Posted on 01/28/2006 9:18:58 AM PST by JohnLongIsland
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 27 —Ladera Heights is a place that some black Angelenos aspire to and others scoff at.
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Monica Almeida/The New York Times Alisa Ivie looking at the homework of her children, Joshua, 11, and Jessica, 6, at their home in Ladera Heights, near Los Angeles. It is a choice hilltop neighborhood filled with spacious houses, well-trimmed shrubbery and city and ocean views. Home to many African-American doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professionals, the community is sometimes called "the black Beverly Hills."
But community leaders say just one thing is missing, decent public schools, and their fight to change that has unsettled many of their neighbors.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This is a great sign. People are tired of sending kids to disfunctional public schools.
It wouldn't be so bad were it not for the fact that the government takes thousands of dollars out of my pocket every year to pay for this failed system, which is really nothing more than day care. If they did not take the money, then I could at least use it to pay a private school to educate my kids.
If Gilliam and other like thinking Ladera Heights parents can win the political fight, here's the proof and the model to follow:
What are secrets to success of local military school districts? (With follow-up column)
Of San Antonio's 17 school districts, three little-noticed ones consistently deliver superior results.
Schools in those districts continue to rack up national and state recognitions for excellence. And their students — who graduate and go to college at higher-than-average rates — are regularly among the city's top performers in state, federal and college entrance exams.
Should you choose to read the excerpts from Carlos Guerra's columns, it will be easy to point to just one thing, like strict discipline or involved parents, but resist the temptation.
Every element of the military school districts' model blends and combines to produce one successful result : educating the children.
And not wanting your child bullied in school... Those evil, selfish parents.
"The debate parallels one that confronts many middle-class parents in urban areas: whether to help lift local schools by sending their children there or whether to put their children first and send them to other schools with superior reputations."
There is no debate to be had here. The parent's responsibility is to his or her own child. They're PARENTS, they are not the head of the Board of Education.
Bad habits die hard.
I was bullied. Needless to say they told me (the bullies) it was so I could learn to stand up for myself. Wrecked my GPA and caused me to gain a TON of weight. One of the bullies had apparantly tried to murder her own sister. I honestly wonder why it is they allow such psychos in schools where quiet, vulnerable students just want to learn and not be harassed day in and day out.
You are not alone in your wondering.
I would be willing to bet that most of us have been at times both the bully and the bullied. I wonder about the why of that, too.
"The debate parallels one that confronts many middle-class parents in urban areas: whether to help lift local schools by sending their children there or whether to put their children first and send them to other schools with superior reputations."
I'd be careful about buying into the superior reputation part. WE found out the hard way that private schools don't always hold up to public schools.
We home-schooled our daughter and sent our son to the best private school in the city through elementary and junior high and imagine our shock when my nephews who attend public schools since kindergarten scored much higher than my son on standardized tests. My son was ranked number one in his class and had scored the highest score out of his class. At the time we paying $9,000 a year on tuition and considering enrolling our daughter. We did some research and found out if you look at children who come from well off families or families with college educated parents public schools beat any private school in the state by a large amount.
Anyways, the point is the number one factor in your child's academic success is you the parent. Parents who care and can afford it will usually send their kids to private school which arificially raises the school's scores. People who have children doing poorly in schools really have to take responsibility and stop blaming the schools.
Overall, if academics are the only reason you're sending you kids to private school, take if form experience do some fishing around and get the real numbers and see if you can save some money yourself!
You are probally right. But, I can imagine that most of the residents in Ladera Heights works and are responsible citizen. They must be, just to be able to live there. I would think that they are mostly conservatives not DemoCANTS.;-)
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