LA Times takes on President Obama and the teachers union

[hoosier_daddy]

God has never been removed, you total dumbass.  any kid can pray whenever he wants.  do you really want teachers to tell your kid when and how to pray?  what if it is a muslim teacher and he says make sure and face towards Mecca?  fuck that forced religious shit, old man.  do it on your own time.  this is a secular country, thank god....

[bhsgrad1972]

We do need to get back to the basics in elementary and middle school. Reading, writing (including cursive writing), spelling, math, AMERICAN history (forget world history until they are in high school), geography - these need to be taught to every student. Don't push "career choices" on them in middle school. At that age many of them don't even have a clue what they might want to do as adults.

In the southeastern Ohio county where I live, students in high school have three choices: they can stay at their regular high school (where it is assumed that they are COLLEGE PREP); they can opt to attend our county-wide Career Center (where they can learn things in various career and tech fields, such as Auto Body, Auto & Diesel Repair, Cosmetology, Computer Graphics, Horticulture and Landscaping, Forestry, Carpentry, Masonry, Electricity, Welding, Industrial Mechanics, Medical Office Tech, Patient Health Care Tech or certified nursing assistant training, and Medical College Prep - for pre-nursing, pre-radiology tech, pre-phlebotomy tech, etc.), or last, they can opt for Ohio's Post Secondary Enrollment Option (P.S.E.O., which allows high school juniors and seniors to attend Washington State Community College for up to two years, taking college classes and receiving both college and high school credits for such). Our high school guidance counselor tries to steer any kids that don't feel themselves to be college-bound to the Career Center, into one of the various tech choices.

My daughter went to Career Center for her last 2 years of high school, in the Medical College Prep class. She WAS going to become a doctor, but has now come home, transferred from West Virginia University to Washington State Community College, and is now studying nursing. She won't rack up nearly as much student loan debt this way. She wants to go back to WVU once she is an RN, and can work for Ruby Memorial Hospital (the WVU hospital), and then finish her degree.

But enough about my daughter. Our public schools do need to quit pushing college on every student, because every student does NOT want to attend college. Some simply aren't good "book learners" - and that IS what college is. Some are much better with "hands-on" stuff - and those students deserve the opportunities to do what they are best at, instead of being force-fed into the college prep curriculum of most high schools.

As for discipline, the day they took paddling out of the schools, was the day they removed the most effective disciplinary tool they had. I've SEEN students curse at their teachers - and the teachers can do NOTHING about it. They have to stand there and take it, because they know that the kids WANT to be suspended. That's a vacation for them. Too many kids these days don't care about their grades.

When I was in school, I knew big tall young men who literally feared being paddled by the assistant principal - and that was the ONLY reason they behaved in school. They didn't want Mr. Pearson whacking them. Of course, they also knew they'd get it at home, if they got it at school - something else today's parents seem to not be doing.

[sweetwater5s9]

CHICAGO,  /PRNewswire/ -- On any given day, nearly 23 percent of all young Black men ages 16 to 24 who have dropped out of high school are in jail, prison, or a juvenile justice institution in America, according to a disturbing new national report released today on the dire economic and social consequences of not graduating from high school.
Dropouts become incarcerated at a shocking rate: 23 of every 100 young Black male dropouts were in jail on any given day compared to only 6 to 7 of every 100 Asian, Hispanic or White dropouts.
 
While young Black men are disproportionately affected, the report found that this crisis cuts across racial and ethnic lines. Male dropouts of all races were 47 times more likely to be incarcerated than their peers of a similar age who had graduated from a four-year college or university.
 
"For too long, and in too many ways, young people across the country have been let down by the education system and by the adults responsible for their care and development.
 
 
Consequences of Dropping Out of High School: Joblessness and Jailing for High School Dropouts and the High Cost for Taxpayers - 22% Daily Jailing Rate for Young Black Men Who Drop Out of High School is available online at http://www.clms.neu.edu.
 
