This truly hit the "nail" on the "head"...because I remember being in the top 5% of my CPS h.s. class...getting to a four year university and basically being so friggin' ill prepared that it has taken me YEARS TO GET OVER IT!!!
This is just ONE of the reasons why I am against magnate schools in a public school system...I mean in Chicago the difference between magnate school curriculum and regular public school is SOUL DESTROYING (as I am sure you WELL know)...EVERY CHILD THAT IS RECEIVING TAX DOLLARS FOR EDUCATION SHOULD HAVE THE SAME OPPORTUNITIES!!!
And until we OVERSTAND AND PRACTICE THAT...this nation...AS A WHOLE...will continue to fall by the educational wayside.
Gurrrl, if I wasn't sitting in class, I would have cried! Many may or may not know my story, but that too was me. I graduated number 11 in my class, took AP classes only to flunk out of college in 2.5 years. It took me YEARSSS to get over that devastation of having failed college because I always thought of myself as being smart! Really SMART! and it wasn't just me, there was about 20 of us Chicago so called smart kids that flunked out right along with me (one being a valedictorian of her west side school) and many others took 5-6 years to finish! and when you are young, you are unable to comprehend, understand or verbalize what the problem was but hindsight was 20/20!!!
and I am not going to tell you that I was my school's first and only BLACK music major. smh although I am not one to play the race card, I can honestly say, I experience racism first hand. I remember showing up at the concert band director's door only for him to stammer and stutter over his words so bad he could barely tell me when auditions for seat placements would be.
Fast forward to the next year, the white girls in the flute section were absolutely LIVID that I was still being seated in the 3rd chair of the 2nd row, they caused such a ruckus, they made us re-audition only for me to only move up a seat. Some of the girls honeslty felt that I played as well if not better than them. OK, i digressed. LOLOL
You know what I was told by my College Anthropology Professor...
He told me that he didn't like three things...
1. Women 2. Christians 3. Blacks...
Now...this was a TENURED professor who could basically do and say what he wanted...and he did...
And that man gave test that were ALL ESSAY test...and I failed EACH AND EVERYONE OF THEM!!! At the time...I should have raised HOLY HELL...had some of my Gangster Disciple thug ass friends roll from the Chi and fuck him up...PROTESTED WITH THE OTHER EIGHT BLACKS THAT WERE ON THE CAMPUS and basically turned that mother out!!!
I did not...I will regret that...until the day I die
No one is addressing the core issues in education and as a result much of what goes for education "reform" looks alot like rearranging the furniture on the Titanic
AMEN!!! And one of the "core" educational problems especially in urban areas are fat cat administrators who get a shit load of money every year to do NOTHING...the Teacher's union....oh...and that "R" word...but hey, what the HELL DO I KNOW!!!
My music prof/adviser told me I would NEVER be a good musician and that I should change my major.
my music history prof would give random 5 question essay quizzes and I could never figure out where in his ass he pulled those questions from. I failed every last one of them. At this point, I am on final notice, i went to him begging crying and pleading for help, please, i don't know what is wrong with me, I am reading the material, i graduated at the top of my HS class and I have never had this problem and he told me he didn't know what to do for me and shrugged his shoulders.
it took me years to realize that I didn't have the skill of critical reasoning and analyzing, something I didn't learn and didn't realized I had learned up until two years ago when I went back to school.
those college prepatory classes in high school are suppose to teach you those SKILLS, hell, poor schools in general lack heavily in that regard.
I took some honors classes but I most definitely was NOT encouraged to take AP classes. Knowing what I know now, I won't EVER allow my children to be slighted. That is why I'm up there in the school's face all day every day. And will continue do so until they matriculate.
And in retrospect I know I was ill-prepared for college. Thank God I was good at "coasting" and I coasted until I got that piece of paper.
BTW, that look left, look right thing happens in almost every 101 class at the university level.
Oh I failed to mention, ironically, my initial major coming in was Pre-engineering. I had also attended a summer program for minorities aspiring to become engineers at U of I Champaign. I ended up attending a predominately white school (northern illinois) but in no way was a prepared for university level math. Even though I'd pulled As and Bs all thru high school algebra, geometry, trigonometry. I had to take this two-semester math class through the CHANCE program at nothern (that doesn't even count towards the math's requirement for graduation). Thankfully my reading and writing pre-testing scores were up there so I had to spend less "catch up" time trying to just get to an even level of my white classmate-counterparts.
sometimes I wonder if I should have went the math and science route because I pulled straight As in algebra, trig, geometry, calculus, chemistry and physics on the honors level and looking back, probably would have failed in that too! LMAOOO
I was in C.V.S.' honors English course from DAY ONE!!! WHAT A JOKE!!! No term papers...no critical essays...NO THESIS!!! A limited spectrum of reqauired reading...I mean...WTH?!?!
