Your distinction is without a difference. You still don’t acknowledge that people – school children – are distinct personalities including aptitude and ability which in the case of failing students is typically a hardwired non-performer that is just not up to performing at average or acceptable levels in the given grade at the schools. No amount of “teaching” can make such a child perform up to par. Keeping these failing students in the mix of normal kids is what drags down the public schools such as OUSD to failing schools. Prior to the civil rights movement of the mid 60s these failing students were swept out and put in schools of their own – which allowed the districts to maintain standards in the normal schools.

For reasons of political correctness the urban schools refuse to flunk out and transfer out bad students. Their “schools” and staff suffer greatly as a result.

White students – and especially Jewish students are disinterested in sharing classrooms with dummies and seek real schools such as Piedmont, Orinda or whatever. Black students who do not have the families & economics for better neighborhoods are stuck in Oakland’s failing schools where previously they would have been able to go to more refined Oakland Schools. I’d like for OUSD to start fielding better schools such as Lowell High in SF – before the Charters take every high scoring Oakland student.

Actually maybe I shouldn’t care about this – let the Charters take all the higher IQ students. AIM seems to do OK. Free enterprise rules I suppose.

But then we have the “Brave New World” problem where the bad public schools are allowed to exist and raise generations of black students who are led to think they are “normal” and have no idea that the world outside their failure-factory schools exists. If the public school districts operated good, better and best schools, the students of all stripes within the district would be aware of the world as it is and where they stand in it.

Look at it this way, Sears customers are well aware of what top of the line looks like even if they buy the cheap appliances. They can see the Kenmore Elite appliances alongside the base model and they really get it that their house has the base line. Reality is maintained.

As much as I like these educational policy debates – I’m afraid the events on the world stage indicate that we are going to have far more problems than local schooling of Oakland’s young. If the Euro and Dollar – fiat money after all – reaches the point of collapse we’re going to have other things to think of first. The likelihood of an economic crash has been climbing for some time (welfare policy, open borders, free trade) and we know from history that when it happens it occurs swiftly. I’m running the pros and cons of buying a plug in Prius despite the huge price premium – trying to weigh the value of it as a hedge against gas price/availability in the next 5 years. It’s a robust analysis and an interesting decision.

People who sink that kind of money into such a purchase can be expected to have strong opinions of the viability of the municipal schools too. Remember, like the original Prius buyers, they are betting on the marketplace value of the used car (depreciation) which is an inflation calculation as well as direct savings on future gas costs.

Evaluating these schools involves similar balancing. While I’m not a pro-teacher pro union person I believe there is far too much emphasis on teacher quality as opposed to student quality. I can’t fairly judge teachers and the issues of their pay and class size with no adjustments or allowance for the quality of the students the teachers are issued.

So when these test scores are released year after year I cannot say “good teacher” or “bad teacher” when the classes and schools are assembled at random with no regard for the aptitude of the students assigned to them.

Teachers are not responsible for bad test scores when the test subject is of low cognitive skill. Time pressure tests are (often become) proxies for IQ tests – especially when it’s given that a large number are tested and all were exposed to the similar subject material.

If you read my post carefully, you will note that I said “Any child CAN excel if…” I did not say any child WILL excel. As I stated in two earlier posts, “there are exceptions.” There are students who fail in spite of tons of support at home–as well as those who excel with little or no support.

Generally speaking, however, students who excel have parents/guardians who value education and do what is necessary to insure their children’s academic success. I base this assertion on my experience with children as a teacher, mother, grandmother, friend, neighbor, community member, etc.

I was expected to dicipline lightly, change grades, tolerate nonsense, and was even threatened by a parent because I told his kid to “be quiet” yet he called me a “racist MF!”

This is all the doing of the liberal democratic public school slant- i say that as a former bleedidng heart liebral. Yet having a child of my own and witnessing the disparing attitude of the predominate number of black families I have had to contend with was sobering to say the least. I was even called a racists for saying” Black as a charcoal” when teaching an ELA lesson!

My hat goes off to a school that can reach the black and Latino families and I completely agree with the observations of the former aipcs teacher.

However, I must admit that the Indian school antics can only be done because of Asians ( yes Tiger moms) but also different submissive stances. I dont care who you are- you will not be able to tell a Black family to stay until 6 pm monday – thursday!Yuo will not be anble to get away with humiliating them( they will threaten you)!
Same as many are willing to talk about the “gloat” of the school- lets talk about the thuggery that soft racism has created in the ghetto’s. Expecting schools to change black culture is unrealistic- a financial menltdown just might do the trick though.

And I know…………….im racist right! Ha Ha!

Based on what? Your wish? Your college training? Your scholarly research?

By what authority or experience do you opine that any child can “excel” whatever that means to you, just because their parent(s) wish it so and do everything humanly possible to make their child excel?

Do you even live in the real world? What is your occupation and training?

That statement is utter hogwash. It also is the liberal nonsense that blames teachers and parents for the child’s exercise of choice not to perform as directed. They do have a choice you know. I talk to parents who’s children decide to stay stoned or lose themselves in sex at 12 or 13 (puberty is when these stories seem to really intensify). And that’s not mentioning the exasperated parents who have one child noticeably duller than the siblings. No amount of money and attention can make these kids be what they are not.

No, Mary. Education does not add what is physically lacking in a child. Some are tall, some are short. Some are aggressive, some are not. Even within the same family grouping some are bright and some are just morons. All are not the same. Deal with the difference.

Asian students who do well do not do so because they are just “smart.” Any child (who is not suffering from some kind of learning disability) can excel–if his/her family values education, and, consequently, makes sure all measures are taken to ensure the child’s academic success.

New DEO high school observations –
1. The staff has done a great job to create a culture where kids feel safe and welcome. However, the majority of students won’t do the homework. They are used to checking out, sleeping in class, TALKING in class, getting up without permission, thinking they can use the bathroom every five minutes, dancing/jumping/running/hugging/kissing/playing music in the hallways, talking openly about how much they drank/smoke that weekend, cursing on a regular basis in class, arguing with the teacher about rules, etc. I cannot make this up.
2. My current high school students desperately want to learn, are easy to like, and are also easily manipulated. It’s sad to see they haven’t been taught how to learn. It’s heartbreaking to hear that they hate to read. I feel like I’m just doing damage control at this point.
3. Many teachers try their best but choose not to focus on standards or grade level material. I can’t really judge them. (How in God’s name do 11th graders have a 2nd grade reading level?!)
4. How do I introduce rigor while still being flexible? I see the potential (in several students) behind a lazy work ethic.
5. Yes, several students have faced trauma, and we need to be sensitive towards their needs. My attitude is that they cannot afford to think of themselves as victims if they are going to be successful.