 
Professor Andrew Sum, Center for Labor Market Studies (CLMS), Northeastern University in Boston was commissioned by the Alternative Schools Network (ASN) in Chicago, to provide a detailed portrait of the employment, earnings and family income, incarceration and parenting experiences of dropouts, ages 16 to 24, compared to their better-educated peers. The report is based on an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau data from national Current Population Surveys and American Community Surveys.
 
6.2 million largely black and Hispanic youth have dropped out of high school and are living in America. This report, also released by the ASN in conjunction with other national education and civil rights organizations, documented the magnitude of America's dropout crisis.
 
Consequences of Dropping Out of High School: Joblessness and Jailing outlines the extremely difficult circumstances that these young people ages 16 to 24 face after dropping out of high school, and demonstrates the high price paid by both these young adults, American taxpayers and our society as a whole.
 

[hoosier_daddy]

paddling is for morons.  seriously.  it only teaches that violence works...do not try to reason with anybody, just kick their ass.  what is the difference between a big man paddling a smaller high school kid than a bigger high school kid punching out a smaller junior high kid?  what bullshit.   

[sweetwater5s9]

Students who drop out of High School risk a higher chance of poverty according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In addition, High school drop outs demonstrate a higher risk of criminal activity and a shortened life span due to crime. It's estimated that about 2,500 students drop out of U.S. high schools every day.
 
In most large metropolitan schools in America, educational systems are losing half of the students through drop out.
 
One of the reasons kids are dropping out is simply because they say they don't like it. Teens are dropping out of high school because they see no point in going.
 
Nationally, 68% of state prison inmates are dropouts.
 
If 16 is too young to buy cigarettes and to vote, how can it be old enough to make such a life-
altering
decision?
 
There are options to public high school, but unlike public high schools you will pay a tuition.
 
 
Studies show that parochial schools spend less than half of what the public schools spend on educating students, and yet, despite the National Education Association's claims, the private schools do more with less. According to a study conducted in three New York communities by Paul Peterson and Herbert Walberg, per pupil costs in public schools in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn are an average of $5,124. The parochial schools in those same communities spend approximately 53.2% less than $2,399 on average per student. Yet, this same study found that, on average, private school students scored 7.3% better on standardized reading tests than did their public school counterparts.
 
Furthermore, a study conducted by the Rand Corporation of public, private, and parochial high schools in New York City found that the parochial high schools graduated 95% of their students, while the public schools graduated only about 50%.
 
Why? The management of private schools is directly accountable to parents in a way that public schools are not.
 
Using data from the Census Bureau, researchers found that fewer Hispanic students earn a GED credential than white or black dropouts. Black students earned a GED at a rate of two in 10. For white students, the rate is three in 10.
 
 
 

[lluke47]

hoserhead you prove everyday why only 20% of this country is liberals, y'all are just stupid and unknowing of any facts and truth...


Speaking for most Founding Fathers in his day, John Jay, the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, appointed by George Washington himself, said,

"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

Here's your answer about a muslim praying in our schools...go back to your homeland to the filth and evil of islam..

[hoosier_daddy]

yeah, we get it, dickhead.  blacks and mexicans do worse in school than whites.  and whites do worse than asians.  does that mean only asians should run for office?  why is EVERY FUCKING THING ABOUT RACE TO YOU?  this is about education in general, not about which race has more advantages when it comes to doing well in school, asshole.  can't you talk about even one topic without playing the race card?

[hoosier_daddy]

that is a lie about parochial schools, you lying bitch.  they get to only take students they want, and they can kick out any kid that doesn't do well. public schools HAVE TO TAKE EVERYBODY THAT SHOWS UP, THOSE WITH MENTAL PROBLEMS, THOSE WITH BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS, THOSE WITH HANDICAPS, and THAT COSTS A LOT OF FUCKING MONEY, YOU DUMBSHIT ASSHOLE.  hell, you act like parochial schools should get a medal for only taking bright kids and kids with no physical or mental or behavioral problems and thus having an appearance of doing better and cheaper.  you are a fucking idiot.