The key issue is that the American public school system was developed to prepare students for factory work. In areas where parents forced the issue things got better and where people don't force the issue things go downhill
It's so funny...I'm home sick today so I'm taking full advantage of the friggin' cable that I pay WAY TOO MUCH FOR...and there was a documentary on Showtime this morning called "Nursery University"...it was about how people in Manhattan LOSE THEIR EVER LOVING MINDS trying to get their children into the proper PRE SCHOOL!!! Because there are NO FREE KINDEGARTEN IN MANHATTAN!!! And they showed people from ALL ECONOMIC SPECTRUMS!!! And it is just INSANE!!! Because these people truly believed that if they didn't get their child into the proper pre-school their child was DESTINED FOR FAILURE!!!
There was one couple on there...who was living paycheck to paycheck who was struggling to get their baby into a pristine pre school via financial aid...and the mama was using a PRE-SCHOOL COUNSELOR (a woman whose job it is to help your child GET INTO PRESCHOOL) to help her...the only reason she had this resource is because the counselor was her best friend...and they were talking about how different their lives would have been if their parents had taken the time to ensure that they got into the school that was BEST FOR THEM...instead of just sending them up the street to the public school...that woman started crying when she thought about how different her life would be if her Mama had did for her...what she was doing for her child...
And I mean...these are nursery schools that charge $20,000 A YEAR!!! This shouldn't be the case in a country with a viable public school system...
Gurrrl that is ME!!!! Trying to figure out how to get MiniMe into a Sidwell school if I move to the DC area.
But I can relate on so many different levels...
I went to Dixon Elementary and I was in their gifted program. My IOWA test scores was off the chain!! I was scoring in the 11.9 and up range in reading and math in 6, 7, 8th grades. Whitney Young came for me and this other student in 6th grade for the 7th grade year, came back for me in 7th and 8th grade. My mother wouldn't let me go cuz she was hell bent on me going to an all girl Catholic school, you remember Unity don't you??? Well I went to Unity and repeated EVERYTHING I did in 7th and 8th grade at Dixon!!! I was soooo angry that I all but failed my freshman year, so when the school closed at the end of my freshman year, I did so poorly that i couldnt go ANYWHERE but to Hirsch. I used to (and sometimes still do) get so mad at my mother for hindering me academically. I know without a shadow of a doubt that my life would be a whole lot different had I went to Whitney Young from the beginning!!!
Girl...OF COURSE I REMEMBER UNITY!!! I was similar...had 12th grade Iowa reading scores in 3RD GRADE!!! (by the way...the Iowa test...IS THE WORST...the California Achievement test was ALWAYS BETTER...that's what they used when I was in school in the burbs)...went to Disney Magnet School until they CANCELLED THE BUSING PROGRAM...then I couldn't get into another magnet school to SAVE MY SOUL!!!
I'm getting a headache thinking about it!!!
The bottom line is I shouldn't have to send my child to Sidwell or UofC Lab or NO WHERE ELSE if I am paying tax dollars...my child should get a QUALITY EDUCATION...taught by QUALITY EDUCATORS no matter what...
Girl...you tube it...I'm sure its on the internet...SOMEWHERE!!! And at the end of the movie...they were like...its even less NURSEY schools in Manhattan than PRE SCHOOLS!!! So the competition is even MORE BRUTAL!!!
BUMP THAT...I would have just did what one family did and moved to the burbs...
The valedictorian of my high school posted a comment on this link on facebook...
"I totally understand. For years, I felt such shame around being "valedictorian"--a supposed indicator that you are smart! Yeah right! I got to Xavier and found out what smart really was! I felt like an idiot. As a result, I became a recluse trying to study all of the time. I was terrified I would flunk out. I didn't flunk out, but did fail ... Read Morepre-calculus! Didn't I have Algebra-Trig?? I did graduate in four years, but it was hard and for a long time I resented H.S. because I didn't think it really prepared me for college and then became resentful of college because I didn't think it prepared me for the workforce. Eventually I got over it and realized much about myself and education. I will agree that critical reasoning was not a big thing in H.S. but eventually I grasped it, mostly in graduate school.
