going to school. The children were not being abused or neglected at home.

I've seen it firsthand. A lot of the poorest students in DC are also dealing with trauma - being abused, being neglected, being abandoned by a parent, having a parent incarcerated, being removed from your family, and put into foster care, parents on drugs, homelessness. I've seen parents who neglected their kids and it was the kids's job to get up in the morning and go to school because their parents were asleep. Kids whose parents wouldn't wash their clothing or take care of their hair. All of that creates is trauma in the poor kid's brain.

I remember one kid specifically who was dealing with both abuse and neglect.(going to be rather vague to hide the details)  Although the student had a phenomenal teacher (who later got recruited to a JKLMM school) the student was just not able to sit in class and learn and would often have emotional breakdowns. The student was not able to learn. The best thing the teacher did for the student was get social services involved. The following year, the student was removed from living in a neglectful and abusive home. Even though the student was not in the best classroom the student still made huge advances in reading and math and went from being two years behind to being on grade level.

Another issue I'd see all the time was just bad parenting. Although the child's physical needs were being kept the parent just had no idea how to raise a kid and teach them right from wrong or that actions have consequences. It is very hard to give a child boundaries at school when they are used to getting whatever they want or just being spanked or whipped with a strap when they misbehave.

Anyway what I'm trying to say is that while I understand politically that you can't say "High expectations for some" until DC is able to change the entrenched poverty situation, the schools will still have a lot of students who are just dealing with too much trauma to be function well in school.[/quote]

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