Atlanta teachers convicted in grade-inflation scandal

Also, what's with reading all these books written by Greeks? Those assholes can't even balance a checkbook!

 

Ace is on a roll.

 

To compare our foreign language education to other countries is as useless as comparing our car culture to other countries.

We're a big country, with only one foreign speaking country bordering us. (Let's leave Quebec and Sarah Palin's neighbors out of this for the sake of discussion.)

Our common language has united us, and because we're made up of immigrants from around the world, learning our common language has always been a bigger priority over learning foreign languages.

And, in the age of the internet, where English is dominant, there's even fewer practical reasons to learn French, Italian, or German (three of the four modern languages offered in my high school when I attended).

Sure, it's impressive when the CEO of Lufthansa can converse in English as well as he does in German. But that's because English is the language of international business -- and international aviation.

Yes, in the current economy, Chinese and Arabic speakers are in demand. Those languages have practical applications at this moment -- though they will fade over time.

But, if you want students to learn about language, and understand language -- and learn the history of Western Civilization -- then Latin and Greek are great places to start.

 

You don't seem to care enough about the poor immigrants to give a damn about the problem.

 

As Al Sharpton has pointed out, those ancient Greeks were a bunch of Homos.

Reading their stories is against my religion damn it!

 

If they were worse off here, they'd probably go home, Shoeshine.

 

If you think the public school system is helping poor students, say that. Do you think we're overreacting and that the system is good enough?

 

Et tu, Pizza Memories haters?

 

School X serves Community X, a community beset by all of these pathologies. School X's per-capita funding is $X.
School Y serves Community Y, a community in a relatively upmarket suburb, largely free of these pathologies. School Y's per-capita funding is $Y > $X.

Stipulating that School X is a failing school, consider two scenarios:

1) Through some magic of social engineering effectiveness heretofore never observed, Community X is cleansed of these pathologies. School X's per-capita funding remains at $X.
2) Social engineering exhibits the level of effectiveness vis-a-vis these pathologies we've generally seen to date (i.e., effectiveness ≈ 0). School X's per-capita funding, however, is increased to $Y.

Under which scenario is School X more likely to climb out of the "failing school" category?

 

Blaming immigrant children for the state of public education is like blaming women for being raped.

 

I do not know, but Act 60 in Vermont probably addresses such equations.

 

Yes, I think it's wrong to say the public education system as a whole is in a downward spiral.

The main problem in the worst schools is that many kids come completely unprepared for kindergarten and have little support at home. They struggle from the outset and that sets the tone.
Best thing to do is to offer preschool for these areas to try to give the kids a better start. It would cost money but be well worth it.

OK?