65% Of Public School 8th Graders Not Proficient In Reading

[Clark Howard]

Pictures of those who cannot read would explain a great deal of the problem. Regards, Clark

[Vern Humphrey]

that answer is so simple. it is because the liberals who have infected this country believe that the mere act of legislating something will make everything work. something isnt working, they pass more legislation and then throw money at it, even if it has no chance in hell of working.

Imagine if your roof leaked, and you hired a roofer. And after he finished, it still leaked, so you hired him again. And it still leaked. So you hired him again.

This is how public education works -- that roofer knows that if he ever actually fixes the leak, you'll stop throwing money at him

[barretcreek]

About ten years ago two members of the school board quit, so I interviewed for a position. After a few questions the president asked me who 'my constituency' was, since I didn't have any children in the district. "The taxpayers".
Not another word was spoken.

[leftyo]

Imagine if your roof leaked, and you hired a roofer. And after he finished, it still leaked, so you hired him again. And it still leaked. So you hired him again.

This is how public education works -- that roofer knows that if he ever actually fixes the leak, you'll stop throwing money at him

and thats why if the kids arent passing school, we start firing teachers that dont get it done, and strip them of their premo benefits packages. secondly for those that receive welfare and have school age children, if the kids arent passing classes or drop out, you lose your free money. carrot and stick, or whip and chair. whichever works!

[S.A. Boggs]

The school district that I reside in has not passed a successful bond levy since 1991, now they are asking for a tax to be placed on income. I expect to see this go down in defeat as well. @ the 7th grade level we pulled our daughter out due to an asinine principal and I told him so. In the new, harder school system our child flourished and those friend of her who she left behind did not. The classical definition of "crazy" is to do the same thing over and over expecting a different result. It is insane to reinforce a failure!
Sam

[Vern Humphrey]

I have a simple proposal: get three sheets of blank paper.

Label the first sheet "school standards." Write down the standards a school has to meet. You want it integrated, write id down. You want hot lunches, write it down. And ANYONE who can meet those standards can open a school, and be paid 90% of the per-pupil funding for every student he attracts.

Label the second sheet "performance standards." This states how well students have to read, do math and so on grade by grade. If the school cannot bring the student to the performance standards, they lose money and go out of business.

Label the third sheet "extra money." List the things you're willing to pay extra for -- like a school in the inner city, a school that caters to disabled children and so on.

Then let the parents choose the school. Let the good schools prosper and the bad schools die.

[togor]

Who gets the special needs kids in your scheme Vern?

[S.A. Boggs]

Special needs children are no different then any other child, so why name them. A child is a child and the parents should be able to place the child with the best fit regardless. These students need to be educated different then from the "average" population and should be treated accordingly. I have a middle grandson who is different then those in his school and educated different. He can solve complex problems yet some simple ones he cannot fathom. His mother is a school teacher so she can guide his education for his need and abilities.
Sam

[togor]

Sam the Sham has not paid attention to what is going on in public schools lately if he thinks the special needs kids are no different. Even with the extra support staff hired for special ed, for aides that sometimes have to be 1:1, the policy of mainstreaming guarantees that a minority of the kids will take up the majority of the classroom teacher's time. There is a rainbow of disabilities--physical, emotional, learning, cognative, that all require disproportionate resources. Most kids are blameless--they're just kids after all--but they consume time & attention nonetheless. On top of that add the good kids with sh*tty parents trying to get a leg up--they break every teacher's heart--and we haven't even got to the pukes who like to disrupt things for the hell of it out of sheer immaturity. People love to bitch about teachers and public schools, but conveniently (especially the conservatives) ignore the fact that schools get used as parking lots in some cases or legal dumping grounds in others every weekday from 8AM to 330PM while school is in session. Private schools can deny high resource kids but public schools are by law the end of the line. In rare cases kids get expelled for being too disruptive, but even then that happens with the knowledge that said expellee will on average cost the community more in the long run through their encounters with the legal system. The answer is better access to birth control and remedies for unplanned pregnancies.

