What It Takes to Make a Student (Succeed According To The NYT)

New York Times Magazine ^ | 26 November 2006 | PAUL TOUGH

[theBuckwheat]

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Sorry, the graduation rate (% of entering 8th graders recieving diplomas four years later) for DC is 59%.
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My comment was based on the *proficiency* of students at their grade level in each subject area. A student can graduate without being proficient in every area.

I was raising the issue of the total cost of educating one youth. It is astoundingly high. It is even higher if you insist that student be proficient, even as measured by the dumbed-down public school idea of proficiency.

[Amelia]

It's more than that. Even students who hate school say they are going to college. They all say they going to college because "smart" students go to college and "stupid" ones don't, so they want to look smart -- or maybe they don't want to portray themselves as stupid.

[T-Bird45]

As one who works in the area of adult education, I see the results of poor scholastic preparation in the job training programs I develop for industry that desires to hire and train in today's low unemployment. Programs include screening tests to identify those most likely to succeed within the established training protocol at the best cost. Even though the tasks are mostly manual (think welding as an example), the ability to do basic math and geometry is missing in a great many potential employees and must be addressed in the training program.

I especially appreciate your posts and commentary on education as being exactly on point as to what I experience on a regular basis in my job. I would like to understand how you would approach a solution to this comment in your post #1:

"an educational effort that includes pre-John Dewey direct moral tuition"

I ask this given the aversion to linkage of the moral to the spiritual within the government schools today.

[shrinkermd]

Originally, public education focused on both intellectual as well as values direct tuition. The most popular textbooks prior to John Dewy were the McGuffey Readers. These were written by a man of deep faith who gave moral vignettes and instructions in both a covert and overt way.

IMHO what is missing in many inner city children are concepts of what is right and wrong. Individualism, consumerism and Dewey pragmatism have demolished the usual superego or conscience controls so necessary for civilized living and achievement.

How to do this will not be easy. Political circumstances are such that even a watered down Judeo-Christian value system will be vehemently opposed.

Of course the above effort must be made along with, and not as a substitute, for general knowledge and skills. In doing this, hopefully we will return to tailoring the plan to the actual, measured ability of the child with a focus on giving each child via rote learning a basis for understanding the world and themselves. Not easy.

Of course it all depends on teachers. As Alfred Adler once pointed out teachers and parents are alike in that they must pour more into what they do than they receive back. Or at least they do not see the results until years after the effort.

[skepsel]

Actually it was Canute giving a lesson to his courtiers and syncophants.

[skepsel]

They'll probably all major in education.

[Bob]

Putting aside if that includes the entire costs such as the capital for the buildings,...

Most school district budgets that I've seen maintain two separate accounts: The 'operating budget', paid with annual tax income, generally doesn't include the 'infrastructure costs', paid with long-term bond measures.

Doing this understates the true total cost but does make some sense from an accounting perspective. You still own the building for many years after you've pi$$ed away each year's operating budget.

[T-Bird45]

Thanks for the reply -- I am in agreement with your thesis and proposed methods. I note that you also understand that the toughest part of your plan is:

"IMHO what is missing in many inner city children are concepts of what is right and wrong."

Schools cannot overcome in 6-7 hours per day the environment the child experiences from birth. But, I also believe that a start must be made somewhere rather than just throwing up our hands in disgust and giving them over to their base nature.

Here is one possible solution to the resistance to the values education needed: http://www.characterfirst.com/

This is being used at the secondary level in the vocational/technical school where I work. It has varying levels of success but at least establishes the conversation.

[theBuckwheat]

That is why I mentioned the capital cost, which might amount to several hundred dollars per month per student.

[D.P.Roberts]

Thank you.

[SauronOfMordor]

Whereas suburban mean IQs (86 for blacks, 99 for whites) conform more or less to national norms, city IQs are dreadfully low.

Translation: jobs are leaving the cities, and the high-IQ professionals are leaving with them, which drags down the mean IQ of the population that remains