Athletes have lower test scores

Kids who don't toe the line in Catholic school will not be there long. While tougher economic times have probably made those schools more tolerant, there are still codes and strict discipline in place. Fall out of line and you'll be back in public school very quickly.

And in my area, the Catholic schools are in the exact same tough neighborhoods as the worst public schools and in even crappier buildings in need of far more help.

The city kids, meanwhile, will destroy the good schools, just like they destroyed their own, given the chance. Those schools didn't decay and get spraypainted on their own.

 

Get them when they are young. Obama has the right idea.

 

People might snicker, but here’s where Obama’s skin color can really make a difference at inner city schools with a large black population.

“Hey, Johnny, the President of the United States is black, and you’re telling me you can’t solve this math problem?” Something like that.

I don’t know if this is true in every state, but where my wife teaches, they’re supposed to hang a picture of the President in the classroom. I don’t think we can underestimate the influence of kids looking up and seeing someone like them.

 

That's when the black kids won't claim Obama and will say he is white.

 

Yet another plan that involves giving up on some kids. Nice.

 

Sirs, Madames,

Came to this late but have to respond because one of my pieces was mentioned here. (In the same breath as Kozol, whose work I've always admired/been influenced by.)

I don't think that there are absolute truths to be found here. Good famililes contribute to good academic performance. So do good teachers and well-funded schools. A kid from a comfortable, supportive family can screw up but will get lots of swings in his at-bat. A kid from tough circumstances, family-wise, school-wise, can make a go of it but his margin for error is very small. One bump and he's done (and he knows it, thus a lot of pressure to deal with). The ultimate, I guess, was Ron Suskind's A Hope in the Unseen.

o-<

 

Not sure how you got from Point A to Point B there. Please explain.