Posted on 12/17/2006 6:32:35 AM PST by wintertime
Last year, more than 7 million American people -- that’s about one in every 32 adults -- were behind bars, on probation or parole. The United States has, for years, imprisoned more people than any other country in the world. Yet, we don’t have the highest literacy rate....
(snip)
Inner-city schools fail half of their students, and jobs are removed from communities, replaced with guns and drugs, resulting in incarceration, if you’re lucky; death if you’re not. Nonetheless, many U.S. states have cut their education budgets to compensate for rapid growth in prison populations and prison construction. The misguided priorities that inform such decisions have only served to further marginalize already oppressed populations. It’s time that this country shifts its focus away from imprisonment and commits its resources to education and empowerment.
In the past 20 years, more than a thousand new prisons and jails have been built in the U.S. Yet, our prisons are more overcrowded now than ever.....(snip)... The nation’s "war on drugs" and the stiff sentencing laws that grew out of that war are largely to blame.
......The numbers of individuals sentenced for drug crimes increased nearly 65 percent between 1996 and 2003, accounting for the largest increase in inmates in the federal system.
(snip)
If federal and local governments were to adequately fund the nation’s public schools, ensuring all students had access to high-quality teachers, tutoring and after-school programs, we could stem the growth of the nation’s prison population. With support, many could be steered away from drugs and the street life and pushed towards college or vocational school. Instead, the country has poured its money into a criminal injustice system that, instead of creating special programs designed to rehabilitate the low-level offender, corals these lost souls into the nation’s prisons. Upon release, having no education and no skills, many return to the lifestyles that landed them in prison. It’s a dangerous cycle, and only prison architects and big business benefit.
In 1977, I was incarcerated for seven months. I was told that it cost taxpayers $30,000 to incarcerate me. A year later, I enrolled at Eastern Michigan University under an affirmative action program. Because I was poor, I had to use loans and tax-payer supported government grants to pay for my education. The cost of my four-year education was $24,000, less than the cost of my short jail sentence. No longer a burden to taxpayers, I am a significant taxpayer, helping, through my tax contributions, to pave the way for others who’ve yet to get an opportunity to make a way for themselves.
The tax dollars used to support my education were a worthy investment, one that benefits all of society. America should take note and act accordingly.
You really think that parents who won't accept morality and discipline from public schools would accept it from private schools?
No, you didn't post to me, but you quoted my post, therefore, it's to me.
Most of my students get home before their parents do.
Students aren't *required* to participate in after school activities or spend an hour or two "hanging out" with school friends - they only do that if the parents allow it.
Correct
Separation, or segregation, of the criminals from those who obey the law and want to learn, is a fundamental basis for liberty, security, and civil rights.
If you are prey you have no civil rights.
That's the basic premise behind No Child Left Behind.
I went from an inner city school to a plush upper middle class school, and I can say that I better teachers overall in the inner city schools. You MUST be a good teacher there. In the plush neighborhoods, the parents pull the weight for you. It is unfair to praise the schools, or blame them when it's all about the families.
Show me where it says it is a gradual process in this quote, posted before you added the "begin" which you have never added before. You have always posted comments that imply it is done NOW, right NOW with no gradual phase in
But back to an earlier question. Under what constitutional authority would these private schools punish parents? What would the punishment be? Is this set in law first? or just when it looks like we need it? What authority forces anyone to begin paying tuition? Do you rewrite IDEA, ADA and Civil Rights laws before the privatization or just ignore them and go on what feels good right then? What happens to those kids whose parents don't care about them and say "Sure, you can drop out of school at 10 (or 12, or 14, or whatever) years old." What about those parents who just say "nope, no school ever for my kid--I didn't learn nothing, neither will they. Here kid, watch TV, I'm going out." What is the mechanism that keeps them in school?
You have no arguments--strawman or otherwise. Just anger at everyone having anything to do with public schools and a general dream about how things could go your way.
It is unfair to praise the schools, or blame them when it's all about the families.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It is fair to blame government schools for undermining values, morals, and ethics taught in the home.
It is fair to blame government schools for their amoral stance toward and refusal to stand for values that would help their captives ( oops! "students") build healthy and stable families.
I personally know of a situation where a congressman's son and the daughter of a prominent politician spread used cat litter in the lobby of their school as a senior prank. Not just a speck or two, I'm talking sacks of it. Punishment? none--both had parents with influence and power. The teachers wanted these kids to miss graduation. The dads said no way--they had guests coming and they didn't want to have them come and the kids not be there. They actually would have been punished in a public school--probably with expulsion or suspension.
Kids get punished all the time in public schools. I have one in suspension right now for 5 days for pulling a pretty dumb act.
And, no don't ask me who the kids were. I know who they are and anyone here would know one of the dads, but the moment I posted it, I would have a moderator pulling the post. Sorry, I know that's lame in a way, but that's the restriction. Can I PROVE it? of course not, not in this forum.
Wow! Double wow! Talk about workin' the System...
Unfortunately, No Child Left Behind falls short, though it's a major step in the right direction, at least in terms of creating an atmosphere of accountability. The simple (though unrealistic) solution would be to let schools pass out diplomas as they wish, but allow or require a test to receive a higher-level endorsement of some sort. In other words, make the basic diploma worthless without having proof of achievement.
Frankly, I'm inclined to allow bypassing the government-issued diploma and government school processes in favor of simply allowing comprehensive testing instead. Why sit through Algebra II when you've already obtained the skills in the subject? Why sit through 11th and 12th grade when you've already adequately mastered the basic subject material required for passing the graduation exam?
There are 2 private Christian schools in a nearby city that have a reputation for taking students who have been expelled from public schools. If, of course, the parents can afford the tuition...
People who have taught there say discipline is horrible.
My dad made just a little to much for me to qualify for any kind of assistance, but plenty enough to pay taxes to support this whiner. I was fortunate that UCSD was only $212 per quarter, $36 annually for parking and about $100 per quarter for books...recycled through the "buy backs" to minimize the investment in books that didn't have continuing value. I lived at home and made a 50 mile round trip almost daily. The grind of 18-22 units per quarter and another 16 to 20 garnered over each summer allowed me to complete my B.A. in Molecular Biology at age 19. My charter was to graduate before my dad retired from the Navy. I graduated in June 1976. Dad retired in September 1977...shortly after my sister graduated from nursing school.
My #2 son paid $1,000 per class for the University of Phoenix. He paid for that out of earnings selling real estate and some veterans benefits from serving in Iraq/Kuwait with the USMC. He accumulated as much lower division credit as he could tolerate via the community college system in San Diego. He called it "super high school". It was evident from the quality of instruction and participation that neither students nor instructors really wanted to be there. The experience at University of Phoenix was 180 from the community college. UoP students and instructors wanted to be there and showed strong interest in gathering practical skill to use in their workplace. He's a real estate broker now with 26 employees. It's been almost 6 months since he graduated with the BS in Business Admin. We we last discussed the topic of student loans in August, he expected his next two home sales would pay off the remaining balance.
This is akin to saying "If aviation wants to grow more as an industry, they must invest more in Eastern Airlines.
Our high school allows kids to graduate early, once they have enough credits. (I suppose that others do too.) Kids that take no electives and only core classes can graduate in 3 years -- if they go to summer school they can do it in 2. And then off to college or to the workplace.
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