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fogelman is a MORON and a half. If you expect the least out of children then that is what they will give you, the least.

The mayor of Memphis, Willie Herenton came out of poverty to be the super of the Memphis City Schools, and then to be mayor of Memphis. (Not that he did a great job of running the schools, but he did better than Gerry House who they chose after him, who put the schools in horrible shape).

At least it sounds like everyone else involved has some sense.

Poorer children, on the whole, DO achieve less in school. I'm not sure if this is because they CAN'T do as well. Most of them are from single-parent homes, often the parents are very young and don't have a clue, many of the parents don't have a lot of time for child-rearing (whether it's because they are working or partying), and on the whole there isn't as much emphasis put on education as there would be in middle-class homes.

On the other hand, if you expect less of these children, you get what President Bush expressed so well as "the soft bigotry of low expectations" -- the children end up undereducated, with no job skills to speak of, and continue the cycle of poverty.

What they need is something along the lines of parochial schools for at least the elementary grades, IMO.

You know, I always had a high opinion of Fogelman until that idiotic remark of his about lowering school standards. They're already lowering standards (in terms of teaching quality and course offerings) at the Univ of Memphis business school that bears his name.

Poverty does not equal ignorance, and money does not equal education. The Memphis City Schools have one of the highest per capita expenditures per student than any school system in the nation. It's not the money that's the problem. (Kinda takes wind out of the anti-NBA-arena crowd's argument that we should spend more money on schools so we can improve education. Sorry -- couldn't resist! LOL)

The problem with Memphis education has absolutely ZERO to with a "lack" of money and everything to do with maintaining standards and proper resource management by the bureaucrats in charge. Herenton is an excellent example of one who grew up in poverty, got educated, and has become a pretty good mayor for our city.

I just wonder if his remarks might just spark enough outrage to get the school board to more agressively fight the underperformance of their school system. He apparently got Wanda Halbert's attention, and I hope the other school board members are insulted to the point that they agreesively move toward improving the schools.

We'll see ...