And I was lucky; the district where I taught was rural and in the south, so the gang influence was negligible. Still, the environment was horrible; every child qualified for the “supplemental nutrition program,” so classes stopped every morning at 8:45 for breakfast, and we were instructed to get everyone to the cafeteria for lunch and the after school snack as well, because much of our federal funding was tied to participation in the nutrition programs.
Inside the classroom, many of the kids had major discipline issues, for various reasons. Most were well below grade level in math and reading. I was a history teacher, but spent a lot of time tutoring math; sadly, most of my students had not yet mastered three column addition and subtraction, so there was no way they could handle the expected math curriculum for seventh graders (pre-algebra). We spent our spring semester each year prepping for the state achievement test, in the vain hope we could get enough of our kids to achieve a passing score (fat chance; when I left, the district was placed under state control).
Learning begins with discipline, both individually and in the group. And that's what is (largely) missing from today's schools in America. In fact, the very modest attempts to impose order and structure are demagogued as being racist. Idiots like Glenn Singleton, enabled by Barack Obama and Eric Holder, are being enabled to complete the destruction of our schools. You couldn't pay me enough to teach in an urban district today, and 10 years from now, the schools won't exist, or they will be run like prisons--there won't be any other solution.
Of course, there are exceptions. Parochial schools in the same neighborhoods are models of excellence and discipline, largely because parents are involved, and some work two or three jobs to pay their child's tuition. In public schools, the parents (in my experience) were just as bad or worse than the kids. Our slowest day of the year was the "Parent-Teacher Conference." I had six sections of seventh grade social studies (average 30 students per class). I could count on one hand the number of parents who would actually show up to discuss their child's achievement (or lack thereof)
The real victims in all of this were the few parents and children who expected the school to provide an education. I remember one young girl (African-American) who made straight As because (a) she wanted to learn, and (b) her parents demanded it. Her father was an HVAC repairman who worked long hours but always attended every parent-teacher conference.
During one meeting, he lamented the fact that his kids were being held back by the "criminals and thugs" (his words, not mine). "What do I do?" He asked. He couldn't afford private school and home schooling was out of the question, since both he and his wife worked long hours each day. So, his son and daughter were trapped in badly failing schools.
I left the classroom ten years ago, but I think about that young woman from time to time. Both she and her family deserved better and I hope she somehow survived the system.
This much I know: until discipline is restored in our schools, nothing will be accomplished. Two-thirds of all serious disciplinary problems are committed by just six percent of the students. We know who they are, and the system has tools to handle them, including indefinite suspension and expulsion. But most principals, superintendents and school boards were too afraid to use them BEFORE Obama's little initiative on "fairness" in school discipline. Getting rid of that policy should be the first education executive order signed by the next Republican president.
Please provide a brief description of a plan to do this.
And I was lucky; the district where I taught was rural and in the south, so the gang influence was negligible. Still, the environment was horrible; every child qualified for the “supplemental nutrition program,” so classes stopped every morning at 8:45 for breakfast, and we were instructed to get everyone to the cafeteria for lunch and the after school snack as well, because much of our federal funding was tied to participation in the nutrition programs.”””
Perhaps someone could connect the dots & see that the obesity of our children is due in great part to producers efforts being confiscated (taxes) to feed these kids multiple times a day with free meals.
Connect some more dots——if it’s free—people always take more, even kids. Sure frees up more SNAP money for the adults to have lobster for themselves & steak -—for their dogs.
When this house of cards does collapse, it will be a new day for the producers in America.