What do y'all think is wrong with "inner city" schools and...


By closing all private schools thereby forcing rich folks to send their kids to public schools. Let's face it money runs America and unless we as a society are willing to invest in education the way we invest in athletics the educational system will not be fixed.

Teachers have long been some of the most underpaid individuals. Yet, you have to go through hell and high water to be a teacher. Next you have parents in this generation who could care less if their child got an education because they don't have an education. This is especially true in rural America. Kids can go work in the oil field, mill, or plant. Their outlook is not to be the head person at the oil field. mill, or plant but simply a worker.

I am an advocate of year around school because kids today have no work ethic which falls over in to the school. The kids make piss poor grades in public schools because the teachers don't care, parents don't care, and legislators don't care. So you have the "haves" sending their kids to private schools paying college level tuition while the bulk of America attends the failing public school system.
 



The Founder said:
By closing all private schools thereby forcing rich folks to send their kids to public schools. Let's face it money runs America and unless we as a society are willing to invest in education the way we invest in athletics the educational system will not be fixed.

Teachers have long been some of the most underpaid individuals. Yet, you have to go through hell and high water to be a teacher. Next you have parents in this generation who could care less if their child got an education because they don't have an education. This is especially true in rural America. Kids can go work in the oil field, mill, or plant. Their outlook is not to be the head person at the oil field. mill, or plant but simply a worker.

I am an advocate of year around school because kids today have no work ethic which falls over in to the school. The kids make piss poor grades in public schools because the teachers don't care, parents don't care, and legislators don't care. So you have the "haves" sending their kids to private schools paying college level tuition while the bulk of America attends the failing public school system.
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Prime example is PG County Maryland. A lot of people are putting their kids in private schools that are costing them an arm and a leg. They are paying high taxes for schools they are zoned for, but send their kids to private school. They are paying twice for taxes for their public school they are zoned for and the private school. I took my kids out of private school and put them into the public school we are zoned for. Saved me $3,000 a month by doing that. We, meaning me and my wife are active in the school activities. We meet with our kids teachers, go to school functions, I'm on the PTA board. We as parents can make a difference if we would get off of our azzes. This applies to school, and our communties.
 
At our kids school they have career day. Different parents volunteer to come to different classes and talk about their jobs, college,etc. My wife and I take part in career day and talk about engineering and computer science. We talk about what we do, the importance of engineering, science, math, etc. We also talk about where we got our degrees and what is required to be an engineer. We hand out gifts to each student. Some parents are doctors, lawyers, engineers, nurses, business owners, etc. This makes a difference in the kids lives.
 
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I think parents, uncles, cousins, big mama, paw paw should dig deep into our own history,

I recommend a course on the documentary series Hidden Colors and the doc 13th

Those right there can turn around "inner city schools"

All that other history that is taught, should be thrown out the window. Black kids need to be taught about Black ppl from the first day the black man was created.

Ppl don't understand how history projects a person's future. Once you understand your history, you start to understand the world and how it operates.
 
Also what is being taught to our kids in these inner city schools should be scraped ASAP

Only classes that should be taught are:

History (Our History, Ancient History from when the 1st Temple in Egypt was built by Imhotep) Science would be interjected into this subject, this would expose our kids to all the inventions that we created that were stolen by these white folks

Math - Financial Literacy, projects would be, create your own buisness, understanding interest rate, how to apply for a loan, how to understand the stock market
The difference between good debt and bad debt. etc. How to run a business, How to create wealth. How to create jobs...

We would play monopoly every Friday. learn how to purchase real estate, collect rent, evict etc.

And finally. Politics, how the political and politician arena works, the pros and cons of voting..understanding policies/laws..amendments

All that other stuff that is being taught in class, won't help our kids, these subjects are the meat and potatoes that need to be taught to our kids
 
Hell I'll even suggest a nutritionist to come teach, teach our kids about what and whatnot to put into their bodies...such as high corn syrup, Fructose, artificial sweeteners, etc...all that crap that will give you cancer and high blood pressure before you hit your 30-40s.


Teach the girls about hair product, etc..

It's so much that we need to just have to teach our kids that they are not getting now.
 
The public school sector needs more instructional accountability. Many of these teachers have not been prepared for a career in education and teach because they can't find a better job or the Teach America program is going to pay off their exorbitant student load debt. Parent involvement is extremely important, but competent instruction is critical.
 
