WizardMarks wrote: > Michael Atherton wrote: > > >It's not going to be all that different of a situation than > >standing by the reforms that need to be made (of course the > >Board isn't interested in making any real reforms anyway). > > > WM: How do you know this, Mr. Atherton? I certainly don't > know it and I have access to the same information you do.
You know it would be one thing if the failure rate was 20% and the achievement gap ranked 15th from the bottom nationally, but that is not the case. The problems are so glaring that you really have to wonder about the thought processes of people who insist that everything's fine. And you may not be forming your opinion on the same information as I am; I have spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the research in education. There a number of reforms that the School Board could institute that have been shown to be effective, but instead they institute policies that have been shown to have marginal impact (any at all) and fail to structure their programs in a way that allows anyone to evaluate their impact. > What I do see is that the school systems are pushing a boulder > uphill with their noses. The feds have laid a second unfunded > mandate on them (maybe more than two). They are dealing with kids > from all over the map and all over the preparedness-for-school map. > They are battling the ill effects of families who cannot even feed > their kids every day. We are 20 years into the effects of crack on > children who's parents were on the pipe when they were conceived > and gestated. Fetal alcohol syndrome is eating away at numerous > families. We are only beginning to address the effects of childhood > lead poisoning. All these things make for a rich stew, not one which > makes the job of educating kids simple. "It's the lead." "It's the mandates." "It's hunger." "It's crack." "It's alcohol." The excuses! One would think that African American children are not fit enough to be good Americans. So how many African Americans in Minneapolis are addicted to crack or alcohol? 50%? 70%? How many are hungry? How many have high lead levels? I believe that the percentages are really much lower and cannot account for the achievement gap. There are other cities in the U.S. with the same, if not worse problems, and they do a better job of educating their children than does ours. > We have a state which cannot decide whether profiles of learning or > other methods are appropriate long enough to really test any one of > them and then are not putting money into supporting school systems > worth a darn. We have a state which has realized that an agenda proposed by the liberal educational establishment was not working effectively. There's also plenty of money being put into the public schools in Minneapolis, but it is not being spent effectively. > And we have vultures who want to privatize the school system on the > totally erroneous belief that vouchers will solve the myriad problems. "Vultures?" It must be a conspiracy! My family has the means to opt out of failing public schools, I think it's only fair that poor parents have the same choice. > The school systems are being pecked to death by ducks, all of > whom claim to know how it could be done better, cheaper, faster, > and more thoroughly. I don't believe it. "Ducks?" That's your right, don't believe it. Live with the public schools failure to educate Black Americans. Meanwhile, my children will be getting the best education we can find for them and the cycle of failure and poverty for Black Americans will continue. > I have some very clear ideas of things done in the past which > appear to have been counterproductive, but since there was no way to > isolate those individual things from the other changes made at the > same time, it cannot honestly be said that X thing was clearly a mistake > and needs undoing. Ergo, I cannot see that "the board is not interested > in any real reform;" though I do see that the board of ed is caught among > the parents, the state, the feds, and the teachers unions. How awful. Hey, I'm not saying that we should turn the world upside down without verifying the effectiveness of my proposals. I think that we need to test market ideas, not make unilateral decisions. However, that's not what I see the Minneapolis School Board doing. In fact, I see them doing exactly the opposite. Michael Atherton Prospect Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