So, yes when it comes to have and educate children, I'm going to be on it, not only so my child(ren) can be competitive, but so they really know how to think, read and write."
As I pointed out the other day when another Multiply reader was busy dissing France -- in France, medical care and education are guaranteed, as well as a social safety-net. Yes; they have high taxes.
Countered against America, which has some of the lowest taxes in the Western world -- but also where education, housing and health-care are literally a matter of luck.
We are the only first-world nation where this applies. If you look at other nations in the same boat (where this is policy), they're all third-world countries.
This should tell us something.
It begins at home -- a commitment to education - but without a government mandate, it simply will not happen.
AMEN!!! I don't mind paying for quality...this country's problem is that it dosen't mind paying...FOR THE WRONG THINGS!!! Those other western countries are ALSO NOT SPENDING HALF OF THEIR BUDGET ON THE MILITARY COMPLEX!!!
You are either going invest in people or the military as a country...since War has ALWAYS been the BIGGEST INDUSTRY THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER PRODUCED...
GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!!! Let's take a look at ANOTHER COUNTRY that follows that SAME IDEOLOGY....
RUSSIA!!! Everything going into the military complex versus the public infrastructure...schools, etc....this counry is closer to Russian than it EVER WAS...and THAT IS A HORROR STORY!!!
my education was decent, i was lucky if i had been an average or good student i would have been well prepared for college
i wasnt lucky in that the options for the highly gifted were limited and i could have easily finished college by the time i was 15, but had to spend 4 years in school bored. on the one hand, there was enough education to succeed, but on the other not enough to maximize my potential
my daughter is going to an early college program, in 11th grade they start going to the college and taking college courses. thats good for her, what is bad is that it is a magnet program and ALL of the schools should have that caliber instruction
the school in my zone is so bad i'd turn tricks before i sent my small one there, i pay a decent percentage of my income. i think its criminal that school funding here is based on propety tax rates, it means the poor are doomed to stay poor because they cant get a quality education
I think the picture is bigger than the property taxes. From my understanding here in Georgia each district (read city or county) collects the property tax revenue from the whole district and distributes it on a per student basis. So in a city like Atlanta where you have very rich people paying property taxes and very poor, the amount the district pays per student is the same. The difference in budget comes from money parents give directly to the schools. My kids school ( way in the burbs) has a "birthday book club" where the kids are asked to donate $15 on their birthday to buy a new book for the library. even if half the kids donate that is $7500 a year that doesn't have to come out of the budget. I don't even want to think about what the total PTA budget is.
I never fathered any - but I made it clear that with the public schools being little more than jails nowadays, there's no way I'd send something as important as a child to a public school.
That's wonderful if its based on a per student versus area basis...
However...being a product of public schools...I can't even say its about money...because in all my years of schooling...I can't remember ONE teacher that taught as if it was an privilege...instead of a check...and that type of hubris spreads in a classroom full of students like typhoid...
In Chicago...we have a particular university located in the city that graduates a VERY HIGH percentage of teachers and administrators that work for the CPS...that particular university IS THE PITS!!! Mired in scandal from the Dean's office on down...if it was rated among other universities in the country...IT WOULD BE IN THE BOTTOM PERCENTILE!!! Yet THIS is where CPS is getting a LARGE PERCENTILE OF THEIR TEACHERS...couple that with a union that is more concerned in protecting the jobs of teachers who DON'T TEACH...teachers who TREAT STUDENTS UNETHICALLY...teachers who tell children..."I got mine, you better get yours"....couple that with a building infrastructure that is crumbling down and far too many children per class...
And then you don't REALLY have to wonder why the problem with public schooling is what it is...
You wouldn't be talking about Chicago State would you??? LMAOOO When I was searching for a school with a Criminal Justice program, I briefly entertained the thought of going there, out of mere convenience, but when I went there to find out about it, they were RUDE to put it mildly. Besides, a degree besides a education degree from there isn't worth a hill of beans. Call my poor ass uppity, but I took my ass to the good white people at Roosevelt University where a degree from them means something. (even if they do cost 600/credit hour! LOLOLOL)
coming from the south (Arkansas) *inhale....exhale* the public education system is CRAP. I enrolled my kids in the magnet system... they both had/have gifted classes in elementary and middle school. My daughter is about to graduate... and I feel as if she still knows NOTHING... we took all kinds of Pre-AP classes... and when she took the ACT... her scores were horrible. The more she takes the test, the more frustrated she gets and the lower the score is. Her highest score: 16. Can you say community college? There is only so much a parent can do when the system is flawed to begin with.
