I like DC characters; I just hate DC

stfuconservatives:

It has been almost one year since Tanya McDowell was sentenced in a Bridgeport, Connecticut courtroom to five years in prison. Police charged McDowell for “stealing” $15,686 worth of educational services from Newport, Connecticut for her son. While the two were, in fact, homeless and spent nights in shelters in Norwalk, a friend’s apartment in Bridgeport, and a van parked in both Connecticut towns, authorities concluded that McDowell’s son should have been enrolled in the Bridgeport school district. Her sentence for education “theft” in Norwalk runs concurrently with a sentence for a drug conviction in Bridgeport.

Those are the facts as told in one news account after another. Here are some others. Newport, Connecticut is a predominantly white town with an average income that is almost twice that of Bridgeport. While the math and reading scores are well below the national average in Bridgeport, almost 20% of students in Newport schoolsscore above the national average. From this vantage point, Tanya McDowell who lived in neither place but slept in both made a savvy choice and enrolled her son in the better district.

But when does American Dream seeking, innovation, motherly “instinct,” and creative problem solving get celebrated and when does it get criminalized? Which mother’s children deserve the best, and which mothers are demonized for asserting their children’s worth?

(read more @ link)

presidentjonesco:

• Too much emphasis on standardized testing. The core of the modern school system, everything from funding to ratings, relies on the system of standardized testing. Tests of that nature have to be simplified to ensure consistency, so it’s boiled down to facts that can be memorized, which is not necessarily an indicator of understanding.
• Too much emphasis on math and science. While vital subjects, they should not be the only respected fields. This emphasis seems to tie in to the prior point: these fields are emphasized in part because they can be graded more easily than other subjects. As well, the impact of advanced knowledge in these fields is more easily verified. Nevertheless, a balanced approach is best.
• Teachers aren’t paid enough. Arguably, teaching is the most influential profession for a country’s growth. If you want to attract the most talented individuals, you need to offer incentive. Pay should be closer to that of a doctor. On top of monetary compensation, societal respect needs to be much higher.
• There’s a hierarchy that needs to be shaken up. Have you ever noticed that the best, most experienced teachers tend to be given the honors courses? If you excel at school at an early age, you will be given the best education that your area offers. However, if you initially struggle, then it is tremendously difficult to catch up, given that your teachers are just not as skilled as those that teach higher-level courses.

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I turned that ask in to a more full-fledged article on Hannah’s site. Check it out!

And they don’t even teach math and science properly in most cases, either (Long division? What long division? Fucking paper volcanoes for everyone!),and then they neglect non-math and science fields so horribly so they can teach people to pass the standardized tests.

(via alexandraerin)