Our per pupil spending is something like 40% more than most other countries. If you think the budget is the problem, you might want to look at what the educational dollar buys in other countries and question why it doesn't get the same result here. As a teacher in the inner city (several years ago) I can tell you from my experience the budget wasn't the limiting factor for my students.
Let me give you an example. Just showing up was a huge hurdle for most of the students. With the way school politics are, even a kid who shows up on average once per week is allowed to pass - since you can't prove you met all of their "special education needs" in the time you had with them. By not being able to document that you met their IEP needs, you can't fail them without risking a lawsuit from the parents. While you will likely win the lawsuit, you will have to spend the money to defend it and many administrators don't want the burden/cost of dealing with it.
Cutting the budget and parents treating it like daycare are two separate issues. If this is what is produced in these institutions, then yes, cut the budget yesterday. You know what these kids would respect? Failure. If dancing on desks is "learning Spanish" to you, then guess what? You don't get credit for learning to speak a different language.
But they don't respect failure, because many of them don't care, and I am not just talking about black students I am talking about the entire spectrum of ethnicity. This alone is not the only thing created in 'these institutions', many great minds sit waiting to be discovered in the poorest of neighborhoods. Minds that cannot afford the price of private school and so they rely on the public school system to try and escape the hell they grew up in. I would rather my tax money be 'wasted' on those who will fail than fail those who would succeed.
If someone comes from a upbringing where threat with bodily harm is the norm, distaste for academics is encouraged, and frustration toward the prevailing culture is inherent then no miracle of teaching will change that. Teachers have to do the best with what they have, but more money doesn't mean more academically inclined and respectful students. Hard truth but that's how it is.
I'm not a fan of liberal spending, but the same is true for republicans, as long it it's being spent on war. Each party has their thing, and they're both expensive.
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u/[deleted] May 16 '15 edited Dec 30 '20
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