A FANTASTIC REPORT FROM KMBC: Twenty Missouri schools and seven Kansas schools were identified by Johns Hopkins University researchers as "dropout factories" because no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year.
Here's the KC List The percentage is the percent of students who start as freshmen and make it to their senior years:
Southeast High, Kansas City, 39 percent
Southwest Charter, Kansas City, 45 percent
Van Horn High, Kansas City, 34 percent
Even worse, The Latino Community in Kansas City has a higher dropout rate than any of these schools and so far, because Mayor Funky as mad at local Latinos . . . No one from his Administration has contacted prominent members of our community to take part in his widely touted "Education Summit" . . . Thank you Frances Semler!!!
Local Latino educators, wait for a panicked phone call from Joe Miller in 3, 2 . . .
Here's the KC List The percentage is the percent of students who start as freshmen and make it to their senior years:
Southeast High, Kansas City, 39 percent
Southwest Charter, Kansas City, 45 percent
Van Horn High, Kansas City, 34 percent
Even worse, The Latino Community in Kansas City has a higher dropout rate than any of these schools and so far, because Mayor Funky as mad at local Latinos . . . No one from his Administration has contacted prominent members of our community to take part in his widely touted "Education Summit" . . . Thank you Frances Semler!!!
Local Latino educators, wait for a panicked phone call from Joe Miller in 3, 2 . . .
The dropout factory begins at home, same place as the baby factory. If a parent doesn't care enough to see to it that their kid speaks English, it's their fault, not the school's fault, not the community's fault and not Funkhouser's fault.
ReplyDeleteYour assumption that Latino kids don't speak English is incorrect.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the number of Black kids dropping out is nearly as troubling.
Typical attitudes of racists in Kansas City has consistently shown they don't care about minority kids getting an education.
If minorities really want a chance at success. They should avoid Kansas city Missouri schools all together in the same way that white people have.
Just another way to Blame "whitey" for your problems instead of doing something for yourself.
ReplyDeleteTony,
ReplyDeleteYou are right. Clearly an Education Summit is direly needed, not only for KC but for every major urban area.
Quite frankly, I used to live in KC suburbs. Their schools are great and so are their teachers. Living in the suburbs is just like the old Eddie Murphy movie:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/171132/eddie_murphy_is_white/
I agree it starts in the home-and with many things in life, actions are better than words, i.e. actively getting engaged in improving your own child's education at home if you're worried about the quality of the school's education. Bit of advice Tony-while you sit complaining to be ignored, and waiting for others to make the move to contact you and 'fix' the problem, spend some time with the kids you care about, and maybe get a little wild by teaching them something.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who tries to do anything positive for the KC schools would have to start by firing hundreds of incompetent administrators and teachers who are the beneficiaries of the largest patronage machine in the state.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't call the teachers incompetent. There's only so much one can do with the little support the district gives them. After working in an evironment where the parents don't care, the kids don't care, the administrators don't care...not to mention that you almost take your life into your own hands everyday you go to work, teachers hit burnout and seek employment in the 'burbs...or just in different fields altogether.
ReplyDeleteAlmost everything Heather wrote is correct but the fact remains that anyone who really tries to create change in Kansas City missouri schools knows that they will get shouted down. The people in charge don't want change. More than anything that leads to burnout of some of our brightest hopes.
ReplyDeleteAh yes...this is the fault of the parks board and its all funks fault. This problem started well before funk was in office and he seems to be taking steps to correct the problem.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Heather that parents don't care. When the kids start failing the first people they blame are the teachers and in some cases that is correct. But sometimes they should look at what they are doing to help their children as well. First the parents should be able to speak English....that is a must! How in the heck are the parents going to help their children out if they can't speak English.....yes Tony this is aimed at the Latino community!
Perhaps it's because THEY DON'T SPEAK THE FUCKING LANGUAGE! and they STILL ACT LIKE THEY ARE LIVING IN FUCKING MEXICO!
ReplyDeleteCan't these assholes put a sign up for their business that ins't hand painted?
I am all for the land of opportunity, but you gotta speak the language of the money if you expect to make any.
Oh and can someone tell these fuckers to stop BBQing dogs in the backyard on holidays?
ReplyDeleteOh no. You bad mouthing Anons must lack mommy hugs. You need bars of soap, quick!!
ReplyDeleteI agree there are many root causes for the education problem. The administration is a key issue. I read a report on Borgas re: the KC Education issues and the thievery of the School Administration. The lack of caring and qualified teachers is another issue. Parenting is another issue. Poverty and Racism are additional issues.
