Essay by a teacher in a black high school

[Splashdown]

Want to keep kids off drugs and engaged?  Extra curricular activities.  It's proven.  Give them something to do that has rewards for their hard work AND they must be passing in school to be able to participate.

Trap shooting
Archery
Golf
Tennis
Chess
Bowling
Etc ...

On top of the other 'normal' type stuff like baseball, football, basketball ...

Look, not every kid is a jock nor can every kid participate in the 'normal' sports.  Take a kid in a wheelchair and hand them a bow!  All of a sudden you have a kid who has the potential to be a rock star!

Look it up, the stats prove out that extra curricular activities keep kids engaged in school and off drugs.  Yeah, some of them might cost the tax payers a little on the start up side but the return could and should far outweigh that expense.

KC

Great ideas, but who's going to teach a hoodrat archery? Or Golf? As the Gospel says, "the harvest is plenty; laborers are few."

Extracurriculars also cost money. School districts need to get leaner. Buh-bye teachers unions and 6-to 7-figure superintendents.

Also, in the scenario outlined by the post in the OP, how do we measure an effective teacher?

[JohnnyReb]

Great ideas, but who's going to teach a hoodrat archery? Or Golf? As the Gospel says, "the harvest is plenty; laborers are few."

Extracurriculars also cost money. School districts need to get leaner. Buh-bye teachers unions and 6-to 7-figure superintendents.

Also, in the scenario outlined by the post in the OP, how do we measure an effective teacher?

The one with a with a 20 round magazine automatic and two night sticks.

[Dori]

Great ideas, but who's going to teach a hoodrat archery? Or Golf? As the Gospel says, "the harvest is plenty; laborers are few."

The only solution I see is getting them out of the hood when they are little.  If you wait until high school, it's already too late for them.

[CG6468]

The only solution I see is getting them out of the hood when they are little.  If you wait until high school, it's already too late for them.

If you wait until the 7th grade it is too late.

[Splashdown]

The only solution I see is getting them out of the hood when they are little.  If you wait until high school, it's already too late for them.

Again, agreed. But we tried that in the '60s with "Busing." It sucked.

I'm reading this book titled Tattoos on the Heart. It's about a Jesuit priest who has gone into the gang-riddled LA 'hood and is making a difference. He started a bunch of projects called "Homeboy Industires." He's getting gang members off the streets and into real-life areas.

I think the answer is to go in and reclaim the hood. Small schools. Neighborhood schools. Charter schools.

--says the overweight Caucasian guy.

Some Catholic schools have the right idea. Check out "Nativity" schools, run by the Jesuits, I think.

[Texacon]

Great ideas, but who's going to teach a hoodrat archery? Or Golf? As the Gospel says, "the harvest is plenty; laborers are few."

Extracurriculars also cost money. School districts need to get leaner. Buh-bye teachers unions and 6-to 7-figure superintendents.

Also, in the scenario outlined by the post in the OP, how do we measure an effective teacher?

The money part, surprisingly enough, is not the big issue.  There are a lot of groups that will donate to the cause.  NRA will do a lot on the part of shooting sports and so will others to promote their products or their services.

The teaching part is also not as big of a deal as you might think.  There are a lot of people who donate their time to things like this.

Heck, the teeny tiny 3A school here has a robotics class and they go to competitions.  I'm trying to get a trap shooting team and archery brought in.  The VERY small school district I grew up in has both of these things and they generate their own money to support the clubs.  They had a kid in a wheelchair who went to national in archery.

KC

[Dori]

Again, agreed. But we tried that in the '60s with "Busing." It sucked.

I'm reading this book titled Tattoos on the Heart. It's about a Jesuit priest who has gone into the gang-riddled LA 'hood and is making a difference. He started a bunch of projects called "Homeboy Industires." He's getting gang members off the streets and into real-life areas.

I think the answer is to go in and reclaim the hood. Small schools. Neighborhood schools. Charter schools.

--says the overweight Caucasian guy.

Some Catholic schools have the right idea. Check out "Nativity" schools, run by the Jesuits, I think.