Gurrrl, I have a friend who has been going there 10 years trying to get her post baccalaureate type 4 teaching certification for early childhood education. they made her take a bunch of undergrad classes to get in the teacher certification program and she kept flunking math. She took that class 4 times before she finally passed it (no good in bath besides the basics) only to find out she didn't need that class or half of the other classes to get into the program. disorganization and misinformation at its FINEST. She has been there so long, she has run out of post-grad loan money and now has to pay for her last 10 classes out of her own pocket.
its a shame and part of the problem is teacher pay i would make an excellent teacher (of older children,lol) but no way on EARTH would I want to work for teacher money and its the same with higher education- business people often say that they find out how much their professors make and say "fuck that, how can u teach me to make money when u aint makin any? i'll go learn from someone rich"
our schools here graduate some IGNANT ass teachers. IG NANT now some are good, but I had students with me in Spanish Literature classes that couldnt hold a short conversation in Spanish, but if they passed the classes they were certified to teach it in the schools. WTF? Folk who cant speak standard English teach school, but who cares? They end up at black schools anyway so no one notices or cares that they cant talk, the other teachers cant and noo ne cares if the kids ever do.
Mine goes to kindergarten in the fall and though I could use the money, I cannot see myself sending her to public school. Not some dilapidated ass old building near a million low income areas with dirt poor students and their ignorant parents. That shit is contagious. PART of the perks of private school is that you know the other students' parents share the same commitment to education, especially the ones who have 2 and 3 kids there.
hmmmm, I wonder if our brain was split in two at birth. LOLOL
Those are my SAME sentiments EXACTLY!!! My whole concept of private education is about sending MiniMe to school with other kids who have LIKE MINDED PARENTS!
Oh, and these parents aren't rich or from other areas, they all live near me. So I'm not sayin all the parents in my area suck, just that I try to avoid those who do.
AND, its a shame that the schools are so bad. Because when the best parents take their kids out of the public schools, it hastens the decline of the schools. But I feel I am outnumbered so my kids wont bring up the average, the average will bring mine down. I aint sacrificing mine.
yep, yep, and people always try to make the argument to me about how it is my job to make sure that she doesn't succumb to the below average students and their ways but my thing is, there are more of the bad ones than there are the good ones and yes, I do fill outnumbered!!!! I always am given grief when I say that I am not sacrificing my child's academics or risk her slipping into the wrong crowd in attempt to help the bad schools while black folks attempt to get their shit together! HELLSSS NO!!!!
And the thing I love about the Catholic schools is that THEY AIN'T PLAYING ABOUT THAT DISCIPLINE!!!! They might not paddle them like WE GOT, but they have figured out how to instill FEAR in these kids anyway!
mine goes to a baptist school. and they use the Abeka curriculum. works good. and the entire staff is like Old WOmen. Its like having 30 grandmothers,lol. The teachers are VERY nice and gentle, no fear but a lot of respect
All I know is if I had a child....my child would be going to Provident St. Mel on the West side of Chicago from Kindergarten thorugh Senior H.S. by HOOK OR CROOK!!!
OH MY GOODNESS!!!
ReplyDeleteThis truly hit the "nail" on the "head"...because I remember being in the top 5% of my CPS h.s. class...getting to a four year university and basically being so friggin' ill prepared that it has taken me YEARS TO GET OVER IT!!!
This is just ONE of the reasons why I am against magnate schools in a public school system...I mean in Chicago the difference between magnate school curriculum and regular public school is SOUL DESTROYING (as I am sure you WELL know)...EVERY CHILD THAT IS RECEIVING TAX DOLLARS FOR EDUCATION SHOULD HAVE THE SAME OPPORTUNITIES!!!
And until we OVERSTAND AND PRACTICE THAT...this nation...AS A WHOLE...will continue to fall by the educational wayside.
Gurrrl, if I wasn't sitting in class, I would have cried! Many may or may not know my story, but that too was me. I graduated number 11 in my class, took AP classes only to flunk out of college in 2.5 years. It took me YEARSSS to get over that devastation of having failed college because I always thought of myself as being smart! Really SMART! and it wasn't just me, there was about 20 of us Chicago so called smart kids that flunked out right along with me (one being a valedictorian of her west side school) and many others took 5-6 years to finish! and when you are young, you are unable to comprehend, understand or verbalize what the problem was but hindsight was 20/20!!!
