In today's paper there is an article about how our schools are failing the children in the inner cities. The main cite is the Ferguson, MO schools that scored less than 10 on a scale of 100 where the passing score is a 70. The author says it is the fault of the Teacher's Unions that the children there aren't given access to other forms of Education and that they are forced to attend the failing Public Schools.
I can't speak for the schools in Ferguson, but I can tell you that the schools here in Kansas are now funded with enough money to teach reading and math so kids that graduate can read and do math. There has to be something more to the story than "Its their Fault."
I refer to the old saying, "Do what you did and you will get what you got." The article in today's paper blamed a part of the problem on the Teacher's Union and then went on to say that nearly 100% of the support and money they have go to Democratic Politicians. Do you see a solution there?
I contend that our problems in the schools goes a lot deeper than just money to the schools. You would have to meet the teachers at our local school to fully understand how hard they work to get our children on track and keep them there. Then there is the support from the families that make our PTA's strongly in support of the activities. I won't even begin to tell you that our students are superior, just that their parents try hard to help the children do the best they can.
If you think our schools are a failure, get involved with a local school. I think you will see that a lot of the blame should be placed on the attitude that they will fail. Start with the attitude that our children are the future of our country and help them be proud of the education they are getting. How can we expect teachers to do their best in a condition that places all the blame on them? I'll bet that a lot of you have no concept how much money teachers spend out of pocket to enrich their classroom experience.
Every year for as long as we have been affiliated with Monarch Watch at KU, Barb had taken Monarch Caterpillars to the third grade of her old school. She helps shape the lessons they teach on the life cycle of the caterpillars and keeps the teachers stocked with enough Milk Weed leaves to let the cats grow and become butterflies. At the start of the year, Barbara also buys extra school supplies and takes them to the school to make sure that no child starts the year without the items needed to be a success. She may think Globally but she acts locally.
What do you do except read the paper and accept the fact that our kids are failing and there is nothing we can do except complain about the Teacher's Union?
MUD
Inner city school failures is not the teachers fault. The problem as I see it is the kids don't bother to learn because there are too many distractions. Most inner city kids are from single parent families with low income. They get involved with drugs, gangs, video games and want to find the fast track to the money. This leads to lack of ambition to learn. School for them is just someplace they have to go until 3 PM. After the sun sets is when their day begins. The best teachers available can only salvage a few of them. I don't see any improvement in the near future for inner city schools.
ReplyDeleteUnless and until we can foster the attitude that school is a place they can change their lives, the schools will fail to reach those kids. In the Topeka Capitol Journal article, the author of the opinion page failed to tell the parents they were responsible in a large part for the problem. It is precisely the pointing of fingers at everyone else that has us in this mess. Thanks for the input.
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