Not bad

[Cannon Shell]

http://news.aol.com/main/obama-presi...on-plan/357284

Anything that pisses off the teachers union is a good thing.

—Improved pre-kindergarten programs, including $5 billion in the stimulus plan to grow Head Start, expand child care access and do more for children with special needs. He also said he would offer 55,000 first-time parents regular visits from trained nurses and said that states that develop cutting-edge plans to raise the quality of early learning programs would get an Early Learning Challenge Grant, if Congress approves the new program.

This is the most important of all. 2/3 of all African American students are way behind on reading by the time they are on the 4th grade. Parents need to be taught to read to their kids. No matter how hard they work during the day, they must come home and read to their kids. They are crippling their kids early on, and then blaming the educational system later.

—Reducing student dropout rates. To students, Obama said: "Don't even think about dropping out of school." But he said that reducing the dropout rates also requires turning around the worst schools, something he asked lawmakers, parents and teachers to make "our collective responsibility as Americans."

This will be extraordinarily difficult if the first italicized above is not taken care of. The absolutely worst schools are in the worst socioeconomic environments. Surprise, surprise. If you are asking schools to raise these kids, then you better start the schools raising them early. So many people overlook, including Obama, that kids in these schools come completely unprepared to learn. They are not fed properly, they don’t get enough sleep, they are not read to, they cannot count, have to worry about where they will sleep becomes Mom's boyfriend threw them out last night... on and on. The teachers cannot adopt the kids and take them home. There is a reason good teachers wish to teach in certain schools. They want to teach where kids come to school READY to learn. Many urban schools are complete war zones and the only people willing to go into these places end up burning out in 2 or 3 years (take a look at all the young, idealistic, great teachers to be- that leave). The magnets schools work in these areas because they take students and parents who WANT TO BE THERE IN SCHOOL IN THE FIRST PLACE. They value education.
The teachers that sap money from these urban areas that don't work do so because they don't have to teach (there are a few saints of course). The parents do not care. The teachers are really just adult figures sitting in front of kids so they are not bothering their parents and are not out on the streets. They are zoo-keepers. Schools that are in areas where parents do care, and do help their kids and still fail, should be shut down and re-staffed.
I don’t understand why people don’t understand why the above is not obvious.
In summary:
The teachers at the school I teach at are FAR better than the teachers I had. And I supposedly went to a good High School. There are so many kids that are far superior compared to students that went to High School 25 or so years ago… it is not even close. They are much better prepared for college. There are excellent students coming out of the public schools in the suburban areas in this state. The problem is the chasm between the haves and the have not’s is now a canyon, unlike 30 years ago. Schools most often mirror the societies that surround them. Pretty damn obvious.

Excuse the rant but this frustrates the crud out of me.