Get Schooled

By Robert

April 29, 2005 02:30 PM | Link to this

I do have a couple of problems with accommodating every variation of student in the world in our public school system.

First, it is cost prohibitive. Are we really ready to double or triple our taxes to create all of the “unique” schools? For example, alternative schools usually have about 8 students per teacher, and sometimes the teacher requires a para not to mention extra security measures and so on - think of the cost!! If Mr. Gates wants to endow every school system with millions to support this effort, then I am all for it.

Second, what about the students that graduate high school and go on to college? These students will be in for quite a shock when they see how college professors teach. Shouldn’t we be preparing college bound students for this?

By gc

April 29, 2005 03:17 PM | Link to this

Expensive or not, what’s going to be the cost of having more and more dropouts without skills dumped onto the streets with nowhere to go? A few extra dollars here may help turn a good number of these folks around and keep them off the dole, off the street corners, and out of jail, and make them productive members of society. I predict that the biggest and most expensive social problem of the rest of the century is not going to be the rapidly aging population, but the underclass caused by the increasing number of unskilled, unemployable dropouts.

By Lola

April 29, 2005 03:45 PM | Link to this

Why are we suddenly responsible for giving special treatment to kids who don’t value an education and have no interest in learning? It seems to me that our tax money is better spent on those kids that DO want to learn and have ambitions beyond simply deciding whether or not to drop out. Our future leaders are going to be those children with a good head on their shoulders and a sense of direction, not those who waste the time of the teachers and other students by disrupting class or not bothering to attend in the first place. If there is an underclass being created by these people, it is of their own doing and it will be they who end up living in poverty and suffering the consequences of their bad decisions. I would much rather invest in a student with a vision to become something than one whose biggest decision is which drug to sell that day.

By Jennifer

April 29, 2005 03:57 PM | Link to this

All I have to say is I agree with gc.

By Mary Jane

April 29, 2005 03:57 PM | Link to this

I say give these kids another chance at getting their lives on track. They don’t have much time left to fix their mistake of messing up high school. I can’t believe the huge money we throw at education can’t fund this program. People change and mature and this program could be a big help to these kids.

By Berned

April 29, 2005 04:44 PM | Link to this

If you actually believe that “these people” “who end up living in poverty and suffering the consequences of their bad decisions” will not affect the larger society, you are sadly mistaken. Like it or not, the students today that choose to learn will have to deal with the uneducated, drug-selling, aimless, underclass youth tomorrow. “These people” are not going away. It is much more cost effective to educate than to incarcerate.

By Berned

April 29, 2005 04:45 PM | Link to this

If you actually believe that “these people” “who end up living in poverty and suffering the consequences of their bad decisions” will not affect the larger society, you are sadly mistaken. Like it or not, the students today that choose to learn will have to deal with the uneducated, drug-selling, aimless, underclass youth tomorrow. “These people” are not going away. It is much more cost effective to educate today than to incarcerate tomorrow.

By DB

May 2, 2005 03:35 PM | Link to this

I definitely disagree with gc. Schools in no way teach job skills. They teach that you can do anything you want, disrespect anybody you want, assault people, and fail to do your job(homework)yet still have a job(as a student). And because most resources are put into improving the lazy and immature, the motivated students are unprepared for college. Besides, just because you drop out of high school doesn’t mean you become a worthless member of society or a drug dealer. Many kids stay in high school just to deal drugs. I know many people that work construction, work as mechanics, start businesses, etc. with little or no education past the ninth grade. What would we do without those people? What part of school teaches you how to work in the drive-thru, push a mop, mow a lawn, shovel dirt, or anything else for that matter anyway? And where I grew up, many kids quit school to run the farm, which is definitely productive as far as society is concerned. We need those people just as much as bankers, doctors, engineers, etc. Just to make things equal, I’m not a high school dropout being offended. I’m a teacher with a graduate degree, and I realize more than anyone that school is for learning and not for babysitting. Besides, many kids dropout, go to work, and then come back next year full steam ahead because they know you need an education. You may want to run a study to check where dropouts actually do end up.

It’s quite simple. Why waste time and money on students that don’t want to learn? I would love to see everyone graduate from high school, but many kids could care less, and they don’t deserve all these resources to be thrown at them unless they use them. If you want to teach them to respect education, throw them out and make employers require high school diplomas. Because of all that “pushing”, a high school degree is about worthless anyway because the expectations are so low.

Thanks. DB

By CP

May 2, 2005 04:14 PM | Link to this

I hope this school works as well as the previous “Open Campus” schools did. I was told they no longer exist. I know Newton County doesn’t have a program like that. I attended Open Campus East, a.k.a. Kitridge, in 1981. Instead of dropping out completely, or graduating late from my traditional H.S., I graduated 6 mos. early! Schools like that are badly needed. I know, I worked in the Newton County School System for 7 yrs. and am the mother of two teenagers.

By Jackie

May 6, 2005 08:57 AM | Link to this

Would someone please tell me how one is referred to as a principal of a Charter School when he is not PSC certified, and neither is his assistant?

How is that the DeKalb County School System can support the Gateway to College Charter School with FTE dollars when the administrative staff are not certified? Go figure…….