ReplyDeleteYour story...is my story...almost to a "T"!!! (cept you finished your degree first...I'm JUST recently got in the right frame of mind to go back)!!!
ReplyDeleteand I am not going to tell you that I was my school's first and only BLACK music major. smh although I am not one to play the race card, I can honestly say, I experience racism first hand. I remember showing up at the concert band director's door only for him to stammer and stutter over his words so bad he could barely tell me when auditions for seat placements would be.
ReplyDeleteFast forward to the next year, the white girls in the flute section were absolutely LIVID that I was still being seated in the 3rd chair of the 2nd row, they caused such a ruckus, they made us re-audition only for me to only move up a seat. Some of the girls honeslty felt that I played as well if not better than them. OK, i digressed. LOLOL
You know what I was told by my College Anthropology Professor...
ReplyDeleteHe told me that he didn't like three things...
1. Women
2. Christians
3. Blacks...
Now...this was a TENURED professor who could basically do and say what he wanted...and he did...
And that man gave test that were ALL ESSAY test...and I failed EACH AND EVERYONE OF THEM!!! At the time...I should have raised HOLY HELL...had some of my Gangster Disciple thug ass friends roll from the Chi and fuck him up...PROTESTED WITH THE OTHER EIGHT BLACKS THAT WERE ON THE CAMPUS and basically turned that mother out!!!
I did not...I will regret that...until the day I die
No one is addressing the core issues in education and as a result much of what goes for education "reform" looks alot like rearranging the furniture on the Titanic
ReplyDeleteAMEN!!! And one of the "core" educational problems especially in urban areas are fat cat administrators who get a shit load of money every year to do NOTHING...the Teacher's union....oh...and that "R" word...but hey, what the HELL DO I KNOW!!!
ReplyDeleteSingle parenthood motivates in ways unimaginable.
ReplyDeleteTHAT...is TRUE!!!
ReplyDeleteMy music prof/adviser told me I would NEVER be a good musician and that I should change my major.
ReplyDeletemy music history prof would give random 5 question essay quizzes and I could never figure out where in his ass he pulled those questions from. I failed every last one of them. At this point, I am on final notice, i went to him begging crying and pleading for help, please, i don't know what is wrong with me, I am reading the material, i graduated at the top of my HS class and I have never had this problem and he told me he didn't know what to do for me and shrugged his shoulders.
it took me years to realize that I didn't have the skill of critical reasoning and analyzing, something I didn't learn and didn't realized I had learned up until two years ago when I went back to school.
those college prepatory classes in high school are suppose to teach you those SKILLS, hell, poor schools in general lack heavily in that regard.
I took some honors classes but I most definitely was NOT encouraged to take AP classes. Knowing what I know now, I won't EVER allow my children to be slighted. That is why I'm up there in the school's face all day every day. And will continue do so until they matriculate.
ReplyDeleteAnd in retrospect I know I was ill-prepared for college. Thank God I was good at "coasting" and I coasted until I got that piece of paper.
BTW, that look left, look right thing happens in almost every 101 class at the university level.
didn't happen at my school. but then, the good white folks wasn't flunking out like we were.
ReplyDeleteOh I failed to mention, ironically, my initial major coming in was Pre-engineering. I had also attended a summer program for minorities aspiring to become engineers at U of I Champaign. I ended up attending a predominately white school (northern illinois) but in no way was a prepared for university level math. Even though I'd pulled As and Bs all thru high school algebra, geometry, trigonometry. I had to take this two-semester math class through the CHANCE program at nothern (that doesn't even count towards the math's requirement for graduation). Thankfully my reading and writing pre-testing scores were up there so I had to spend less "catch up" time trying to just get to an even level of my white classmate-counterparts.
ReplyDeletesometimes I wonder if I should have went the math and science route because I pulled straight As in algebra, trig, geometry, calculus, chemistry and physics on the honors level and looking back, probably would have failed in that too! LMAOOO
ReplyDeleteCritical reasoning...logic...HELL, THAT'S STILL NOT S.O.P. IN CHICAGO'S HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM!!!
ReplyDeleteI was in C.V.S.' honors English course from DAY ONE!!! WHAT A JOKE!!! No term papers...no critical essays...NO THESIS!!! A limited spectrum of reqauired reading...I mean...WTH?!?!
