Money for Grades

[confedup]

Where was this when I was in school?

http://regularfolksunited.com/...d=366

Poor people should spit out more kids while those cities lower classroom requirements as that would ensure more money is sent to welfare homes. Sounds like a plan and the kids can graduate highschool with a 5th grade education.

[Cold_Zero]

I tend to look at it the other way. We are holding teachers and schools now accountable for failing our children under NCLB (No Child Left Behind or has my father calls it All Children Left Behind) why don't we hold parents accountable for the failure of students? Parents are the biggest teacher in a child's life and have more of an ability to enable or disable kids to succeed. My proposal is this, if your child doesnt graduate from High School, before they can go out on their own, parents must pay $100,000 to the state. The rationale will be this, by not graduating from High School there will be a greater likelihood that the State is going to have to take care of that child, either by incarceration or financial assistance.

I know it sounds mean, because it has stiff penalties, but if a child fails to graduate from high school, they can keep working at it to pass. I would even give public schools more resources to mentor, tutor and provide more instruction for seniors having a hard time graduating. Sorry guys, my wife is a public school teacher and she sees first hand how parents disable their children and are at time culpable for under minding their child's education.Bud

[HashiriyaS14]

I tend to look at it the other way. We are holding teachers and schools now accountable for failing our children under NCLB (No Child Left Behind or has my father calls it All Children Left Behind) why don't we hold parents accountable for the failure of students? Parents are the biggest teacher in a child's life and have more of an ability to enable or disable kids to succeed. My proposal is this, if your child doesnt graduate from High School, before they can go out on their own, parents must pay $100,000 to the state. The rationale will be this, by not graduating from High School there will be a greater likelihood that the State is going to have to take care of that child, either by incarceration or financial assistance.

I know it sounds mean, because it has stiff penalties, but if a child fails to graduate from high school, they can keep working at it to pass. I would even give public schools more resources to mentor, tutor and provide more instruction for seniors having a hard time graduating. Sorry guys, my wife is a public school teacher and she sees first hand how parents disable their children and are at time culpable for under minding their child's education.Bud

You know, I really like that idea.

It'd be political suicide for whomever would propose it, but it seems to me to be the best idea anyone's ever had for shifting some accountability back to the parents.

Everyone's always saying "fix the schools, but the parents are ultimately responsible", but we can't do anything to MAKE them responsible. I think we need to make them responsible.

Either by a tax levied on families with kids that drop out, or by a tax credit for graduating, or something like that.

My mom is also a public school teacher.

A flash of brilliance, my friend.

[Cold_Zero]

Yeah I thought about the backlash it would have with voters. You wouldn't be able to run on this platform because you would ultimately have parent groups coming after you.

Personally, I think NCLB and the 'accountability' that the Republicans talk about in education is a sham. No one institutes accountability programs and then turns around and undermines the person being accounted for by playing games with their funding and accounting process. To me it is totally one sided against to Public schools. At least in Indiana the way the Republican Party tries to improve Public Education is by taking down the Public Schools by jacking around with its funding and taking down the Teachers' Unions by binding their hands to undermine their ability to arbitrate contracts.

Get this; this is how schools are determined to be failing according to NCLB in Indiana.Let's say school A has 95 percent of their children passing the statewide aptitude test, the first year and school B has 50 percent. Since it is the first (benchmark) year, no one is failing.

School year 2 rolls around and school A has 90 percent of its children passing the statewide aptitude test while school B has 65 percent passing. Which school is failing in this scenario?

According to Indiana school A is failing and school B is improving. Which school would you rather have your children attend? It is a no brainer school A. Now if the school is failing three years in a row the punitive measures kick in. Typically the schools will have their funding cut (wouldn't you think they need more funding if they are failing?), the teachers are released from the school and typically sent to other schools (why would a teacher from a passing school want to go to a failing school where they would potentially loose their job in 3 years?) and the parents are allowed to pick another school where they want to send their kids to inside the district.

So what happens to all the other schools? They teach to the test because the Administration and Teachers are so worried about the punitive measures they care more about a stupid aptitude test than educating the children. It should be noted that the State jacks around with the statewide aptitude test as well. If all children in the school answer a question correctly, then it is thrown out. Also if they miss a question, then it is assumed that the question was not part of the curriculum and thrown out as well. They also make Mentally Handicapped (all levels even though sever kids get their own test) kids take the test as well. It's just all moronic.

