Re: Asians to dominate space too?

RMOLLISE said the following on 2/19/2006 8:49 AM:

Remember, though, that the schools you and I went to (I believe we are
at least close in age) were considerably different. In my suburban
school disadvantaged kids, _white_ disadvantaged kids were a rarity and
a curiousity. They were not just looked upon as odd by the kids, they
were talked about by the teachers in not too friendly a fashion, and
were treated, at best, in a condescending, patronizing way. African
American kids? They were shoved off into their own schools that always
had the worst of the worst: handmedowns and castoffs when it came to
resources.

I was a little different in that I was in small town rural schools most of my primary educational years. Lousiana went through integration when I entered 6th grade, so I saw both sides of that. You're right - Before integration, there was a VERY definite disparity. Afterward, we all learned that people are people, for the most part and deserve better.


My observation, however? Most schools do one hell of a job, with some
people choosing to denigrate teachers and schools because of a
particular political axe they have to grind. Teachers are one of those
groups that make fine targets because most Americans don't value them
very much and they are looked upon as essentially powerless (I am NOT
talking about you, of course, I know your dear wife is an educator).

I suppose it was largely my frustration "talking" in my previous post. If I came across as sounding like I thought schools have become worthless, then that was not intentional. However, my comments about disciplinary authority, I'll stand by. Of course, we're here in Louisiana, at the bottom of the educational barrel in most respects and I've become tired of seeing teachers funding (and many times, furnishing) their own classrooms, only to have things being eroded from other directions as well.


Again, Len, while this is a very real problem, the GOOD PART of it is
that problem students like this are at least being taught in the
schools instead of shuttled off to some "alternative" like they were in

Absolutely true. Your comments about lack of common sense...

the good old days. While I feel for teachers, too, there seems to be a
distinct lack of commonsense (amongst administrators) about how to
handle problems. In the past, what would have earned a student
detention now calls for a felony arrest. I am not exaggerating.

....are also very valid, but I'd expand them to say the irrationality goes both ways. I've not seen the overreaction you describe, but I'm sure it happens. We've seen problem kids (in a real sense) handled with kid gloves, pacified, ignored, etc. when real action should have been taken, not only in "special ed" but in mainstream classrooms. All because no one wants to offend, nor be considered insensitive or politically incorrect (although fortunately it's not /everyone/).


> I think THE most harmful thing for the educational process at the
moment is not discipline, but the emphasis on measurement. I don't know
about your area, but here the teachers can do little but teach these
tests (which were decreed by politicians for political reasons).

Amen, bro! :-)

That's what I was (also) alluding to: a lack of discretionary authority. It results in the inability to teach the right way to each (highly individual) classroom. You can't adjust, because all the blocks on the form won't get properly checked that way. It seems to be "those who can (teach) do, those who can't (teach) supervise", so we now "teach" by recipe.


I don't have the answers, far from it. In fact, all I can say is that
the kids who come through my university classes are good kids and smart
kids. And there seems to be plenty of them. ;-)

That's encouraging.

It's been a long time since I've gotten this far OT... Good thing this isn't comp.lang.c or I'd be toast by now. :-)

--

---- Len Philpot -------- len@xxxxxxxxxxx
------- ><> ------------- http://members.cox.net/lenphilpot/
.

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