Tuesday, January 16, 2018

"Sins of Fathers/Mothers" Retard Educational Outcomes in CCSD


Image result for fool's paradise
Charleston, we have a problem. 

The responsibility for raising children lies with parents, not with the school system. As fewer and fewer children enjoy intact families, the task of breaking the cycle of poor education becomes Herculean. 

"Just as a reminder of our academic record for students [from our CCSD Board of Trustees]: Despite many teachers’ hard, sometimes heroic efforts, only half of our students, of all backgrounds and races, grow by a grade level each year. At only a handful of our elementary schools are a majority of students meeting state standards in reading and math. Our bottom five elementary schools have only 7 percent of their students reading on grade level." 

If you're thinking, "So what? It's not my problem," you're living in a fool's paradise.

"Those failures ripple throughout our entire community as a majority of local CCSD grads find themselves unable to compete in the workforce and not ready for college upon graduation. That affects Boeing and Volvo. It affects your home value. Most importantly, if you have children in CCSD, it likely affects your child."

The next time you're watching the local news reporting the local mayhem, which it does every day, ask yourself if the perpetrators can read, have graduated from high school, and enjoy the presence of two parents in the household. Sensible people know the answers.

The three goals set by CCSD for dramatic improvement target important facets of education: "We should focus on three strategic objectives: ensuring every student reads by grade 3, developing and retaining talent, and more equitably distributing resources across the district."

Darby, Mack, and Garrett go on to state that "Today, students of color and poverty are the least well served by our schools. Pulling these students up to proficiency and readiness is something that we know how to do and should do now."

Herculean. Without the participation of at least one parent or caregiver for each child "of  color and poverty," the task becomes impossible. When will black community organizers realize the importance of intact families to their goals?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Every child is not fortunate to live in a two parent home. Some of the fathers my die due to illness or accidents. What should they do? Should the mothers or fathers run out and marry any spouse to satisfy your archaic view of real life. Until America truly values its children, casting blame is moot. By the way, I grew up in a single parent home reared by a mother who was a domestic worker, who because of segregation was not afforded a sufficient elementary education. I graduated high school, college and earned a post graduate degree.