BraveMan97 said:
The public school sector needs more instructional accountability. Many of these teachers have not been prepared for a career in education and teach because they can't find a better job or the Teach America program is going to pay off their exorbitant student load debt. Parent involvement is extremely important, but competent instruction is critical.
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Bruh....I agree 100%....
 
BraveMan97 said:
The public school sector needs more instructional accountability. Many of these teachers have not been prepared for a career in education and teach because they can't find a better job or the Teach America program is going to pay off their exorbitant student load debt. Parent involvement is extremely important, but competent instruction is critical.
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Let's be real, a lot of these teachers are not smart themselves (shruggs) and they don't know their own history, speaking about the black ones...and as I said, you is a fool to rely on a white female 22-27 year old teacher to teach your child anything...smh... She don't know anything herself, let's not talk about her knowing "our" true history Haha...
I said whenever I get to my mark, financial wise, the first thing I will do is do what I just listed.. that would be one of the things I would do, build me a boys and girls academy.
 
I don't understand why these black so call folks with money don't adopt any of these run down schools, I think Jalen Rose has done something on the line of what I'm speaking about, but I don't know what his curriculum in his academy is teaching.
 
Well, I think states would rather build a hundred prisons than send a couple dollars more to a black school district, let alone pay the teachers more.
I think @Bighead is right, black folks with money are going to have sacrifice for their peeps.

Just think if an Oprah or Jordan comes in and adopts a poor school district like JPS...and implement some of the stuff y'all listed to try to turn it into a passing district.
 
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Kendrick said:
They need more funding. Teachers need to be paid more.
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This is the core of the problem. I can (kind of) understand teachers in Mississippi come out of their pockets from time to time to buy stuff needed for their classroom but I can't understand this happening in Chicago, Philly, etc. Privatizing everything is a big problem (from prisons to education) and I expect this to continue under Trump (barring something happening with the Electoral College votes or something major happening between now and Inauguration Day)
 



jsupop33 said:
@Bighead are you willing to quit your job and go into the classroom. I do agree we need more black male teachers but being honest, is teaching an attractive career choice to the average brother?
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Nope lol. I've thought about coaching for a year or two and I think I would rather hope to catch on as a GA somewhere rather than go the HS route lol (unless it's at my HS or general area)

I commend people who do it (get to hear plenty of frats and sorors that are advancing in their teaching careers) but it's something that you definitely do for the love of it because the initial period is definitely not lucrative
 
Let me just give my experience at one school in particular. The school was in a rough area of Memphis (Frayser). I was there for 10 years. In the middle of those years the school got on the state list. Then standardized test scores improved and we got in the clear. What was the difference?

It was a combination of:

Students being motivated to get off the list...
Teachers going all out...
Parents being more involved and committed...doing what teachers asked...
Community volunteers committing themselves for an hour or two daily to tutor after school...
Grant funds being allotted for enrichment programs (voyager programs) specifically for both higher achieving students and students performing below averages...
More help and incentives from school sponsors (several neighborhood churches, neighborhood Krogers who went so far as to offer discounts to teachers, a minor league hockey team allowing students attend, perform the anthem, hangout and meet players)....

....it took all that and even more....of course when we got in the clear, it was hard to keep everything going. Some stuff like the funding was transferred to other schools..we lost that momentum and got back on the state list...I left and went to another level but they never got off..

It takes the whole village to help any schools especially our underresourced inner city schools... It cannot and will not work if it is all on one or two groups.
 
Also, a good study to help and assist inner city schools is the work that Geoffrey Canada did with the "Harlem Children's Zone."

Another good thing that helped the school that I taught in Frayser Memphis was at the time, 2 community centers had a lot of extra curricular activities that kept kids enriched and off the street. I myself started a Gents Club & Chess Club, the later that after two years competed and beat students from some of the gifted schools in Memphis turned heads. I had some students that could academically do better than any other kid in this country. How far some of them went was determined by the resources that they knew about or had access to.

Improving our inner city school can be done. The playing fields are definitely not level and in some places, more work than most people are willing to do is needed for improvement to happen. It is what it is...
 
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Okay, I know I am posting too much but I've been there. I guess I have a lot to get off my chest. But I also witness in my situation with that one school is that there are people in a school system whose job exists because of failing schools and they do more to hurt and set a school back than help (petty observations & reporting, unfavorable recommendations, encouraging the parents of high performing students to go to private or charter schools or to transfer to a school at a different location, spreading negative info to local media sources)
 
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This is my last post and I promise. After 20 years of being in the field and working with students from K to College, I haven't made a lot of money but nothing beats the high of running into a former student who is successful and acknowledges you for how you helped them in the classroom. No amount of money could give me that feeling (but it would be nice the be paid what I've put up with over the years). To teach and be an educator is truly a calling.
 
