Saturday, January 21, 2012
Honestly, the greatest natural resource being wasted in America today is potential. Individual humans have shown, throughout history, that, indeed, we are capable of much. However, though humans are capable of accomplishing much, one would be hard pressed to find a human who can honestly admit that his or her success was completely a product of their own abilities. In short, some kind of education, traditional or not, is necessary for success. So, why does this matter? Well, many children, including myself, depend or depended on state funded, urban public education. The problem with this, and, trust me I'm speaking only from experience, is that, quite frankly, it SUCKS. Yes, it sucks. A report from the educational advocacy group America’s Promise Alliance reports that in America's 50 biggest cities 48% of students do not graduate high school in four years. At this point, I would like anyone reading this to think of the first three adjectives that this statistics brings to mind. The FCC says I can't share mine. What I can share is that my urban, Pittsburgh high school finished 129th out of 133 schools in overall standardized testing. The three we defeated? Urban, public high schools. I understand that public education cannot turn every child into an intellectual. Some kids will drop out no matter how well the educators do. However, I damn sure cannot rationalize a 50% dropout rate in anyway but an institutional failure. This brings us around to the point of this blog. Do I know how to save public education in the United States? Honestly, no. However, I do know that across the country and the world there are innovative, exciting, and creative forms of education that ARE working and pushing the status quo. This blog will explore them, analyze them, and dissect there inner workings. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!
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I'm glad to see you're on track with your posts.
ReplyDeleteThe white text on a black background is difficult to read. You'll want to chunk your text in the future. I'd also re-design the look and feel of it.
I found a couple of writing errors (Dam those urban schools!!).
Finally, there are hundreds of links you could include in this post. These statistics exist. Let us see them for ourselves. Link us to related stories.
Dr C
I agree to an extent... but I didn't go to a city school so my opinion is biased. It'd be interesting to find out the quality of the teachers hired there, but also keep in mind that a teacher can only do so much. If kids don't want to learn, they won't learn. I'm thinking of the movie "Freedom Writers" that came out in '07. If city schools are anything like that in this area and I was looking for a teaching job, it'd be the last job I'd apply for.
ReplyDeleteGood reply Noelle!
ReplyDeleteNo new posts this week?
Dr C
No new posts?
ReplyDeleteDr C