In a message dated 10/20/2003 12:18:23 PM Central Daylight Time, wizard marks writes:
> >Atherton: > >"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. > > > WM: Mr. Atherton, these are all factors that make educating masses of > kids very difficult, particularly since most kids are "mainstreamed." > They are not excuses, they are factors. Also, I did not limit what I had > to say to African American children; that's another assumption on your part. > What the Minneapolis Public School does with the masses of students is the opposite of mainstreaming. MPS has a de-mainstreaming process that leads to "small learning communities" in the middle schools and high schools. I think a big part of the academic achievement gap is attributable to the segregation of students into different groups and classrooms on the basis of perceived ability, and dumbing down the curriculum for a majority of students. On average, African Americans use and abuse alcohol and illegal drugs about as much as whites, though low income blacks (and whites) who do cocaine may be more likely to do "crack cocaine" than "middle class" whites. Blacks may be more exposed to, but do not have a monopoly on exposure to lead paint, material deprivations, and insecurities associated with poverty. > >Atherton: > >We have a state which has realized that an agenda proposed by > >the liberal educational establishment was not working effectively. > > > WM: If this accusation is in re the Profile of Learning, it was not > practiced long enough to know whether or not it would be effective. > Before it was even off the drawing board, people were screaming and > complaining. > The profile of learning was tested in Minneapolis for nearly a decade. Beginning with predominantly black, mostly-high poverty schools on the North side, the district restructured the curriculum and changed the evaluation criteria for a large majority of the student population. That's what the profiles of learning were about, and I can't blame the suburbanites for not wanting the profiles of learning in their back yard. > >>And we have vultures who want to privatize the school system on the > >>totally erroneous belief that vouchers will solve the myriad problems. > >> > >Atherton: > >"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. > > > WM: Is it a conspiracy? I usually think of conspiracies like this as > conspiracies of dunces, the operative word being dunces. It is also > erroneous to think that vouchers will help poor parents. I agree with wizard on this one. It's a gimmick to cut spending on public education and undermine support for spending on public education. The voucher programs in Cleveland and Florida put a lot less money into the vouchers than the per-pupil operating expenses in the public schools. A lot of the voucher students in Cleveland went into schools that did not have significant financial support from other sources, also known as voucher schools. Outcomes for "at risk" voucher school students were generally worse than students with similar background characteristics in the Cleveland Public Schools. The better private schools with low tuition rates, typically supported by the catholic church, did not expand their programs enough to enroll a majority of students exiting the public schools as a result of the voucher program, and the better schools cherry pick. -Doug Mann, King Field http://educationright.tripod.com 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
