The students...
Posted on 11/28/2017 5:31:43 PM PST by BackRoads775
Brian Butcher, a history teacher at Ballou High School, sat in the bleachers of the school’s brand new football field last June watching 164 seniors receive diplomas. It was a clear, warm night, and he was surrounded by screaming family and friends snapping photos and cheering.
It was a triumphant moment for the students. For the first time, every Ballou graduate applied and was accepted to college. The school is located in one of D.C.’s poorest neighborhoods; it has struggled academically for years and has had a chronically low graduation rate. In 2016, the school graduated only 57 percent of its seniors according to data from D.C. Public Schools (DCPS), slightly up from 51 percent the year before. For months after June’s commencement, the school received national media attention, including from NPR, celebrating its achievement.
But all the excitement and accomplishment couldn’t shake one question from Butcher’s mind:
How did all these students graduate from high school?
(Excerpt) Read more at wamu.org ...
Just 2 hours ago I was sitting in a faculty meeting, and one of the issues was “how many of our kids are failing.” Our administration is at least honest enough to admit that kids who don’t come in and don’t do the work can’t pass, but there is still tremendous pressure on us. And right now, 50% of our kids have multiple D or F grades on their report cards.
And people wonder why a high school diploma doesn’t mean anything. SMH
The so called colleges that accepted these high schoolers are frauds. How much in student loans did these graduates receive that went to pay tuition at these colleges?
According to the story only 16 of these 164 students were known to have even actually enrolled in college.
Yup.
And how did they do in college. Did the get social promotions there too?
Thank you for referencing that article BackRoads775. Please note that the following critique is directed at the article and not at you.
As a side note to this thread concerning colleges, patriots please consider the following.
In the context of the referenced article, colleges are regarded as “institutions of higher learning,” a reward for continued self-betterment.
On the other hand, in these troubled times, colleges are better regarded as indoctrination centers, many colleges graduating thousands of entitlement-minded “Peter Pans” every year.
The Trump administrstion needs to make a BIG issue of this.
Yep
The students...
That opens the door to investigation of the industry that is accommodating folks who shouldn’t bee in college at all. And underneath that issue is the matter of federally guaranteed student loans - which puts the taxpayer at risk for these games.
What makes you think the colleges will do anything different than what Ballou High School did?
““Cheating” isn’t the word. Cheating would be an honorable alternative to this scenario, insofar as it would mean that the cheating individuals recognized and respected the standards to be achieved, to the extent that they tried to pretend that they had met them.
In this case, the subject individuals did NOTHING ... made no effort whatsoever of any kind, to meet any standards, or even pretend to meet them, but were nevertheless awarded the distinctions due to those who actually had met them.
This represents, as described, a complete collapse of the educational establishment, in this regard. And we know how “collapses” go, ... they spread.”
would like to know which colleges/universities accepted these students?
Having a HS Diploma doesn’t say much.
Not having one tells it all.
I agree. But on an uplifting note, I know a millennial who works as many hours as she can get in a restaurant and is almost done with her first semester at a community college taking welding classes. She loves it, and I can tell she will be great at it. She’s one of those people who anyone with a brain would hire in a minute for ANY job, because she can adapt, learn, and produce. She’ll likely be making more per hour than many of her contemporaries in the future.
Yes, it certainly does do that! But WILL that happen?
Had to look it up ...
Let us rejoice, therefore,
While we are young.
After a pleasant youth
After a troubling old age
The earth will have us.
Well, I'm still at the rejoicing stage! Old age or not.
A quote from the article:
An investigation by WAMU and NPR has found that Ballou High School’s administration graduated dozens of students despite high rates of unexcused absences. WAMU and NPR reviewed hundreds of pages of Ballou’s attendance records, class rosters and emails after a DCPS employee shared the private documents. The documents showed that half of the graduates missed more than three months of school last year, unexcused. One in five students was absent more than present — missing more than 90 days of school.
The kids weren't even bothering to show up for school, and they still passed!
Further on in the article, a possible financial motive is mentioned. If teachers and administrators are rated "highly effective", they can receive $15,000 to $30,000 in bonuses.
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