"They found that the Harlem Children’s Zone schools produced “enormous” gains. The typical student entered the charter middle school, Promise Academy, in sixth grade and scored in the 39th percentile among New York City students in math. By the eighth grade, the typical student in the school was in the 74th percentile. The typical student entered the school scoring in the 39th percentile in English Language Arts (verbal ability). By eighth grade, the typical student was in the 53rd percentile. ...the most common education reform ideas — reducing class size, raising teacher pay, enrolling kids in Head Start — produce gains of about 0.1 or 0.2 or 0.3 standard deviations. Promise Academy produced gains of 1.3 and 1.4 standard deviations. In math, Promise Academy eliminated the achievement gap between its black students and the city average for white students. These results are powerful evidence in a long-running debate. Some experts, mostly surrounding the education establishment, argue that schools alone can’t produce big changes. The problems are in society, and you have to work on broader issues like economic inequality. Reformers, on the other hand, have argued that school-based approaches can produce big results. These schools are academically rigorous and college-focused. Promise Academy students who are performing below grade level spent twice as much time in school as other students in New York City. They also smash the normal bureaucratic strictures that bind leaders in regular schools. Promise Academy went through a tumultuous period as Canada searched for the right teachers. Nearly half of the teachers did not return for the 2005-2006 school year. A third didn’t return for the 2006-2007 year." this is what we need. if this can be applied across the country, it will have an enormous effect on everyone. i love the approach. do what it takes. twice as much time in school. get rid of ineffective teachers. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/opinion/08brooks.html?em
New Orleans still has huge problems with education and you can point fingers in a lot of directions. Just yesterday a 14 year old murdered a 13 year old over an argument involving marijuana. We have huge problems with a lack of adult guidance in the city. New Orleans currently has a HUGE racism issue. That may not surprise people and they may think it's the typical stereotype of whites discriminating against blacks. It's actually quite different in New Orleans. The projected savior of the school system was run out of town because he wasn't black. Several of the city council members are under attack because they're not black. The Congressman who took Jefferson's slot is under attack also. (surprise!) There are many people who liked Nagin's Chocolate City comments and don't want anybody (white, Hispanic, Asian) in charge unless they're black. Good luck getting any major businesses to relocate to New Orleans under this climate. It's an international city but it's NOT a diverse city. Without the "new" money brought in through tourism, federal funding as a result of Katrina, and donations from people around the country, this city would collapse. The average resident of New Orleans is more of a drain on the economy than what they contribute. A small percentage carry the majority. Anytime someone suggests a solution or tries to examine the problem, they're automatically labeled as a racist. It's a sad situation and I don't see it getting better in the near future. Of course, in typical fashion, most blame racism or the federal government for their problems. It's never their fault. :nope:
it is pretty hard to make something out of your life if you are a kid growing up in those conditions. Yes it can be done, but if a kid grows up in absolute poverty, that kid is more likely to join a gang, commit crimes, get pregnant, impregnate some girl, then leave the child fatherless, and you have generation after generation of fatherless children growing up. What is a child going to do when he sees his family struggling, and guys on the corner making thousands of dollars every few hours, driving nice cars, and wearing nice clothes and jewelry.
Thats a bit of an excuse to me, because early on in my life, I saw all of this happening around me. But I guess the difference is I had my father around. However, It still can be done without a father and determination blocks out all of the extra shyt.
yes it can be done, you are correct, but i would venture to say with those conditions it does not happen as often as it does.
All it takes is effort, I mean high school is really not that hard, you dont have to be Einstein, just a little effort can get you to college whether its junior college, trade school, or a regular college.
im going to make a guess here and say you had good parental structure growing up also. I agree with you though, i didnt do anything in high school and flew through it with ease. I just think that if you are a male, and you grow up in poverty, in a bad neighborhood, with no parental guidance, possibly no father around, or your mom has to work 3 jobs and is never home, to a child with an undeveloped mind, alot of the time the temptation of money, and women, and cars is just too much for them to overcome.
I hate it for the children. They're always the innocent victims brought into this situation by their parents. The problem is that each time someone (or a group) tries to examine and address the problem, someone will inevitably claim discrimination. You can't even begin to insinuate that people need personal accountability without being labeled a racist. Many people have grown tired of this and either moved out of town or just don't care about inner-city crime or poverty. Simply throwing money at the problem isn't the solution. As I mentioned before, many poor people in N.O. received money after Katrina. How much of that went to improving their quality of life? (home, education, future) It was amazing to see how many people put that money into wheels, spinners, stereos, etc. You can't simply hand money to these people. The problem is when you attempt to direct how the funding is used, you get more charges of discrimination. You surely can't give the money to the politicians these people select. Would you trust Nagin, Morial, Jefferson, etc. with your money? Almost FOUR YEARS after Katrina, we still have tons of people blaming the government for their problems. Why aren't we seeing the same issues in Jefferson Parish, St. Tammany Parish, the Gulf Coast? All these issues go hand in hand. You really can't fix one without addressing the others. We need more role models to step up for these kids. The Hip-Hop and Rap crews are not the models these kids need. I know Bill Cosby has made attempts but people only wanted to hear that their problems are not their own fault. I don't care if someone calls me racist, biased, etc. This is a problem that needs to be fixed and that will only happen through dialogue. Otherwise we will remain in this same position and be discussing this again and again like we have for the past 25 years.