School vouchers would help somewhat, but I still think a lot of it comes from their lack of good parenting, home life and the communities at large. 

I work downtown L.A. and have had to take the surface streets when the freeway was jammed up.  It's downright scary driving in some areas.  The businesses are all covered in graffiti, bars on windows and doors, yellow tape and police cars every other block.

 

[Ptarmigan]

School vouchers would help somewhat, but I still think a lot of it comes from their lack of good parenting, home life and the communities at large. 

I work downtown L.A. and have had to take the surface streets when the freeway was jammed up.  It's downright scary driving in some areas.  The businesses are all covered in graffiti, bars on windows and doors, yellow tape and police cars every other block.

 

Totally agree. It starts at home with the parents. Broken down families is a huge problem in Blacks.

[Splashdown]

School vouchers would help somewhat, but I still think a lot of it comes from their lack of good parenting, home life and the communities at large. 

I work downtown L.A. and have had to take the surface streets when the freeway was jammed up.  It's downright scary driving in some areas.  The businesses are all covered in graffiti, bars on windows and doors, yellow tape and police cars every other block.

That's why I think schools need to go longer--to make up for the lack of parents at home. Some of these kids are 3, 4 generations removed from a "traditional," nuclear family.

I live near a town called Chester, Pa. At one time it was one of the more beautiful towns on the Eastern Seaboard. Today, drug central. Kerlin Street in Chester is the alleged birthplace of the carjacking. We're thinking of trying to get one of those historical markers.

[whiffleball]

White people can't fix any of this.  More money thrown at the problems can't fix any of this.  Education can't fix any of this.  The affected people need to want to fix it and take pride in being able to do so.

[EagleKeeper]

White people can't fix any of this.  More money thrown at the problems can't fix any of this.  Education can't fix any of this.  The affected people need to want to fix it and take pride in being able to do so.

This is pretty much where I fall on this issue, if the folkes that are dying and failing in school can't be bothered to have a realistic discussion about it then I am not going to waste much time worrying about it.

Anytime a black person gets an opportunity on the soapbox to speak on this subject they are vilified, fine, they can sit in their own shit until they get it figured out. In the meantime just stay in Chicago, Detroit, Oakland and the like.

[Splashdown]

This is pretty much where I fall on this issue, if the folkes that are dying and failing in school can't be bothered to have a realistic discussion about it then I am not going to waste much time worrying about it.

Anytime a black person gets an opportunity on the soapbox to speak on this subject they are vilified, fine, they can sit in their own shit until they get it figured out. In the meantime just stay in Chicago, Detroit, Oakland and the like.

And Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton win. And our country continues to suffer. And the Democrats get 90 percent of the Black vote to infinity.

Do you think, realistically, that there will ever be a Conservative president again?

[EagleKeeper]

And Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton win.

Well, they got a pretty good record so far, how do propose to explain it to the vast majority of black folkes that those guys really don't have their best interests in mind.

And our country continues to suffer.

That's not something that anybody but themselves have the ability to change.

And the Democrats get 90 percent of the Black vote to infinity.

Well, the Dems are fixing to pick up 11 million new voters so whats the difference.

Do you think, realistically, that there will ever be a Conservative president again?

No, not really. And the odds get worse by the day.

[EagleKeeper]

Ok, here is an idea.

Each problem school district has at least one school along the lines of a charter, Union teachers need not apply and the teachers that do make it are rigorously and continually vetted. They also make pretty good bank as a result

Obviously those that can afford it can send their kids there which will help to fund the school but I also think that there needs to be minimum standards that must be met . Then you take the top 2% or whatever gradewise from the problem schools and give them a free ride at the charter.

Personally, I think trying to engineer culture is a fools errand but if you can capture the creme and give them a chance I think it's worth the effort.

I'm not a teacher, nor do I work in education so I don't know if anything like this exists and the gist of this should not be intended to save any particular group of people. The point should be to salvage the best and brightest from broken school systems and perhaps provide a goal for folkes that are serious about breaking out of the cycle.

[CG6468]

Some good points, but they'd rather just keep dumbing down the system too make everyone "equal."

