Two-thirds of 4th-graders and three-quarters of 7th-graders [...]not proficient on state reading tests
Why did it take until 4th and 7th grade to get concerned? I know both my children were reading at above grade level at the beginning of 1st grade! Where are those students' parents?
Nearly 100 percent of the district's students are African-American
I reckon that's the answer to my previous question
I’ve been on a forum that has been discussing this...let me just say generational poverty, drugs, gangs, crime, and war zone.
Another variation of the lawsuit lottery, the only hope Eric Holder’s people have of ever earning anything.
I heard this story on CNN at lunch time yesterday; the woman they interviewed was saying that being able to read was a right guaranteed to us in the Constitution.
We demand the right to read but we’ll take cash instead if it’s available.
I am not shocked at all with these findings. I used to teach HS at an inner-city charter school - I now teach at a private HS. I see and hear what these kids think about education. Parents of these kids are nonexistent, these kids are the adults in most of the households - after school they are watching younger sibs while some of their parents are out smoking crack and weed. I witnessed EOC (end of course) exams, which our state uses to measure preformance, where students were just filling out the scan-trons in a pattern. Of course teachers get blamed for not teaching, but it is the student who wants to remain on the government eltitement listing.
I kid you not when I tell you this. On day one, as we were going through our syllabus, I’d have kids say things like “you do too much”, “i ain’t doing all this”. And then the best one ever, “i get rent paid on the first, food stamps on the 8th and the 25th, what are going gonna do for me?” to which my response was “I am going to kick your hind end in this class and make you proud of your work”. By the second week of class I had started to see changes in some.
Believe it our not about 40% of these kids are itching to get out and make something for themselves. I know that one day I will call one of my former students doctor - I can’t wait, I will be so proud of her - she is so proper and driven - when you meet her parents you wonder where she gets it from because they are the epitome of ghetto. Two of my favorites are heading to Mizzou - with my oldest - to study engineering. Another handful are starting culinary school this fall. Another is staring MSU to study pyschology. I have a few who are going to Chicago Art Institute and St. Louis Art Institute. There are some good seeds out there - true diamonds in the rough. In a way I feel like I have let the remaining students down by leaving that school, but I have to watch out for myself sometimes.
Probably the kid’s best hope is to privatize the schools. But of course that would never happen. The teacher’s union will never permit the loss of the teacher’s cushy no accountability jobs.
There have been many legal cases arguing that states have not adequately funded certain schools or districts, or that students' constitutional rights have been violated by being in de facto segregated schools. But this case takes a new approach by focusing narrowly on the core skill of literacy and a state law that addresses it.
Sure it is always the fault of the Evil White Man!
NO it couldn’t be rampant corruption in the school’s administration.
NO it couldn’t be incompetent and unaccountable teachers.
NO it couldn’t be the predominant Black culture that disrespects education and ostracizes those that speak intelligently, study hard and seek to achieve academically.
NO it has to be the Evil White Man because that is what the “Black Leaders” tell us and it gets the Black society off the hook of having to own their own problems.
I am no friend of teacher’s unions and whatever bad that happens to them is probably too good for them, BUT...
How, EXACTLY, did the teachers STOP these kids from learning to read? I mean, I agree you have a right to learn (though it isn’t in the Constitution - if she could read, she could see that herself), but how in this lawsuit are they going to convince twelve jurors that the teacher’s union STOPPED them from learning to read?
I mean, did they ban all books from their homes? Did they refuse to allow these kids access to the library? Did they threaten their parents to ensure that they did not teach their kids reading skills?
What is that old saying, “Just because you hear doesn’t mean you were listening!” That is the same situation here; just because I teach doesn’t mean you were learning. In both situations, it takes ACTIVE participation of BOTH parties!
This is the epitome of FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT!
Affirmative action ‘teachers’.
Unions that stop incompetent teachers from being fired.
Teachers that should not be tested.
“Self-esteem’ values taught - the liberal “feel good about yourself for no discernible reason"...
Earth day, global warming, black pseudo history taught rather than reading and writing.
And now the ultimate "It's not our fault we take ZERO responsibility' sue the schools...
To get good at reading — or anything else — takes practice. One reason why kids cannot read nowadays is that they pend more time watching TV or playing video game than they spend reading.