All posts in the topic A "Dark View" of the $60M School Referendum Proposal (Short link)
Summary
- There are 5 posts — by 4 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Michael Atherton at May 17 18:29 UTC
I must admit that many of the dollars going for programs like Tony Scallon's
Charter School or V.O.A's school are dollars well spent. They are some of that
"re-organized" I spoke of. That being said I believe the Minneapolis Public
School system is a failure. How can we call anything a success that
producesshoddy products at the rate MPS does?
I believe I have written about my background before on this List. Attending the
second lowest state funded schools in the nation does give some perspective.
Only being able to attend about half time at grade school and not going to high
school also gives perspective. Growing up in an economic poverty that is
unheard of in Minnesota(unless you are one of the new immigrants from south of
the border) additionallygives some perspective.
A group of us who had grown up on those sharecropper farms meet a few years ago
down in Mississippi. Most had dropped outby the eighth grade, but we all shared
similar grade school experience. I had gone through the ninth grade, which was
the further than anyone else had gone in public or any other school. As we
discussed bittersweet memories it became apparent that every member of the
group had finished a minimum of a bachelors degree and a couple of us had gone
on to professional schools.
The few of our group of outlaws who were not presenthad died in Viet Nam or the
"Tucker Farm" Arkansas State prison. As we laughingly discussed where we had
been and what had happened it became clear that every person there felt that
the basis of his education had come from NCOs in the Military. Each felt those
NCOs had “taught them to learn”. Each also felt that they had a better basic
education in reading and simple math than those with high school educations
from more affluent backgrounds who competed with them in those military
classes. Those poor under funded schools had given them the basics that those
NCOs were able to work with to teach them “how to learn” and how to apply that
learning to real world problems.
I have tutored several young people who having graduated from Minneapolis High
Schools could not do the basic math necessary to do the lowest level of college
work. These were not dumb children from true poverty; they were predominately
people of color however. An example is now a Minneapolis Police officer who
will soon receive a Master’s Degree. I very well remember teaching him how
fractions and decimal multiplying and dividing worked when he began college.
Something that I learned in those “poor unfounded schools” when I was in the
third or fourth grade.
So clearly the answer to the problem is NOT the money we throw at it. It is a
systemic problem! The Minneapolis Public School system simply fails in its
obligation to give students from poor families and less than desirable social
worlds the basic education they need to succeed in life. It is also a problem
for society because rather than becoming assets to our community they often
become the opposite – costing us far more in the long run than if we had sent
them away to the best private schools.
How do we solve this social problem? FIRST we must admit it is a problem. Then
we can look for solutions. Like hiring all those old retired NCOs to retrain
those of our children who our highly educated teachers have failed. Like
absolutely insisting that ALL children have those basics regardless of how bad
their parenting has been. In fact especially those children!
Of course I am must admit that I see 90% of school as nothing more than
warehousing children. So even if those sweet little kids from nurturing
families are ahead of the game to start there is NO reason they cannot be
caught up. Of course that requires that we insist on a system where discipline
of teachers and students is required.
Some of these opinions I must admit comes from a bias due to my own life
experiences and the experience of taking three sons through the Minneapolis
School system. Something for which I apologize, but I can assure them and you
that I would NEVER do the same with my grandchildren.
Unless Minneapolis changes!
Minneapolis needs to pay some folks like Tony Scallon and the Charter School
folks, the V.O.A. folks, and perhaps those who run the U.S. Military “A”
schools to consult on how to improve Minneapolis schools. Until that happens I
am in favor of not increasing funding but in reducing costs such as the
salaries of every school administrator and especially those ridiculous salaries
we pay the top administrators. Some might say those administrators would not
stay and we would have to hire others. My answer is GOOD! We certainly could
not waste our money on worse.
Jim Graham,
Ventura Village
- “The City that scorns excellence in community infrastructure as a humble
activity and tolerates shoddiness in political philosophy because it is an
exalted activity will have neither good sewers nor good public policy: its
political policies will hold more crap than its pipes.” -
In the end, it still comes down to the same thing: There is not the political
will to educate poor children. Michael Atherton says there are structures that
are effective, he's more likely than most to have delved into that, so I'll
accept it as demonstrable.
Name me one school board member or wannabe who knows a reasonable number of
those structures and can evaluate them, get the backing to institute them
>>over the objections of management, teachers, and think tanks?<<
Name me a current or recent school board who were willing to pull together,
evaluate the material, choose structures, and institute them?
What I do know is that too many of the kids around my neck of the woods are not
prepared for school nor are the schools prepared to educate them, because they
come home from school year after year and demonstrate that school is not making
a positive impression on them. Many of them also demonstrate that parenting of
a rather coarse nature is being practiced on them. It's maybe the saddest thing
I see day in and day out.
Nevertheless, it's a gorgeous day. The crabapples are in bloom, Barb cajoled,
threatened, yelled, and assisted her boy to graduation with honors. There is no
reason why a great many more kids out of the class of '08 cannot be in a
similar position today.
While Wizard and I might disagree on the specific solutions, there is no
disagreement about what the problem is. The problem is, as Wizard states: "In
the end, it still comes down to the same thing: There is not the political will
to educate poor children."
"Michael Atherton says there are structures that are effective". It IS
"demonstrable"! The United States Armed Forces have demonstrated it
successfully for more than fifty years. They take young people with all sorts
of skill levels and in a few weeks bring them to an academic level that allows
them to successfully do more advanced training. Each of their schools starts
with the assumption that many of the "students" are not adequately prepared by
our "High Schools" so they run everyone through those "preparation" classes.
