Anonymous wrote:There's lots of FREE stuff out there which can help provide all kinds of academic support for kids, for example my kid got a ton out of Khan Academy, that's available for free on YouTube via computers at the library.

This idea about middle class and wealthy having access to some kind of magical, special supercharged academic support outside school never was never quite valid in the first place, and given all of the excellent FREE stuff that's out there, the argument about it all being due to economic disparity outside of the classroom is even less valid.

Just because it is out there doesn't mean the child has access to it. Parents play an incredible role in what and how a child is exposed to new and different things. Having parents that can read and do read to you in early childhood, having parents who sign you up and take you to all the free stuff that is out there, having parents who know how to navigate the system, having parents that take you to the library and the museums and the zoo, having parents that make sure you eat good healthy nutritious meals every day, having parents are the assets of the middle class and upper class child- assets that most poor children do not receive.

No, you're skipping a step. They need to hear all that -- and absorb it -- from their parents.

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Anonymous wrote:When it's free and available there isn't really any reasonable excuse left for not taking advantage of it. The only excuses that are left are ignorance and apathy.

You can lead a horse to water, but it's ultimately up to the horse to drink. Just what do you think throwing money at more educational resources will do, when people don't bother availing themselves of all the excellent free resources that are already out there? What's the point of gold-plating the trough that the horse doesn't want to bother to drink out of in the first place?

Even successful people have their apathetic and ignorant moments. Some people, maybe most people, can learn how to not be ignorant and apathetic most of the time. Worth a try. What's the alternative -- fire and hire teachers until you find some who can pound information into the kids' heads until they score proficient on the DC-CAS? That hasn't worked.

You're skipping a step - that being, getting through to kids WHY the information is so important, that being that putting in the investment of time and energy, actually learning the material, and that education, hard work and proper behavior is what is most likely to get them out of poverty and turmoil and into a life of comfort, dignity and respect. Which is exactly what Bill Cosby, Nelson Mandela, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others have said. Knowledge put to work is the most powerful thing in all of human society.

Anonymous wrote:When it's free and available there isn't really any reasonable excuse left for not taking advantage of it. The only excuses that are left are ignorance and apathy.

You can lead a horse to water, but it's ultimately up to the horse to drink. Just what do you think throwing money at more educational resources will do, when people don't bother availing themselves of all the excellent free resources that are already out there? What's the point of gold-plating the trough that the horse doesn't want to bother to drink out of in the first place?

Even successful people have their apathetic and ignorant moments. Some people, maybe most people, can learn how to not be ignorant and apathetic most of the time. Worth a try. What's the alternative -- fire and hire teachers until you find some who can pound information into the kids' heads until they score proficient on the DC-CAS? That hasn't worked.

Also a large problem is public and quasi public companies are hiring non educated and high school drop outs. These jobs have high salaries and benefits so these kids can think I can just go work at metro and don't need to excel at education.

When it's free and available there isn't really any reasonable excuse left for not taking advantage of it. The only excuses that are left are ignorance and apathy.

You can lead a horse to water, but it's ultimately up to the horse to drink. Just what do you think throwing money at more educational resources will do, when people don't bother availing themselves of all the excellent free resources that are already out there? What's the point of gold-plating the trough that the horse doesn't want to bother to drink out of in the first place?

just because it's free doesn't mean poor kids are getting it -- it just means it's available.

There's lots of FREE stuff out there which can help provide all kinds of academic support for kids, for example my kid got a ton out of Khan Academy, that's available for free on YouTube via computers at the library.

This idea about middle class and wealthy having access to some kind of magical, special supercharged academic support outside school never was never quite valid in the first place, and given all of the excellent FREE stuff that's out there, the argument about it all being due to economic disparity outside of the classroom is even less valid.

Yes at the household level. Kids only spend a third of their time in school.

Anonymous wrote:This is not about Bill Cosby this is about a system that is incredibly uneven & kids whose parents often due to their financial & educational limits can only hope to find better if not perfect schools for their kids. Often these parents don't have the means to see deficits and even if they do means to remedy them. I am working with a first generation kid at Georgetown that went to a private school. I have to tell her to take the summaries she writes back and focus on tense & verb agreement. This is the fate of most poor kids. This is an economic resource problem.

You mean economic resources at the household level, not school system, right? Just trying to clarify, because, in my opinion, there are plenty of financial resources available at the DCPS/Charter School level.

Words just mere words. Change one word or misqoute one statement and all bets are off. Carry on!!

What you are describing is not so much an economic resource issue as it is about not having an understanding of what they need and not seeking out what they need even when it's freely available.

It's not "the system" that's uneven in any institutionalized sense - all the same things are available to all students in the public school system and public charter system. All fine and good to complain about privates, but the reality there is that (per NCED) 90% of Americans cannot send their kids to privates - and even that number of private school enrollments has been dropping.

What's most uneven is the part outside of the system, specifically things like family support and cultural values that emphasize the need for proper education and proper life skills.

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Anonymous wrote:I don't think SES is waived around as an excuse, but if your family history and trajectory is missing some key pieces (stable employment, college attendance, safe neighborhood, stable family structure) its more difficult to overcome and be successful - you have to work that much harder, without any guide on how to do so. And there is no magic bullet to makeup for it.

The "community" has condemned all of the negative aspects and behaviors going on - but you have to understand that our voice and opinion doesn't have any sway or impact.

Really? Then how Bill Cosby is dissed any time he tries to encourage the black community to pull themselves up???

You're reinforcing my exact point. Bill Cosby speaks about what many of us believe, but understand that this voice and opinion does not make a difference to those who need to hear it most. So that's why Bill Cosby gets "dissed". Got it now?

Bill Cosby speaks truth, but those who need to hear it don't want to hear it because they'd rather blame everyone else and stay dependent.

Why work when the government will support you? Why study hard if you do not plan to work?

The obvious answer is that the standard of living is much better for those who work. However, if you don't appreciate the benefits of the marginal increase in the standard of living, choosing not to work is a rational decision.

The time has come to cut back social programs in order to end multi-generational poverty. We need to create incentives to work and, therefore, to study hard.

Anonymous wrote:This is not about Bill Cosby this is about a system that is incredibly uneven & kids whose parents often due to their financial & educational limits can only hope to find better if not perfect schools for their kids. Often these parents don't have the means to see deficits and even if they do means to remedy them. I am working with a first generation kid at Georgetown that went to a private school. I have to tell her to take the summaries she writes back and focus on tense & verb agreement. This is the fate of most poor kids. This is an economic resource problem.

She went to a private school and didn't adequately learn tense and verb agreement? Maybe it wasn't just the result of bad teaching.

Perhaps she was taught well at school and it didn't stick because she didn't have it reinforced at home and didn't do much independent reading and writing.

This is not about Bill Cosby this is about a system that is incredibly uneven & kids whose parents often due to their financial & educational limits can only hope to find better if not perfect schools for their kids. Often these parents don't have the means to see deficits and even if they do means to remedy them. I am working with a first generation kid at Georgetown that went to a private school. I have to tell her to take the summaries she writes back and focus on tense & verb agreement. This is the fate of most poor kids. This is an economic resource problem.