BulldogM.Ed.23 said:
This is my last post and I promise. After 20 years of being in the field and working with students from K to College, I haven't made a lot of money but nothing beats the high of running into a former student who is successful and acknowledges you for how you helped them in the classroom. No amount of money could give me that feeling (but it would be nice the be paid what I've put up with over the years). To teach and be an educator is truly a calling.
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Which is my point. My friends and frat brothers who excel in that world, have a calling for it. Others who just took it because the job market in MS sucks, hate it.
 
1) It all starts at home. Families are to into shipping their children off to school and being invisible unless their child gets in trouble, something happens to them, or the report card comes home with bad grades. What happened to volunteering to chaperone on field trips, fundraise and organize events with the PTA, visiting and sitting in the class to observe your knuckle-headed child if they are misbehaving, and scheduling monthly conferences with teachers to monitor your child's progress? Oh, but they'll come with the quickness when little Johnny gets that cellphone confiscated. Where are our priorities? Research has shown that children with parents that show an interest in their education tend to carry with them positive attitudes toward school. Having students with a positive attitude toward education makes educating them a lot easier.

2) Too much politics involved with education. Failing inner-city schools often have administration and district leaders that sit in their offices and make all of these decisions and never consult with the teachers in the classrooms to create a plan of action. They go spend thousands of dollars (that could have gone toward classroom resources) to go hear the newest educational idea, then quickly move on to the next new idea without giving the previous idea a chance to work. My school district made my school a TAP school (incentive-based program where teachers are paid up to $4000 extra if they improve the performance of their students and receive instant feedback from master teachers that visit every class on campus periodically and help model lessons for them). Our school scores improved tremendously because teachers were receiving in-class support from master teachers which helped with improving the discipline in the classroom and level of instruction. We went from a failing school to an award-winning school in 1 year. Despite that success, the school system scrapped the program, and our scores went right back down. Teacher-involvement in these decisions could lead to creating and keeping plans that have been proven to work in the school.

3) Teacher salaries!!!! It is extremely hard to persuade quality, competent teachers to come teach in a school district that pays next to nothing. Teachers have to make a living and have families to support. You aren't going to keep your good teachers around for long if they aren't being well-compensated and have to come out of pocket for everything in the classroom, including essential supplies like pencils, paper, and printer ink. My school district chose to freeze teacher salaries while the Superintendent got a huge salary increase and created another unnecessary high-paying position. It should come as no surprise that teachers left for other school districts and the schools are filled with subs because the salary is too low to attract any good teachers.

4) Resources. The students pay attention to what they don't have compared to other schools.

5) Community support. Our communities typically have a church on every corner, yet how many of those churches volunteer their time to help support their local school? Why aren't they coming in to be mentors or chaperone field trips, or sponsor children?
 
I"m late but here are some of my thoughts.
1. It begins with US. US black/color folks whose children are affected. WE must want more for our children than what they are getting. We KNOW they are not being educated in their own history...yet, we do NOTHING to change this...continuing the spiral of lack of true identity and trying to assimilate and getting more confused.
2. WE must be willing to give back more--that means seeing the need for the black male teacher and stepping up--AND donating to our schools. Having partnered with my local school on a grant I received,I can tell you now, these kids need something "different" to stimulate their minds.
3. We have to cull those folks who are just there for a paycheck. Its some poor decisions being made by folks who don't have our kids interest at heart.
4. I honestly believe we need to really look at home schooling, small group schooling esp for the failing kids.
So many more...
 
BulldogM.Ed.23 said:
This is my last post and I promise. After 20 years of being in the field and working with students from K to College, I haven't made a lot of money but nothing beats the high of running into a former student who is successful and acknowledges you for how you helped them in the classroom. No amount of money could give me that feeling (but it would be nice the be paid what I've put up with over the years). To teach and be an educator is truly a calling.
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Lol...these are great posts so if you have more have at it. Yeah, my folks and grandmother were teachers. Seems like half the folks in my neighborhood (I'm sort of exaggerating...lol) were teachers, principals, professors, etc. That's some incentive to stay out of trouble when your principal is up the street...lol. But, I think once discrimination in housing lightened up, folks in education looked to move away from these old neighborhoods into new and/or bigger homes. A lot of the old timers stayed in place though and retired but once they pass on, I don't think there are any young folks in education moving in to take these old folk's place...so to speak.
 
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