[dryheat]

Good one Togor. I'm conservative to the core but I love birth control. And I mean control.

[blackhawknj]

Many of us in the conservative camp are well aware that schools are often nothing but daycare centers-"parking lots". We see the causes as overly generous and too easily obtained welfare benefits which have given us a 40% rate of illegitimacy, 45 years of abortion on demand which has given us a generation-several generations-of men who could care less about their offspring, resent having them. Insist their wives work because "my paycheck isn't for diapers and formula". Lax divorce laws that let women think they can kick out the wage earner and keeps the wages, an insistence that 'it takes a village.."-New Jersey schools suffers from the Rule of 75%-75% of school funding comes from non-parents, 75% of parents can't be bothered meeting with their offspring's teachers. They have "no skin in the game" to use a popular phrase.
"Unplanned pregnancies" ? Tell that to a girl who has ben collecting welfare since she was 15.

[S.A. Boggs]

Sam the Sham has not paid attention to what is going on in public schools lately if he thinks the special needs kids are no different. Even with the extra support staff hired for special ed, for aides that sometimes have to be 1:1, the policy of mainstreaming guarantees that a minority of the kids will take up the majority of the classroom teacher's time. There is a rainbow of disabilities--physical, emotional, learning, cognative, that all require disproportionate resources. Most kids are blameless--they're just kids after all--but they consume time & attention nonetheless. On top of that add the good kids with sh*tty parents trying to get a leg up--they break every teacher's heart--and we haven't even got to the pukes who like to disrupt things for the hell of it out of sheer immaturity. People love to bitch about teachers and public schools, but conveniently (especially the conservatives) ignore the fact that schools get used as parking lots in some cases or legal dumping grounds in others every weekday from 8AM to 330PM while school is in session. Private schools can deny high resource kids but public schools are by law the end of the line. In rare cases kids get expelled for being too disruptive, but even then that happens with the knowledge that said expellee will on average cost the community more in the long run through their encounters with the legal system. The answer is better access to birth control and remedies for unplanned pregnancies.

Ah! Togor the Wise has blessed us with his supreme intelligence. Now Togor the Wise, when did YOU TEACH school tell us. Inquiring minds want to know, just for the record before I was hired into a clinic I taught autistic children in public school, my grandson is autistic and I taught in a Juvenile Detention Center for inner city youth. Teaching "unteachable" children is a challenge but not impossible, I know BECAUSE I DID IT! I was given 6 of the worst incorrigibles who refused to do anything but get into trouble and brought them up. Had a riot on campus, my 6 closed the door and refused to participate while other's ran amuck. I did it by simply treating them decent and giving them a challenge to live up to and a reward to work for. Did the same with my anti-social clients and was successful. It was assigned to me to transition the delinquents from the children's team to the adult team, so don't try and convince me with your "google" knowledge as I call you. It is simply amazing how much "trained" you are! Togor, if one was your "friend" one would have to keep checking one's back for the provirable knife! You have some of the worst anti-social, superiority complex that I have witnessed in some time. In all belief, mental health counseling is needed for your maladjustment. Your superiority complex will not let you see what is needed and that is sad.
Sam

[Vern Humphrey]

and thats why if the kids arent passing school, we start firing teachers that dont get it done, and strip them of their premo benefits packages. secondly for those that receive welfare and have school age children, if the kids arent passing classes or drop out, you lose your free money. carrot and stick, or whip and chair. whichever works!

I agree with you -- but don't just blame the teachers. The whole system is rotten. If you want to make change you need to put the fear of God into the administration.

[leftyo]

I agree with you -- but don't just blame the teachers. The whole system is rotten. If you want to make change you need to put the fear of God into the administration.

yup, it definately needs a system wide cleaning.

[Vern Humphrey]

Who gets the special needs kids in your scheme Vern?

Read the whole post:

Label the third sheet "extra money." List the things you're willing to pay extra for -- like a school in the inner city, a school that caters to disabled children and so on.