ReplyDeleteThe key issue is that the American public school system was developed to prepare students for factory work. In areas where parents forced the issue things got better and where people don't force the issue things go downhill
ReplyDeleteIt's so funny...I'm home sick today so I'm taking full advantage of the friggin' cable that I pay WAY TOO MUCH FOR...and there was a documentary on Showtime this morning called "Nursery University"...it was about how people in Manhattan LOSE THEIR EVER LOVING MINDS trying to get their children into the proper PRE SCHOOL!!! Because there are NO FREE KINDEGARTEN IN MANHATTAN!!! And they showed people from ALL ECONOMIC SPECTRUMS!!! And it is just INSANE!!! Because these people truly believed that if they didn't get their child into the proper pre-school their child was DESTINED FOR FAILURE!!!
ReplyDeleteThere was one couple on there...who was living paycheck to paycheck who was struggling to get their baby into a pristine pre school via financial aid...and the mama was using a PRE-SCHOOL COUNSELOR (a woman whose job it is to help your child GET INTO PRESCHOOL) to help her...the only reason she had this resource is because the counselor was her best friend...and they were talking about how different their lives would have been if their parents had taken the time to ensure that they got into the school that was BEST FOR THEM...instead of just sending them up the street to the public school...that woman started crying when she thought about how different her life would be if her Mama had did for her...what she was doing for her child...
And I mean...these are nursery schools that charge $20,000 A YEAR!!! This shouldn't be the case in a country with a viable public school system...
Gurrrl that is ME!!!! Trying to figure out how to get MiniMe into a Sidwell school if I move to the DC area.
ReplyDeleteBut I can relate on so many different levels...
I went to Dixon Elementary and I was in their gifted program. My IOWA test scores was off the chain!! I was scoring in the 11.9 and up range in reading and math in 6, 7, 8th grades. Whitney Young came for me and this other student in 6th grade for the 7th grade year, came back for me in 7th and 8th grade. My mother wouldn't let me go cuz she was hell bent on me going to an all girl Catholic school, you remember Unity don't you??? Well I went to Unity and repeated EVERYTHING I did in 7th and 8th grade at Dixon!!! I was soooo angry that I all but failed my freshman year, so when the school closed at the end of my freshman year, I did so poorly that i couldnt go ANYWHERE but to Hirsch. I used to (and sometimes still do) get so mad at my mother for hindering me academically. I know without a shadow of a doubt that my life would be a whole lot different had I went to Whitney Young from the beginning!!!
Girl...OF COURSE I REMEMBER UNITY!!! I was similar...had 12th grade Iowa reading scores in 3RD GRADE!!! (by the way...the Iowa test...IS THE WORST...the California Achievement test was ALWAYS BETTER...that's what they used when I was in school in the burbs)...went to Disney Magnet School until they CANCELLED THE BUSING PROGRAM...then I couldn't get into another magnet school to SAVE MY SOUL!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm getting a headache thinking about it!!!
The bottom line is I shouldn't have to send my child to Sidwell or UofC Lab or NO WHERE ELSE if I am paying tax dollars...my child should get a QUALITY EDUCATION...taught by QUALITY EDUCATORS no matter what...
Absolutely, I hope I can catch that program, but I don't have showtime!
ReplyDeleteGirl...you tube it...I'm sure its on the internet...SOMEWHERE!!! And at the end of the movie...they were like...its even less NURSEY schools in Manhattan than PRE SCHOOLS!!! So the competition is even MORE BRUTAL!!!
ReplyDeleteBUMP THAT...I would have just did what one family did and moved to the burbs...
The valedictorian of my high school posted a comment on this link on facebook...
ReplyDelete"I totally understand. For years, I felt such shame around being "valedictorian"--a supposed indicator that you are smart! Yeah right! I got to Xavier and found out what smart really was! I felt like an idiot. As a result, I became a recluse trying to study all of the time. I was terrified I would flunk out. I didn't flunk out, but did fail ... Read Morepre-calculus! Didn't I have Algebra-Trig?? I did graduate in four years, but it was hard and for a long time I resented H.S. because I didn't think it really prepared me for college and then became resentful of college because I didn't think it prepared me for the workforce. Eventually I got over it and realized much about myself and education. I will agree that critical reasoning was not a big thing in H.S. but eventually I grasped it, mostly in graduate school.
So, yes when it comes to have and educate children, I'm going to be on it, not only so my child(ren) can be competitive, but so they really know how to think, read and write."
As I pointed out the other day when another Multiply reader was busy dissing France -- in France, medical care and education are guaranteed, as well as a social safety-net. Yes; they have high taxes.
