Well, I must say that I'm fairly impressed with our local public grade school, Anne Sullivan Communications Center.
They have to deal with several challenges. There's a wide socioeconomic disparity in the families of the childre who attend, from dreadfully impoverished to amazingly well-off. There are large immigrant communities, many of which provide children with no English at all. And of course, ASCC is a special public school that handles many of the deaf/hard of hearing children. And they make it work. My twins are in 6th grade (pause while I check that and discover how old I'm getting), and my youngest is in 2nd. The latter, in particular, has been sharing class with some kids who started kindergarten with no english whatsoever, and others who cannot hear. These kids don't "hold back" other kids. In fact, their special needs have presented opportunities for demonstrations of compassion and leadership on the part of their classmates. My son in particular has come home on several occasions to describe how one kid or another learned new words, overcame challenges, or encouraged his leadership or compassion in various ways. My biggest complaint at ASCC has been that its principal's position seems to be some kind of career stepping stone, leading to a new principal every two years. Some have been mere careerists with no interest in the school. The latest fellow seems like a devoted principal, and I have hopes he'll remain longer than his predecessors. When people try to point at a group and direct blame, all I see is fear trumping common sense. Unfortunately such persons tend to voice their pain quite loudly. Life can hand you setbacks or challenges -- they're the same events, and the difference is how you look at them. Bob Alberti, President Sanction, Inc. Data Security http://www.sanction.net Cusp of Longfellow and Seward "A Tempest! Grab the teabag and hang on for your life!" -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:mpls-admin@;mnforum.org]On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 11:50 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] Inner city kids need to be educated, not separated During the past two years I must have talked to dozens of teachers who said to me "you don't know what these inner city kids are like, you can't expect them to keep up with the rest of the kids." Parents who say the same thing about 'those' kids (pick any 'at-risk' ethnic group) usually go on to say that 'they' should go to their own schools (or classrooms) because they are holding 'our' kids back. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
