Posted on 12/23/2008 7:37:07 AM PST by metmom
Every day hundreds of thousands of students fail to show up to school, often for no good reason. But in Midland, Texas, one judge has come up with some creative ways to make a difference -- so much so that cities across that state are following his lead.
n Midland, about 3,500 students, or 10 percent of the student population, regularly skip school -- and truancy is often a step toward dropping out altogether. For those who habitually miss class, they'll see more than the principal -- they'll end up in front of Judge David Cobos.
Cobos is known as one of the toughest, most creative judges in Texas.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
too bad they don’t have tough, creative parents.
That would have been more effective.
Did you know that when colleges were compared by their cost versus graduation salary ratios, that ZooMass ranked higher than Harvard and Yale?
(And yes, I could care less whether my kids go to college. In fact, I prefer that they don't.)
What these kids need to be doing is real work in real jobs. There's nothing as sobering as reality.
Got to give the judge credit for trying hard. Attempting to take the place of so many parents is an uphill struggle, though.
I also think it’s too bad that he couldn’t place some of the students in supervised work programs. Maybe it’s not just them, but the fact that the school isn’t the best environment for them.
“And I simply told him, you don’t need to thank me,” Cobos said. “The way you can thank me is to let those shoes take you to school and take you to a brighter future. That’s all the thanks I want. Go to school. And when you get a job, you can go buy somebody a pair of tennis shoes and help them.”
Bravo!
I disagree with the judge.
Why force them into class ? They aren’t going to be there to learn. Wouldn’t it be better to send them to a branch of the service like we used to or certify them as adults so he can put them in jail if they get into trouble again? jat
I see this as a slippery slope. It may work for a few, but there’s way too many ways this can be used against law abiding citizens.
Will they consider homeschoolers truant?
I also don’t see that the kids are going to actually learn any more. They’re just going to go to class to put in their time to avoid the more unpleasant consequences.
I can understand why he’s trying and give him credit for it but there’s got to be some other way than criminalizing truancy.
Just one of the many rolls a FATHER provides in a family, take them away and the state has to come up with ways to "simulate" it.
What is wrong with Midland schools that 10% of the kids would rather not be there?
We don’t have a huge dropout problem in my area, so what’s the problem?
Waste of time and money, and a huge government intrusion. Most of what goes on in these schools is stupid, and the kids know it. They also know they’re just being warehoused there. Just staying “in” school has precious little to do with later success in life.
A teenage cousin of mine was goofing off, playing hooky, and doing practically nothing at school when he was there. When he turned 17, his father decided to stop badgering him about school all the time, when he obviously didn’t care about it, and just take him out. So the kid continued to spend most of his time goofing off, doing drugs, etc, but did enroll in an evening GED class. After a few months, he took the practice exam and easily passed, so he wanted to take the real exam and be done with this school thing for the foreseeable future (his dad has his 4 years of college already pre-paid through one of those state plans). But no, he’s not allowed to take the take GED until he is both 18 and past the date that he would have graduated from high school. Huh? The kid was right all along: school is not about learning or achieving anything, it’s about sitting when and where you’re told to sit, reading when and what you’re told to read, and just waiting for time to go by.
If states would set up something like the GED, and tell kids they can take it whenever they like, and once they’ve passed not have to go to school (of any kind, even home school) anymore, most of them would buckle down and be done with it by the time they’re 15 or 16. Some would choose to continue with further education right away, but many would take a break from school, get a low level job, and resume education some years down the road, when they’re more mature and would get a lot more out of it.
A lot of bright people drop out of school. My ex-brother-in-law quit as soon as he was able; however, he made a deal years later with the dean of a Catholic college asking if he could attend college and get his GED at the same time. The dean agreed, he got his GED as well as his BA and is now the vice president of finance for a healthcare company.
Kids in school today should be able to take vocational courses, apprentice, go to junior college, independent study, whatever. They’re in school for far too long and they’re bored stiff. It’s not to the public schools’ advantage to let them do that however, it’s all about money and control, as well as not taking jobs from older people.
The system sucks and the kids know it.
I went to college right out of high school for a couple years and then dropped out. About a year and some part time jobs later, I got a full time job that I stayed at for over ten years. During that time, I decided that I WANTED to go back to college and finish my degree.
Wanting to made all the difference in the world. I got A’s in almost everything and finally graduated with my degree in meteorology.
It wasn’t easy doing it that way It would have been better had I got my degree the first time around. I’ve encouraged my kids to finish college right out of high school and it looks like they’re on their way.
My guess is the kids who are goofing off and causing trouble are really the really bright ones who are BORED out of their minds in school. I see them as sometimes having more potential, especially if they can harness all that restless energy.
I think that most of these kids would be better off being encouraged to join the military. It would provide them with the self-control and limits that they’re looking for.
Considering what some of the public schools are like, I think it would be good to get rid of the stigma of *dropout*.
The basic problem here is mandatory education. Educational expenditures are wasted on students without sufficient self/parental discipline to learn. Let em grow up stupid and try to make a living working retail or flipping burgers. That will create motivation - then invest the taxpayers' dollars in GED and community college education. You get a semester - if you get the job done, you get another... It is called return on investment and cutting your losses.
Too many Americans suffer under the delusion that the government has intrinsic funds. The only funds our government has it either prints or takes from someone who is productive. In either case, those of us who pay the bills deserve a return on investment.
I am of two minds with this.
The teacher in me thinks this is great, that this judge really cares about at risk kids and getting them on the right path.
The citizen in me thinks the intention is great, but the means is bad, really bad. I do not want the state to take this, see the progress one judge has made, and apply it to all children, and then to adults, “for our own good.” Doing what Judge Cobos did crosses the line, but I don’t think the parents realize the implications for the future. All they see is their children are not getting into trouble. Is this really the best way to treat the symptoms of a broken society?
I’m quite sure the judge cares a great deal about these kids and keeping them out of trouble. Really, who wouldn’t? That’s commendable.
There’s got to be a better way, though.
That is a human tragedy.
Have they heard of West River Academy ? It's a distance learning high school program open to all US and international students,fully accredited, you get a diploma, and a lot of students in your nephew's situation use it to graduate.
You can even do it and take community college classes, earning concurrent credits.
Try www.westriveracademy.com
My kids have been in it since 2 nd grade. One graduated at 16, started college and flew the coop at 18. The next will start college classes next semester, and graduate in May.
It's a great program.
The kid was right all along: school is not about learning or achieving anything, it’s about sitting when and where you’re told to sit, reading when and what you’re told to read, and just waiting for time to go by.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Government K-12 schooling is about jobs for people of very modest talent. In my county the government schools are the biggest single employer. A lot of people are feeding off those tax dollars both directly and indirectly. Even my dentist and his 5 employees count on government school dental insurance.
It is also about turning kids into compliant socialists. That has been the goal of government schools since the beginning and, in that regard, they have been a roaring success!
“The kid was right all along: school is not about learning or achieving anything, it’s about sitting when and where you’re told to sit, reading when and what you’re told to read, and just waiting for time to go by.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
College scholarships ( private and government) as well as loans are tied to high school graduation or the GED.
My children were in college at the ages of 13, 12, and 13, and the two younger graduated at the age of 18 with B.S. degrees in mathematics. Because the laws forbids taking the GED until age 18, my children were not eligible for scholarships. ( Although the youngest did receive a scholarship at age 14 for one year that she attended a private college.)
Every year there is law proposed in my state to allow any child of any age to take the GED. Every year the NEA teachers union bitterly fights it and wins.
Government schools are a jobs racket for the NEA.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.