New York is plagued by diploma-mill high schools

[SVPete]

New York is plagued by diploma-mill high schools
By NY Post Editorial Board
June 30, 2016 | 8:59p

A landmark report by StudentsFirstNY just tore the mask off the supposed “success” of many city high schools: They’re graduating kids without actually teaching them.

Mayor de Blasio touts a 70 percent graduation rate as proof his policies are working.

Problem is, half the grads aren’t ready for college (or a career in the workforce). CUNY deemed only 35 percent of New York City high-school graduates college-ready last year.
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The HS for Medical Professions boasts that 95 percent of students graduate — yet only 15 percent are college-ready. The UFT Charter School sports a 78 percent graduation rate, but only 11 percent are college-ready.
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We don’t blame de Blasio or Fariña or even the United Federation of Teachers for all the system’s failings.

No, we blame them for their fight against reform, and all their lies and spin as they pretend everything’s just fine.

IMO, when the educrats and teacher's unions fight and sabotage reforms - i.e. render and keep primary and secondary education worthless - it's time to pull the plug, and for parents who can to rescue their children through private schools and homeschooling. It's a horrible thing to admit - and making something that is better will be painful - but many public schools in many states have become dangerous and toxic indoctrination centers for PC activists, where views contrary to the activists' are suppressed and punished.

[thundley4]

Some of the guys I work with give me crap because I went went to a small town school and they went to one of the city schools. There were 53 people in my class and all graduated.

We had the same teachers for 4 years, and all of our teachers knew every students name.  Some of my teachers had even taught my older brothers and sisters including my oldest sister, 10 years older.

Average class sizes back then were around 20-25.  I just checked on the current size at the same school. Still 20-25.

I'll take a small town school anytime over a city school.

[SVPete]

Some of the guys I work with give me crap because I went went to a small town school and they went to one of the city schools. There were 53 people in my class and all graduated.

We had the same teachers for 4 years, and all of our teachers knew every students name.  Some of my teachers had even taught my older brothers and sisters including my oldest sister, 10 years older.

Average class sizes back then were around 20-25.  I just checked on the current size at the same school. Still 20-25.

I'll take a small town school anytime over a city school.

My experience was in between - a medium-sized town (~20K) with a graduating class on the order of 500 (it received students from about a third of the county). "Despite" not being in a large city, it was quite good as PSs go. But city people for some reason have a superiority complex to maintain, so their stereotyped image of small-town schools and of small towns' residents (and rural people) is of semi-literate ignorami.

My rural and small town PS experience taught me a couple of key lessons that became part of our family's decision to homeschool K-12: one is that even at good schools there are a few very poor teachers who cannot be fired, due to tenure, and who often cannot be avoided even if a parent knows who/what they are.

[Chris_]

A landmark report by StudentsFirstNY just tore the mask off the supposed “success” of many city high schools: They’re graduating kids without actually teaching them.

Typical big city schools.

I went to school downtown in the projects.  We spent half the year re-learning what was taught the year before because some parents refused to educate their children at home during the summer. 

[SVPete]

Typical big city schools.

I went to school downtown in the projects.  We spent half the year re-learning what was taught the year before because some parents refused to educate their children at home during the summer. 

One of the things I noticed when I started in a PS in 4th Grade (parochial school, 1st-3rd Grades) was that the first 2 months or so of a school years was review of the previous year's work. What made my 4th Grade year even more frustrating was that, through "poor" planning my 3rd Grade teacher had finished our Math book early. So rather than do nothing, she started us in on 4th Grade Math. At the end of my 3rd Grade year that parochial school had to close down. My teacher gave me worn copies of 4th Grade and 5th Grade Readers that would otherwise have been trashed. Guess what I devoured that summer!

[thundley4]

We barely spent any time reviewing the previous year. I had the same teacher for all 4 years of English, science and math classes. It was a very small school, less than 400 total K-12.