ReplyDeleteCountered against America, which has some of the lowest taxes in the Western world -- but also where education, housing and health-care are literally a matter of luck.
We are the only first-world nation where this applies. If you look at other nations in the same boat (where this is policy), they're all third-world countries.
This should tell us something.
It begins at home -- a commitment to education - but without a government mandate, it simply will not happen.
Thank you for stopping by and weighing in.
ReplyDeleteI for one would gladly give HALF MY SALARY for guaranteed GOOD education and medical healthcare. You can bet your bottom dollar on that one!
AMEN!!! I don't mind paying for quality...this country's problem is that it dosen't mind paying...FOR THE WRONG THINGS!!! Those other western countries are ALSO NOT SPENDING HALF OF THEIR BUDGET ON THE MILITARY COMPLEX!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are either going invest in people or the military as a country...since War has ALWAYS been the BIGGEST INDUSTRY THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER PRODUCED...
GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!!! Let's take a look at ANOTHER COUNTRY that follows that SAME IDEOLOGY....
RUSSIA!!! Everything going into the military complex versus the public infrastructure...schools, etc....this counry is closer to Russian than it EVER WAS...and THAT IS A HORROR STORY!!!
there is a reason i pay for private school!!!!!
ReplyDeletemy education was decent, i was lucky
ReplyDeleteif i had been an average or good student i would have been well prepared for college
i wasnt lucky in that the options for the highly gifted were limited and i could have easily finished college by the time i was 15, but had to spend 4 years in school bored.
on the one hand, there was enough education to succeed, but on the other not enough to maximize my potential
my daughter is going to an early college program, in 11th grade they start going to the college and taking college courses. thats good for her, what is bad is that it is a magnet program and ALL of the schools should have that caliber instruction
the school in my zone is so bad i'd turn tricks before i sent my small one there, i pay a decent percentage of my income. i think its criminal that school funding here is based on propety tax rates, it means the poor are doomed to stay poor because they cant get a quality education
*high 5*
ReplyDeleteI think the picture is bigger than the property taxes. From my understanding here in Georgia each district (read city or county) collects the property tax revenue from the whole district and distributes it on a per student basis. So in a city like Atlanta where you have very rich people paying property taxes and very poor, the amount the district pays per student is the same. The difference in budget comes from money parents give directly to the schools.
ReplyDeleteMy kids school ( way in the burbs) has a "birthday book club" where the kids are asked to donate $15 on their birthday to buy a new book for the library. even if half the kids donate that is $7500 a year that doesn't have to come out of the budget. I don't even want to think about what the total PTA budget is.
I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI never fathered any - but I made it clear that with the public schools being little more than jails nowadays, there's no way I'd send something as important as a child to a public school.
That's wonderful if its based on a per student versus area basis...
ReplyDeleteHowever...being a product of public schools...I can't even say its about money...because in all my years of schooling...I can't remember ONE teacher that taught as if it was an privilege...instead of a check...and that type of hubris spreads in a classroom full of students like typhoid...
In Chicago...we have a particular university located in the city that graduates a VERY HIGH percentage of teachers and administrators that work for the CPS...that particular university IS THE PITS!!! Mired in scandal from the Dean's office on down...if it was rated among other universities in the country...IT WOULD BE IN THE BOTTOM PERCENTILE!!! Yet THIS is where CPS is getting a LARGE PERCENTILE OF THEIR TEACHERS...couple that with a union that is more concerned in protecting the jobs of teachers who DON'T TEACH...teachers who TREAT STUDENTS UNETHICALLY...teachers who tell children..."I got mine, you better get yours"....couple that with a building infrastructure that is crumbling down and far too many children per class...
And then you don't REALLY have to wonder why the problem with public schooling is what it is...
I am shocked and appalled that this is still happening in American schools.
ReplyDeleteHaving issue with my own kids, that whole "no child is left behind" nonsense is exactly that: nonsense!
You wouldn't be talking about Chicago State would you??? LMAOOO When I was searching for a school with a Criminal Justice program, I briefly entertained the thought of going there, out of mere convenience, but when I went there to find out about it, they were RUDE to put it mildly. Besides, a degree besides a education degree from there isn't worth a hill of beans. Call my poor ass uppity, but I took my ass to the good white people at Roosevelt University where a degree from them means something. (even if they do cost 600/credit hour! LOLOLOL)
ReplyDeleteyou have no idea Deb.