[Cold_Zero]

It should be noted that I do not favor a Voucher System, I do favor Teachers' right to organize and that I send my kid to private school on my dime because I think personally we all have an obligation to public schools and if we want something extra for our children, they we need to pony up for it.

[telcoman]

It should be noted that I do not favor a Voucher System, I do favor Teachers' right to organize and that I send my kid to private school on my dime because I think personally we all have an obligation to public schools and if we want something extra for our children, they we need to pony up for it.

So there actually is something that we agree on

[WDRacing]

I tend to look at it the other way. We are holding teachers and schools now accountable for failing our children under NCLB (No Child Left Behind or has my father calls it All Children Left Behind) why don't we hold parents accountable for the failure of students? Parents are the biggest teacher in a child's life and have more of an ability to enable or disable kids to succeed. My proposal is this, if your child doesnt graduate from High School, before they can go out on their own, parents must pay $100,000 to the state. The rationale will be this, by not graduating from High School there will be a greater likelihood that the State is going to have to take care of that child, either by incarceration or financial assistance.

I know it sounds mean, because it has stiff penalties, but if a child fails to graduate from high school, they can keep working at it to pass. I would even give public schools more resources to mentor, tutor and provide more instruction for seniors having a hard time graduating. Sorry guys, my wife is a public school teacher and she sees first hand how parents disable their children and are at time culpable for under minding their child's education.Bud

Bud my friend, words I can agree with 100%

Accountability or lack there of is something I consider to be one of the biggest issues behind ALL of our short comings as a Nation. From the housing crisis to crime to teaching our children, we don't hold the right people accountable for their actions or lack there of.

We ALWAYS look for a place or person to blame when things don't go our way. How about having a long look in the mirror...

I'm also sending my Son to private school, hopefully a good school up in New England with an excellent Hockey program I don't have to much faith in public schooling, but that's my opinion. If I can afford to give my Son a better education...then I'm going to.

WD

[wawazat8402]

It seems a lack of accountability is becoming a serious side effect of striving to be more PC. I attended a public school, but it was a small farm school and all of our teachers had grown up with most of our parents. There was no detention, they just notified our parents and let them deal with it in a way they deemed appropriate. It was very effective and taught us to weigh out our desired activities against what would happen when we were most likely caught and decide if it was still worth doing. Now that Ive been outside of a small community and into a larger city, its easy to see every day what effects this lack of accountability and forethought has had on our upcoming generations. It seems most kids have little to no respect for other people or their belongings. They only think about immediate gratification. As a fairly liberal person in general, I think the conservatives have it right when it comes to personal accountability on a day-to-day basis and public accountability for the politicians that like to call themselves public servants. Speaking of accountability, why have I not heard anything about the contribution the public has given to this financial pitfall we are in now? Im sick of having to listen to the sugar coated BS election years seem to always cram in our face. If mistakes are made by anyone, including the general public, let us know. How are we to avoid ending up in this same position again if no one is made to acknowledge what mistakes led to the problem at hand?

[hannibal]

Our educational system is not as effective as it should be. And solutions are difficult to find. On one hand you have students whose parents are encouraging them, whose teachers are skilled and competent, adn whose schools are well funded and equipped. These students typically excel. But if you remove one of these pieces, the student's success is in jeopardy. How do we identify the faulty input?

Initially, we pointed to lack of funding in some schools. But we have seen students do well in 'poor' schools. Then the target turned to ineffective teachers. But again, in a class of 30, some students do well while others falter. And finally, the issue of parental influence has been raised. And again, even with supportive, financially stable parents, some students fail to do well. And we still see some great students coming from unstable homes.

I guess my point is that it is really up to the student. None of the factors I mentioned can guarantee an positive educational experience without a student committed to that goal.

To penalize the parents for their child not graduating is dangerous IMO. Without ensuring they are the cause of their child's failure, adding a financial penalty is just not right. And in my mind, there is no way to single out the parents as the faulty component.

I surely dont have THE solution. I do agree the parents hold a significant portion of the credit or blame for their student's performance. But you cant discount the effect of good teachers and properly equipped schools.

My mom is public high school science teacher. Her entire county lost its accreditation early this fall. While I dont know the exact cause, it is related to the actions of an incompetent school board. There is no reason these people should let their system fail. They were kicked off the board and simply walked into other systems or careers. But these students have had the future placed in serious jeopardy. If they graduate without the county regaining accreditation, they wont be able to enroll in most colleges or receive GA's hope scholarship. That just makes my livid...