re: Reducing Welfare for Families of Failing Students

Quoting TheNuge:" Also, are you referring to Missouri or Kansas?"

I'm from Missouri. They started with cutting funding (where are you getting this crap that the inner city schools get more money? Even in the city counsel meetings they'll tell you they spend less on those schools, like if their test scores aren't up to par they take money away).

Now the KC school district has lost accreditation and many of the schools have been forced to close.

Quoting Tarynosaurus Rex:" I'm from Missouri. They started with cutting funding (where are you getting this crap that the inner ... [snip!] ... they take money away). Now the KC school district has lost accreditation and many of the schools have been forced to close."

They've wanted to close the school I did my student teaching at because it's non traditional and kids do NOT do well on the tests there.

Yet, why would you close a school where kids have advising every day except one day a week... advising is where you have a homeroom class and discuss life. You have an advisor (a teacher in the school) where you can talk to and say "Look, my grades are slipping but my parents are divorcing. Can we talk?" You can decide to talk to your advising group and the advising groups are taken VERY seriously there. They are family. One day a week you have a meeting like that with the whole school. Let's say someone notices some bullying or they think a teacher didnt respond to a situation the right way. So the entire middle and high school gets together and thinks of ways to fix their own education, fix the friendships in the school. If they need funding for more books, they put on a fundraiser. The KIDS make this happen. Kids can earn credit by teaching their own classes. One of my students taught a dance class. Another kid taught a graphic novel class. Another taught cooking. I could teach whatever I wanted, no district saying "That book is too controversial!" Nah, that school WANTS you to teach things that engage kids even with controversial content. I was part of a class that rebuilds the New Orleans area after Katrina. This year they are learning about the area and raising money to build a house for a family displaced by Katrina and helping her and her kids get straight since she never really got her feet back where she was. Another class... they go overseas and practice the language they are learning in another country. The list goes on. THAT kind of school is what EVERY school should be like. Let the kids learn about the real world around them. If a kid wonders "Man, I wonder what kind of sea life is in the ocean?" Well, let's make a class where we learn about the oceans and then we travel to Florida and go scuba diving! They can DO that! The advising groups build friendships even amongst enemies. My students in my advising class are like my own babies. I had a student text me and ask questions about sex and me having a baby young. Some would say "wow, thats inappropriate!" but the parents LOVE that their advisors talk to the kids. I had parents hug me and thank me for loving their kids. I was invited to my students Bar Mitvah and it was one of the most proud moments in my life to be there and witness that. I text my students at least once a week to make sure they are okay. I had a student that was so against the world and hated life... that kid pulled my heart when I saw him cry. To see him walk out of class and the other teachers tell me to go talk to him... seriously, a teacher leaving class to go tend to a kid that needs help does NOT happen everywhere. I can sit down on the ground and put my arm around a student and hug them and tell them I love them and it's not anything inappropriate. The last day of school my advising girls and I held hands and skipped down the hall crying because we didnt want to leave each other. And that happens ALL the time there.

Kids wanted to go to school, and if they didnt... there wasnt any detention. All that was needed was "Ricky, Im sad you missed class." and he would feel like smurf because he ditched my class. This kind of school is called "Open Education." I wish ALL schools were this way. No uniforms, no dress code, no coming down on kids, no boring classes. Instead, we let kids get in control of their life. Get control of their education. Interact with the entire world to learn instead of a stupid textbook.

But a school like that doesnt do well on tests. And so instead we force kids to be like drones, learning from a textbook, teaching to the test, and the world of their education is behind 4 walls in a classroom. The place I taught at made the world their classroom. WHY aren't we doing that, and saying "To smurfing HELL with standardized testing!"

<blockquote><b>Quoting Tarynosaurus Rex:</b>" I'm from Missouri. They started with cutting funding (where are you getting this crap that the inner ... [snip!] ... they take money away). Now the KC school district has lost accreditation and many of the schools have been forced to close."</blockquote>




I don't know the specifics of MO and KC, but in general, poor schools "get" much more state funding than non-poor schools.


For example, where in in PA, the economy is "eh", school taxes in my neighborhood are about $9k/yr, there is a good business community paying school taxes and average income is good so lots of money is sent to the states general fund. Per student spending is about $14k.
Where my rental properties are the economy is awful, school taxes are about $350/yr , there is almost no business community, and the average income is awful with lots of people on government help. Very little money is sent to the state's genersl fund from the area. Per student spending is about $9,600 per student per
year.
The schools in the area where I live "GET/receive" relatively little from the state and federal government. The schools where my rental properties are "GET/receive" most of their funding from someone/somewhere else.

I do it think failing schools should be given years to turn things around. They are hurting the community and the adults are allowing the student s to be guinea pigs for a failing system. Some should just be closed and the kids given better choices.

Quoting TheNuge:" <blockquote><b>Quoting Tarynosaurus Rex:</b>" I'm from Missouri. They started with ... [snip!] ... allowing the student s to be guinea pigs for a failing system. Some should just be closed and the kids given better choices."

I do think failing schools should be shut down if they aren't doing well, BUT, at the same time, standardized testing shouldn't be the measure they use. There are a lot of other factors that we should consider before failing a school.

<blockquote><b>Quoting FroggysMommy:</b>" I do think failing schools should be shut down if they aren't doing well, BUT, at the same time, standardized ... [snip!] ... testing shouldn't be the measure they use. There are a lot of other factors that we should consider before failing a school."</blockquote>




My assumption is that is we allowed more state and local autonomy you would see school success and failure measured in different ways.

The poor are not the only people who have children who fail in school! Stupidest smurf I have ever read in my life.

<blockquote><b>Quoting My Lil' Monsters:</b>" The poor are not the only people who have children who fail in school! Stupidest smurf I have ever read in my life."</blockquote>




Uhhhh, who is saying THAT?

Quoting TheNuge:" <blockquote><b>Quoting My Lil' Monsters:</b>" The poor are not the only people who ... [snip!] ... children who fail in school! Stupidest smurf I have ever read in my life."</blockquote> Uhhhh, who is saying THAT?"

Punishing the poor? right? Ya stupidest smurf ever.

Quoting My Lil' Monsters:" Punishing the poor? right? Ya stupidest smurf ever."

You disagree with punishing the poor without suggesting that someone is saying that only the poor have children who fail.