Exactly!
Additionally the faculty does not reflect the racial makeup of the student population, thus incapable of relating to the students experiential history and education justice needs.
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 ...
Gaudeamus Igitur is a far removed from The Gentle Giant, all his people, and the "grads" of Ballou High School, as east is from west, as north is from south, and heaven is from hell.
This is my 13th year as a teacher, and while I have received excellent observation scores from multiple principals at multiple schools every single year, I’ve never even heard of the kinds of bonuses ($15,000+) mentioned in the article. In fact, I’ve never received a bonus at all. I do the job that I’m expected to do without expectation of a bonus. I don’t teach in a state that has overbearing teacher’s unions, so I reckon that is where the bonus money policy comes from. It doesn’t matter. I enjoy teaching in my small town with small town values with parents that expect me to teach their kids, not be a surrogate dad to them.
Does it have to come down to that? May God help us.
Placemarker
Cheated. Artificially inflated both attendance and grade reports. Basically, if you showed up on graduation day, you got a diploma. We need to check their college applications, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that a lot of them were forged.
Of the 164 accepted by (inept) university admissions offices, only 16 actually enrolled. The total debt will further be mitigated by the statistical certainly that at least half of those 16 will not stay for more than 2 years. Of the 8 remaining, half likely found some actual scholarships (athletic, academic, or diversity), so the overall debt load likely wasn't as high as one might fear.
I suppose when the implimentation of any graduation standard whatsoever would deny graduation to so many, the use of the GED is not possible. Here those that choose not to regularly attend school fail to graduate, but fall back on the GED as their out. If a GED is truly equivalent to a high school diploma then why bother with the rigors of attending school and be required to meet the requirements for receiving a bonafied diploma.
We all know that a GED is not equivalent, but we allow ourselves to be deluded anyway.
Nothing at Ballou is being done for the benefit of the students, but everything is being done for the benefit of incompetent administrators and teachers.
So what you’re showing is that the fault lies entirely with crumbling inner-city infrastructure and schools because that is all that this racist society provides for underprivileged youths?
/s
“but everything is being done for the benefit of incompetent administrators and teachers.”
Wait til the whole bunch finds out their pensions ain’t there !!...They’ll ask the PBGC to “make it up”, but the PBGC is insolvent too !! Laff Laff Laff !
Circa 1965, Washington DC high schools... if one had an outstanding public library book one would not be allowed to attend grauation ceremonies regardless of academic achievements. And, IIRC, the actual diploma was withheld until a parent brought in proof that the book had been returned and fines paid. Fines were about a nickel a day per book.
Don’t know if this was in effect city wide
or at the discretion of each HS principal.
How times have changed.
Exactly!
Additionally the faculty does not reflect the racial makeup of the student population, thus incapable of relating to the students experiential history and education justice needs.
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