great points....so, if the current public system is failing miserably in lots of places, what would be your preferred solution ?
Thank you for asking! You are the first. But to answer your question honestly? This is a culture problem. Let me explain:
Currently, we have a culture, particularly among the Black and Latino population, where we have convinced them that society owes them everything. We have convinced them (and it didn't take much) that education is a RIGHT, not a privilege. When it was a privilege, people strove for it eagerly. The minute it became a "right," people sat back arrogantly and demanded that it be deposited in their laps.
And almost immediately, many of them lost the notion that any effort on their part was required. It's a right! Just drop it in my hands.
So now, here in Los Angeles, the kids show up in the morning and we serve them free breakfast. They quickly adapted to this, and now they pick through free food with their noses wrinkled up, and they want to know why they don't get BETTER free food.
Then throughout the rest of the day, whatever they need is provided for them: books, computers, handouts, movies, overhead projector, sound system, classrooms heated and cooled, gymnasium, sports equipment, teachers... and they treat us like machines. They fully expect us to skip lunch so we can sit in our rooms and wait to see if they need anything. I don't, but they think I should.
We have custodians to clean up after them. Many of them don't even bother throwing trash into the trashcan. If it lands on the floor near it, they'll shrug and walk away if I don't pounce (which I do because I'm a clean freak.)
The only things we expect them to provide themselves are binders, paper, and pencils. Many of them have, however, refused to bring any because they are accustomed to being given EVERYTHING. So when I say "take out a piece of paper," they just look at me with a cold stare and do nothing. They resent being asked to bring their own paper. They don't want to unzip their backpacks. That's effort.
This is the mentality of the kids. Now of course, you have to ask yourself, where did they get that attitude? Partly from society, that has convinced them that everything should be delivered into their laps. Partly from their parents, who have completely abdicated from any responsibility to educate their kids. The parents I deal with are very nice people, usually. Even the gang-bangers are really quite polite (it's bizarre: I've had men with tattoos on their faces holding the door for me and smiling... they are really, really nice) BUT... they are helpless about dealing with their children. They think their job is to feed and clothe the child. Period. Everything else is up to us.
Meanwhile, they buy their kids every toy they can (with the money they didn't have to spend on food and books): iPads and iPods and iPhones and give them spending money for junk food and... they don't even seem to care what the kid wears. You'd be amazed at the number of kids who wear clothes to school with pot leaves or naked women on them. I ask, did your parents see that? "Miss, my mom BOUGHT it!"
They also hate reading, by the way. Why should they read? Technology has become a world of pictures, movies, videos, games... the written word is too difficult. Just tell me, just show me the movie. Deep thoughts are of no interest anyway... show me a video of a kid falling off his skateboard! That's what they want, and remember... they are convinced that whatever they want, they have a right to have.
Now, this attitude, as you can image, translates into children who have no concept of effort. They can barely write a paper, and if you think you can have them write half the paper today and then bring it in tomorrow to finish it, forget it. They lost it when they went home. They shoved it into their pocket instead of putting it into their folder (too much effort), it went through the wash, and now it's gone. Start over? Oh, they can't remember what we did yesterday, can you explain again? (If yes, what about the ones who are ready and waiting to move on? If no, okay, that means the kids have free time!)
And of course, this sort of deliberate, foolish failure is HILARIOUS to the kids. I mean, the dumber they act, the more laughter they get from the other kids.
In this milieu, failure has no consequences. If the kid fails, he doesn't care. He still has food, iPad, iPhone, and cool clothes with pot leaves on them. That failing grade means absolutely zero. Some of the parents don't even know how to read the report cards, or never see them because the kid gets to the mailbox before the parent. So many parents enact no punishment if the kid fails. If the school systems held kids to the kinds of standards we had in, say, the 1950s, we'd have a bottleneck of kids at the 3rd grade level. We'd have 3rd graders with beards selling weed in the bathroom.
So whom can you pressure? Only the teachers. The parents shrug their shoulders helplessly, the kids laugh in your face, so let's turn to the teachers, because we are the only ones who have any sense of responsibility. So the atmosphere is, if the child has failed, it must be the teachers' fault. We provided every material item they needed, but now we need to provide MOTIVATION. They don't even bring that to the table now. We have to insert the motivation into their psyches for them, along with the free breakfast. We must be more entertaining, more engaging, more "supportive". We are already holding their heads up like newborn babies, and they are not developing any muscles to take over this function themselves. If anything, they get weaker all the time.
The only real answer is to change our entire culture from this coddling, nanny state to the kind of pitiless Spartan culture that leaves half of humanity on the street to starve, and then hunts them for food.
I'm ready to do this, personally. I suspect BBQ sauce would cover the taste. I hope to retire before I bite some kid.