Her language skills and her (lack of) reading skills cause me to wonder how she managed to get past the third grade. She is the prime example of what’s wrong with our schools. She should have been flunked repeatedly until she mastered the requirements of each grade. But instead, she was passed on each school year in hopes that the next teacher in line might have better luck.
I refuse to believe that she couldn’t do a LOT better if she applied herself. But she never had to do so because the reward of graduation was given regardless of achievement.
My aunts, uncles and mother all graduated from Miami Edison High School and went on to lead productive lives. One uncle founded, ran and owned a large chain of banks in Florida for many years and was friends with President Nixon and other worthies and an aunt was the school nurse at Rutgers University for decades. They were poorer than Rachel Jeantel could ever imagine back then.