(06-12-2017, 03:55 PM)FBT Wrote:

(06-09-2017, 11:02 PM)MalabarJag Wrote: Six schools in Baltimore (5 high schools, one middle school) had ZERO students proficient in math or English.


http://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-bal...tate-tests

Parents need to take some ownership here.  If they know the school isn't educating their child, they need to make their voices heard.  The problem is, many of the parents of the kids attending these failing schools probably attended these same schools themselves.  Either they don't know any better, or they simply don't care.

I have a relative who teaches in the DCPS.  She's a grade school teacher working with 1st and 2nd graders.  Some of the stories I've heard from her are downright depressing, but explain a lot about where we are as a society.  Many parents in the more impoverished areas of town (she teaches in one) don't take any ownership over their children's education, and expect the teachers to carry the load without any assistance from them.  They don't feed them, and they don't buy them any of their school supplies.   My relative regularly buys supplies for up to half her class because the parents just don't bother.

They send the kids to school with nothing.  DCPS has adopted a program to feed the kids when they get to school, so my relative has to take the time that used to be her planning period to play cafeteria lady for a classroom of kids.

She has been in conferences with parents where she's talking about how bright their child is and how the kid just needs some encouragement at home, and she's actually had parents tell her "That's your job, not mine."

School systems like Baltimore or even here in Jacksonville are more concerned with propping up the bloated bureaucracy and placating the teacher's unions than they are about educating children.

We have that problem up here as well. A retired fellow in my church (a former DEA agent at that) learned of the state of local kids and founded a program, the Matthew 25:40 School Program, in which he collects donations of breakfast and lunch foods (and more recently clothing) for high school kids. People, churches and businesses from around our county and surrounding counties donate specific food items and money for clothing (and we're talking basics like underclothes, socks and shoes. If they need shirts and pants or school uniforms those are bought as well) and he delivers them to the schools. He also sends backpacks of items with students with toiletries and such. The program also provides for students who have lost things due to fire, hurricane, or other means.  

The way he set it up is he went to the area schools and talked to teachers and administrators about the kids and found out who was in need and then they talked about the best way to go about helping them. It's a huge collaboration between 5 counties and all the high schools. The program is currently, as of yesterday, serving right at 2,000 students and the numbers increase by the month. Our schools here aren't the size of Duval county schools but the numbers are staggering for just high school students. 

His focus is on high school kids because there are many programs in place for elementary and middle school kids. In just one high school there were 33 kids listed as homeless or in transition (meaning they didn't have a permanent place to call home.) 

This is an excerpt from an article written last September in a paper in a nearby county....

"Both Rahal and Earley said the program is in the infancy stages, but a conference room filled with items such as Capri Suns, fruit cups, nutrient and protein bars, packs of Ramen noodles, Pop-Tarts and crackers from the two Food Lion stores in Rockingham can begin the process. The food and drink products are small, Rahal said, to allow them to place the items in student’s backpack discreetly to avoid embarrassment.

Counselors will begin the program by providing snacks on a daily basis, but can send home food daily as well as weekend bags on an as-needed basis. Rahal stops by weekly to personally check inventory or to replenish the supply when the school calls.

Earley used an example of a Raider football player who has lost 12 pounds since the season ended due to malnutrition as a way to show the program was needed. Expansion is next on the horizon."

It's a tragedy that kids live this way and it greatly affects learning ability. When you're hungry and/or homeless you're first thought is not always about studies. I've been without in my life and I can tell you, all I thought about was where my next meal was coming from. I know of a kid whose dad lives in a shed in someone's backyard and the little girl thinks it's normal. When her mom takes her over there to visit (and score some drugs from the main house) the girl goes back there and plays and acts like everything is normal. I have seen it with my own eyes. She is maybe 5 or 6 years old and that is considered normal in her mind. Think about that. Kids are being raised in conditions like this, and worse, and we wonder what is going wrong in our schools. And everyone thinks it's up to everyone else to do something about it. These days it's the "government's responsibility" to take care of this issue which is a whole other subject. Ordinary people take it upon themselves to do something. It doesn't solve the problem of irresponsible parenting or whatever, but at least kids are fed and clothed and have one less thing to worry about. 

Sorry about the tangent. I never raised kids and had no idea how bad it really was until he talked about this program and would tell us the numbers of kids in need and such. It's not just in big cities. It affects everything. People spitting out kids left and right without the ability or will to actually raise them have no idea the harm they do not just to the kids but to society as a whole. It would be nice if every disadvantaged kid could be a Ben Carson story, but that's not reality.

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