Won’t work.
DC schools suck because...dramatic pause...
MOST OF THE KIDS THAT GO THERE ARE HOPELESS THUGS THAT DON’T GIVE A SH*T.
There, I said it. I don’t care how much money you pump in there, those kids don’t WANT to learn, and won’t. It’s not their fault, either, their PARENTS didn’t instill the values into them to want to learn.
In all due respect, if it is a pay for results program, it is a step in the right direction. Now as to the thug theory, it’s a sad fact that all the white kids are in exclusive private schools, imho. There is no starker expample of a cultural divide than DC.
You are correct, but I’d like to make one correction. You say ‘parents’ as if there are TWO adults in the home. The illegitimate rate in DC is a staggering 80% or higher. There are no men in the homes, which may be part of the problems you highlighted.
That’s why it’s such a joke when people talk about good school districts. The students and parents in the district make the schools look good, not the other way around. Most kids learn in spite of the schools, not because of them.
Ditto
But what about “No Child Left Behind”. I still like to quote Judge Smails from “Caddyshack” to my kids when discussing such issues - “The world needs ditchdiggers, too.”
I looked this up in detail last year and it’s even more depressing than that.
Nearly a quarter of the DC public schools budget goes to providing what amounts to private contract nursing home care for about two thousand severely retarded kids who are too broken to be babysat in the normal public facilities. (For severely retarded, read: mom on drugs).
So besides the thugs who don’t want to learn, you have the retards who can’t learn.
And they want to throw even more money at it.