Other groups such as "Charter Schools" have also demonstrated it. The V.O.A.
with their "Study Partner" mentoring programs boost poor children's grades by
two levels. So clearly they know something the Minneapolis Public Schools are
ignoring. Some parochial schools do an admirable job, what is their “secret”.
It is not by faith alone. So Michael is even more correct it is demonstrable on
many levels.
Once we all agree that there is a problem,and that throwing money at a failed
system will not change it, we can begin using those "demonstrable structures"
and designing others.The most "demonstrable" thing about the present "system"
is that it fails a large proportion of our children and does NOT even look for
alternatives.
The bottom line is that we should stop throwing dollars into a system that
fails. If the paid “professionals” cannot fix the problem then hire some others
with better “systems”. We are buying a product, education for our children,
simple as that. If that product is inferior we need to stop “buying” and look
for a better product.
The purpose of education is not to support the teachers’ union and warehouse
children. The purpose of public education is to prepare ALL our children to be
productive members of our society. The emphasis is on ALL, no matter what
societal or physical handicap they may have. It is not the fault of the child
that he or she was born with a physical handicap or the handicap of a
dysfunctional family. It IS the fault of the system if it does not give him or
her the basic tools needed to reach their potential. That IS what they are
spending MY, and YOUR, tax dollars to get. I want a better product – not a more
expensive
product.
Jim Graham,
Ventura Village
"We measure the quality of our community by the way we provide for our
children, our elders and our handicapped. It should beour intent to build
community by laying a foundation on such principles and to organize its
structure to guarantee the safety and happiness of our most vulnerable."
I was in that miniscule category during the last school referendum
planning effort that argued small class size was not the only basket
or even the biggest basket to incubate our hopes in for success in
schools. Somehow, apparently erroneously I thought, that could not be
the only answer. I argued for longer school days and expanded school
calendars .School and city government people looked at me with that
dead fish look that said my comments were going nowhere. I know
from being a parent and now a grandparent that the more time I put in
to education on the home side, the better the results are going to
be. Why would this not be true on the school side?
Then I ran into the counter-arguments for family vacations, teacher
summer education and on and on. If I used those arguments at home, my
children would have been in that low intelligence quotient category
Carol Becker notes from the article she read.
It takes time and dedication to raise children. In addition to
learning how to breathe in birth readiness classes, future parents
need lessons in planning for 18 to 22 years of home education. Some
of the funds dedicated to holding up the safety net should be
directed into training parents on how to teach their children for
those 18 to 22 years. There is no guarantee that every child will be
a high achiever. The fates of nature affect that.
We seem to feel that working with teen parents through birth and
perhaps the first four years is enough. We know from parent
attendance at school functions the high numbers in kindergarten
rapidly drop to near zero in high school (unless it is for sports
events). The essential triad of parent-child-teacher has to be
maintained for success of the child. The other two achieve success, too.
I have been very sad to see few other Indian, African American, or
Latino parents at chess events, book parties, school plays, pasta
dinners, or plant sales even. I know it is not that these other
parents do not love their children. The triad has been broken for
lack of nurturing.
Schools can no longer be unintegrated institutions. They have to
collaborate with other government, nonprofits, businesses, and
community groups to reach out to students where they are, not where
the schools wish them to be. Token efforts do not count. The school
day has to be extended and the school year has to be extended as
well. This has to be a goal and it has to start before the school
system is entirely broken.
Laura
Southeast/Como
Laura Waterman Wittstock
President and CEO
Wittstock & Associates
913 19th Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
612-387-4915
www.laurawatermanwittstock.com
Jim Graham wrote: > Once we all agree that there is a problem, and that throwing > money at a failed system will not change it, we can begin using > those "demonstrable structures" and designing others. The most > "demonstrable" thing about the present "system" is that it fails > a large proportion of our children and does NOT even look for > alternatives. There are some important things to keep in mind here: 1) The system does not fail for everyone. If your children are in the *right* MPS schools, then there is no problem (on a personal level, but not a social one). The *right* MPS are almost on par with the best private schools in the Metro (minus the social networking :-). 2) The parents with children in the *right* schools are those with the most power to make the system equitable, but are disinclined to. 3) The MAJOR stakeholders with the most power are generally satisfied with the status quo (teachers unions, administrators, school board members, and the DFL) and only stand to lose to reforms that benefit poor students (they already have the Black presidential vote :-|). I'm disappointed to see that our mayor is a referendum co-chair, but he has little to lose with his children enrolled at Breck (it's Breck right R.T.?). It gives me some comfort to know that the mayor of St. Paul has his children enrolled in the same public school as mine. ;-) > The bottom line is that we should stop throwing > dollars into a system that fails. If the paid > “professionals” cannot fix the problem then hire > some others with better “systems”. We are buying a > product, education for our children, simple as that. > If that product is inferior we need to stop “buying” > and look for a better product. Many minority parents have been opting for what they think will be a better product: charter schools. Which is why things have been becoming desperate for the MPS and many parents with children in the *right* schools are now beginning to feel the pain (of larger class sizes). Since teachers will not accept pay cuts, the only way to deal with reduced funding is layoffs and larger class sizes. If the referendum does not pass things will really hit the fan. I'm not sure how to force those in power to make reforms. I've found them to be stoically unresponsive. Even when I offer them free effective solutions they show no interest. I've thought for years that the only real solution will be a State appointed superintendent... with the power to "fire at will" and an unbreakable five year contract. Similar to what happened in D.C.: http://www.pbs.org/merrow/tv/leadership/dc/index.html The success of the referendum will just shore up the dike for a few more years, long enough for some parents to get their children through the system. It's those of you with younger children who should be worried. Of course you can always mortgage your home and send them to Blake or Breck and hope that they get college scholarships. ;-)
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