ReplyDeletecoming from the south (Arkansas) *inhale....exhale*
ReplyDeletethe public education system is CRAP. I enrolled my kids in the magnet system... they both had/have gifted classes in elementary and middle school. My daughter is about to graduate... and I feel as if she still knows NOTHING... we took all kinds of Pre-AP classes... and when she took the ACT... her scores were horrible. The more she takes the test, the more frustrated she gets and the lower the score is. Her highest score: 16. Can you say community college? There is only so much a parent can do when the system is flawed to begin with.
mine was too. I scored a 19 both time, got a 25 in math and a 14 in science. smh
ReplyDeleteYou know...I didn't want to name names...and I don't want to offend anyone...and I won't say if you're correct...even if you are...CORRECT!!!
ReplyDeleteGurrrl, I have a friend who has been going there 10 years trying to get her post baccalaureate type 4 teaching certification for early childhood education. they made her take a bunch of undergrad classes to get in the teacher certification program and she kept flunking math. She took that class 4 times before she finally passed it (no good in bath besides the basics) only to find out she didn't need that class or half of the other classes to get into the program. disorganization and misinformation at its FINEST. She has been there so long, she has run out of post-grad loan money and now has to pay for her last 10 classes out of her own pocket.
ReplyDeleteI truly believe that you would get a more well rounded education at the neighboorhood barbershop than THAT PLACE!!!
ReplyDeleteits a shame
ReplyDeleteand part of the problem is teacher pay
i would make an excellent teacher (of older children,lol)
but no way on EARTH would I want to work for teacher money
and its the same with higher education- business people often say that they find out how much their professors make and say "fuck that, how can u teach me to make money when u aint makin any? i'll go learn from someone rich"
our schools here graduate some IGNANT ass teachers. IG NANT
now some are good, but I had students with me in Spanish Literature classes that couldnt hold a short conversation in Spanish, but if they passed the classes they were certified to teach it in the schools. WTF? Folk who cant speak standard English teach school, but who cares? They end up at black schools anyway so no one notices or cares that they cant talk, the other teachers cant and noo ne cares if the kids ever do.
Mine goes to kindergarten in the fall and though I could use the money, I cannot see myself sending her to public school. Not some dilapidated ass old building near a million low income areas with dirt poor students and their ignorant parents. That shit is contagious. PART of the perks of private school is that you know the other students' parents share the same commitment to education, especially the ones who have 2 and 3 kids there.
hmmmm, I wonder if our brain was split in two at birth. LOLOL
ReplyDeleteThose are my SAME sentiments EXACTLY!!! My whole concept of private education is about sending MiniMe to school with other kids who have LIKE MINDED PARENTS!
that means we are both operating on half a brain
ReplyDeletehmmm, that explains a LOT
LOL
Oh, and these parents aren't rich or from other areas, they all live near me. So I'm not sayin all the parents in my area suck, just that I try to avoid those who do.
ReplyDeleteAND, its a shame that the schools are so bad. Because when the best parents take their kids out of the public schools, it hastens the decline of the schools. But I feel I am outnumbered so my kids wont bring up the average, the average will bring mine down. I aint sacrificing mine.
yep, yep, and people always try to make the argument to me about how it is my job to make sure that she doesn't succumb to the below average students and their ways but my thing is, there are more of the bad ones than there are the good ones and yes, I do fill outnumbered!!!! I always am given grief when I say that I am not sacrificing my child's academics or risk her slipping into the wrong crowd in attempt to help the bad schools while black folks attempt to get their shit together! HELLSSS NO!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd the thing I love about the Catholic schools is that THEY AIN'T PLAYING ABOUT THAT DISCIPLINE!!!! They might not paddle them like WE GOT, but they have figured out how to instill FEAR in these kids anyway!
ReplyDeletemine goes to a baptist school. and they use the Abeka curriculum. works good. and the entire staff is like Old WOmen. Its like having 30 grandmothers,lol. The teachers are VERY nice and gentle, no fear but a lot of respect
ReplyDeleteAll I know is if I had a child....my child would be going to Provident St. Mel on the West side of Chicago from Kindergarten thorugh Senior H.S. by HOOK OR CROOK!!!
ReplyDeleteI heard they were pretty good too but ummmmmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteI AIN'T LIVING ON THE WEST SIDE!!!!!!
And NEITHER AM I!!! I would be right in the burbs where I am at...my child however would be in that school every day of the week!!!
ReplyDelete