I love my students, I really do. They are the sweetest little bunch of goofballs, tasmanian devils, and stilt-legged colts (7th grade). But the sad truth is, if we gave them the grades that would have been appropriate in the midwest even 20 years ago, we’d have whole 4th grade classrooms full of teenagers. I do what I can. We all do what we can. But increasingly, we have a batch of kids who know full well that nothing is going to happen to them via society. Neighborhood maybe; society at large? No.
Perhaps if students who are not able to use an academic education were not in academic classes those who could learn would be able to.