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....
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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.
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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.
That should be "mentoring".
Odd, I suppose I should have been fired over a decade ago.
You notice that the parents chose to send their children to this school, and most probably paid for the priviledge. I believe that Catholic schools do extend scholarships for churchmembers who can't afford the tuition but wish a religious education for their children, however?
How many drug and alcohol addicted single parents do you suppose would choose to have their children attend such a school, knowing they would be required to attend these meetings?
You don't seem to understand that there are parents out there who can't seem to be bothered to be concerned about their children.
Our school has at least three events each year for parents to come meet the teachers. In addition, parents can schedule conferences at any time, call, or email. I never see or hear from most of my students' parents. I have had several students I'm aware of whose parents did not know what grade their children were in -- they were not aware that their children had failed one or more grades.
In my area, we have something called Student Support Teams, to try to help students who are struggling or failing academically. The team is supposed to consist of teachers, counselors, and the parents. The parents have to give consent for the students to be placed, but 90% or more of them never bother to attend the meetings.
I wouldn't ask parents to sign a contract limiting TV because it is out of what I am hired -- and qualified to do. Now I do use quite a bit of conservative material in my day to day teaching, and I have never been called on the carpet for it. I use Bennett's 'Big Book of Virtues' just about daily. This does emphasize good moral conduct. There are teachers in my school that have used the Bible in context with their teaching. Since this teacher taught my older daughter who is now in college and she is still here, I assume it is allowed in our school.
Beyond that, I suppose I could go to houses and tuck kids in and lecture parents in a harsh, disapproving tone, but I don't make that choice.
I doubt that any private school holds the types of meetings you described from 'back in the day.' Those types of meetings would be considered too judgmental and too 'nosy.' I got news for you, private schools are not known for being the beacons of virtue you seem to think they are. When the kids are kicked out of public school--they go to the private schools. As long as the parents continue to pay, the kids continue to attend.
What callous, unfeeling young people are at my child's school!!! I am appalled at such senseless, uncaring attittudes!! /sarcasm OFF
Cross fingers! You KNOW I will let you know when it happens!
Fingers crossed! It's always seemed to me that the best students also are active in other activities - they seem to have the self-discipline and time-management skills to juggle a variety of activities!
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