[vesta111]

Ok, here is an idea.

Each problem school district has at least one school along the lines of a charter, Union teachers need not apply and the teachers that do make it are rigorously and continually vetted. They also make pretty good bank as a result

Obviously those that can afford it can send their kids there which will help to fund the school but I also think that there needs to be minimum standards that must be met . Then you take the top 2% or whatever gradewise from the problem schools and give them a free ride at the charter.

Personally, I think trying to engineer culture is a fools errand but if you can capture the creme and give them a chance I think it's worth the effort.

I'm not a teacher, nor do I work in education so I don't know if anything like this exists and the gist of this should not be intended to save any particular group of people. The point should be to salvage the best and brightest from broken school systems and perhaps provide a goal for folkes that are serious about breaking out of the cycle.

To me the bussing of students to far away schools did a huge disservice to the kids.  

Before bussing kids went to school near enough to home to walk to school.  For the parents this was great as they could keep an eye on what was going on in the schools without trying to find public transport 20 miles into an area they were not welcome in.

No problem attending the kids sports game or going to teacher parent meetings.   That the 45 minute ride that the kids had to sit still for twice a day ate into the time the kids  needed to exercise or study, did them no good.  

I was very much pro bussing until I got a part time job driving a school bus in down town Norfork VA.

An eye opener, for the kindergartners to third grade, some ,way too many, would fall asleep coming and going.

My high school route was my favorite, the kids would sing and show me the latest Ghetto dance steps.   Poorest of the poor, the kids lived so far from school I have doubts their parents even knew where the kids went to school.

My job was to just drive 100 kids to two different schools twice a day. and insure their safety. I seldom saw the older kids get on with any kind of books, once in awhile one or two would carry a musical instrument.  

Bussing is necessary in rural areas but in the city's complete BS.

Then the removal of recess to burn off energy, darn even prisoners get time each day to exercise.

Anyone remember Study Hall ?    We were given an hour a day to do what is called home work today.  Why teachers are hired to teach and expect kids to go home and spend another two hours with no professional to answer questions is beyond me.

Heck when the New Math came in, in the 70's my oldest father that taught at Mare Island Nuclear Power School took some of her second grade math homework and he and a couple other instructors could not grasp the concept.  Before calculators they still used slide Rulers.  Neither of us could help my daughter until WE took classes in the New Math.    

Teachers today are so lazy, this is just a job for them, few really care about teaching as a life commitment, very sad.  Longer hours a day in school, no 3 months off in the summer-----first to object are the Unions, teachers are paid the same as they would receive for 12 months of work without 3 months vacation.

I have seen Asian kids that could not read English that beat the pants of those that could in math.   So if anyone that is not hard wired for math, not the persons fault, they are just not being taught in a way they can understand.

Just reading about animals that with the proper teachers can learn over 900 words in sign language, now if a good teacher can teach animals, why can't they teach kids that are oh so abler to absorb most anything-----Children's brains are like sponges if a child does not learn then they are not being taught correctly.
      

[Splashdown]

Ok, here is an idea.

Each problem school district has at least one school along the lines of a charter, Union teachers need not apply and the teachers that do make it are rigorously and continually vetted. They also make pretty good bank as a result

Obviously those that can afford it can send their kids there which will help to fund the school but I also think that there needs to be minimum standards that must be met . Then you take the top 2% or whatever gradewise from the problem schools and give them a free ride at the charter.

Personally, I think trying to engineer culture is a fools errand but if you can capture the creme and give them a chance I think it's worth the effort.

I'm not a teacher, nor do I work in education so I don't know if anything like this exists and the gist of this should not be intended to save any particular group of people. The point should be to salvage the best and brightest from broken school systems and perhaps provide a goal for folkes that are serious about breaking out of the cycle.

EK,

At the turn of the last century, Catholic nuns when into the dregs of the industrial cities. They taught the Irish and Italian immigrants for basically nothing. Those immigrants had children whose children are doing pretty well now.

I don't think what you're saying isn't "engineering culture," It's saving the country. LBJ's version of social engineering, the War on Poverty, gave us the problems we have today. Nativity schools in many cities are doing exactly what you're talking about.

The irony of the whole thing is that we spend more on failing schools per child than parents do who send their kids to Catholic schools.

I'm using Catholic schools here because it's the easiest example. They don't have to be religiously based.

You're on to something. Which is why, as CG said, it probably won't happen unless some private group does it.

[EagleKeeper]

EK,

At the turn of the last century, Catholic nuns when into the dregs of the industrial cities. They taught the Irish and Italian immigrants for basically nothing. Those immigrants had children whose children are doing pretty well now.

I don't think what you're saying isn't "engineering culture," It's saving the country. LBJ's version of social engineering, the War on Poverty, gave us the problems we have today. Nativity schools in many cities are doing exactly what you're talking about.

The irony of the whole thing is that we spend more on failing schools per child than parents do who send their kids to Catholic schools.

I'm using Catholic schools here because it's the easiest example. They don't have to be religiously based.

You're on to something. Which is why, as CG said, it probably won't happen unless some private group does it.

Yeah, your probably right , this model would piss off too many of the democrat constituency so it will only exist in red states as an experiment.

1) Privately owned
2) For Profit
3) No Union
4) Pay to attend
5) Curriculum determined by the school

So yeah, it's a non starter, oh well were back to the black community for ideas.

[wasp69]

The affected people need to want to fix it and take pride in being able to do so.

And this, my friends is the root answer to it all.  Just like anyone who says "we need another Reagan" is not serious about solving anything.  If we don't realize the answer lies within each of us (we are Reagan) to solve the problem, then we will never put our shoulder to the wheel and push.

The "black community" needs to figure this out for themselves before they'll listen to anyone else.

[obumazombie]

In my day it was the 12" ruler. If you pulled away you bought another whack. Then there was the paddle. Those Nuns knew how and when to wield both. Reinstitute that, you have a chance.

[Mr Mannn]

This is the army liberals have built. Ignorant, illiterate, easily led with emotional arguments.

Liberals WANT an unemployable, dependent, violent class of minions. At the same time they want to disarm our ability to defend ourselves against the rising tide of wolves in our midst.

[Splashdown]

This is the army liberals have built. Ignorant, illiterate, easily led with emotional arguments.

Liberals WANT an unemployable, dependent, violent class of minions. At the same time they want to disarm our ability to defend ourselves against the rising tide of wolves in our midst.

When a white guy bemoans the state of the Black community, he's immediately dubbed a racist and shouted down.

When a black guy (Cosby, Cain, Condee Rice, Col. West) tries to discuss the state of the black community, he's called an Uncle Tom, a house n****er, etc. Hell. I couldn't even bring myself to type the word among fellow Conservatives.

It's pretty bad. It's almost checkmate.

When the left says, "let's have a conversation about race," I invariably want to hide my wallet. One more government program will do it. One more billion dollars over the billions we've already spent will fix it and make everything "equal." We're not patriotic--we're not caring--if we oppose more money thrown at the problem.

Here is where I'll get bitchslapped...

When the right says, "let's have a conversation about race," we talk about doing it for yourselves. We talk about private enterprise. Having pride in your family, doing it yourself, because that's how it's done. Just look around.

Fr. Gregory Boyle, SJ, wrote a book called Tattoos on the Heart.  It changed my channel. Here's a guy who's succeeding. Not every time. Many times, he buries gang members he tries to help--almost 200, to be exact. But there's this:

Homeboy Industries is not for those who need help, only for those who want it. In this sense, we are a gang-rehabilitation center. Often the homies who come to us are not-ready-for prime-time players. Just released from prison, they are offered what is often their first jobs, where they glean soft skills at Homeboy Industries like learning to show up on time, every day, and taking orders from disagreeable supervisors.

Maybe one guy makes a difference. I haven't fully thought this through yet. Jesus pissed off both the left wing and the right wing in his day, so bad, that both sides wanted him crucified. You could say that he was objectively a failure. Preached some tough stuff for three years. Gets killed. But look what happens.

[obumazombie]

Only a few in power wanted to crucify Jesus. Look where he is and they are now.