The short term solution is move to the suburbs. That is what I did. In the suburbs, the schools are run well. The classroom sizes are small. The teachers are qualified and spend time with students. My children did well and are now colledge educated, career and family oriented adults.
I posted Eddie Murphy´s video earlier. It is worth looking at because beyond the humor, it does tell the truth!
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/171132/eddie_murphy_is_white/
Tony, I think the latino dropout rates are high because a significant enough (clearly not the majority, but some) of the dropouts are the children of seasonal or migrant workers who naturally take their kids with them when their visa expires or the work dries up.
ReplyDeleteTony, as (I assume) a second generation immigrant, what do you think of bilingual (dual) education or do you think immersion is best?
-gorilla the desperado
ps: Dee- don't you know that any good revolutionary or reactionary must have a nom de guerre? Stop biatching about anonymous comments...this isn't your blog and Tony I'm sure is very well versed at how to turn them if he so desires.
Funkhouser hasn't even been Mayor during the course of a school year yet, and you and your mom's anti-Semler campaign only overlapped this school year by about 2 months, how can he have ANYTHING to do with these dropout statistics?
ReplyDeletelies.
ReplyDeleteMy wife was a teacher in the inner city for a few years. Skin color didn't matter, it was all about the attitude.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher's union just cared about more money for the teachers so their union dues coffers would increase. The administrators were completely bogged down in red tape. The parents didn't care unless the kids complained about something then they would show up long enough to bully the school into conceeding a kid's laziness. The teachers were left to deal with kids that shouldn't have advanced to their current grade level but it was like a frikkin' automated production line, move the kids through to the next stage in the line. If the kids didn't want to succeed they wouldn't.
Bad things all around.
Diego,
ReplyDeleteSounds like very bad news.
Here is what was said on the Borgas blog about KC schools.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-298.html
This is a pretty sad article and not a good representation of KC Education. Does it speak the truth?
I recognize that the fundamental problem is the family structure and support for kids. Where you have engaged parents you have good school systems.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's tough when you're a single mom working two jobs, and for a lot of other good reasons.
However, recognizing all that the best way to fix the school system is to outsource the management to the Civic Council (area corporate types) and let them take several years to clean it up, then hand it back to new school management.
And a note to Dee and your criticism of anonymous comments -I would urge you to consider that anon commenting is actually a noble practice, and protected under the First Amendment.
Please reference the U.S. Supreme Court case McIntyre vs. Ohio Board of Elections (1995) - Justice Stevens was quite eloquent in his defense of anonymous political speech and the role it played in establishing our country.
"Under our Constitution, anonymous pamphleteering is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and of dissent. Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation--and their ideas from suppression--at the hand of an intolerant society. The right to remain anonymous may be abused when it shields fraudulent conduct. But political speech by its nature will sometimes have unpalatable consequences, and, in general, our society accords greater weight to the value of free speech than to the dangers of its misuse."
Mainstream - interesting concept with the Civic Council. Has it ever been done before..where? results?
ReplyDeleteCivic Council?
ReplyDeleteThe best idea I've ever seen on this site.
It needs a sexy picture Tony. Make yourself useful.
Well, I think the Civic Council would actually step up to the challenge if they're asked.
ReplyDeleteReally, can you imagine a bunch of seasoned decision-makers who will instantly see through the BS, businesspeople who are focused on results, putting their energies into something that will actually have a significant social impact?
I don't think it' ever been done before, at least I haven't heard of it being done anywhere.
But I think it's definitely worth considering.
Think about it. High paid corporate people turned-on to fixing the schools, with all the right resources and NO BAGGAGE. These people will get recognition for fixing the system, and get rewarded by their bosses by receiving better assignments back in their corporations.
They won't have to worry about small-minded bureacratic retribution that has encumbered the school district for years.
Mainstream,
ReplyDeleteI still suggest parents move to the suburbs. Most of the parents in the burbs are 2 parent working families.
It is the corrupt system that wrecks havoc on inner city schools. Greedy, Incompetent Administration, Poor School Management, Questionable Teacher Qualifications and Competencies.
BTW, I saw the blog you borrowed your case study from for the rationalization of anonymity: http://kipesquire.powerblogs.com/meta-blogging/archives/archive_2006_03.shtml
Good References.
For the record, I don´t mind anonymity and can support it, however, it is confusing responding to an Anon poster when you have 10, 12 or 20 of them, each with different points of views. My take on it is to use an anonymous/fake, but distinguishable name for your persona, like you did.
I agree, Dee. It's much more useful, and credible, for someone to establish an online identity that has a discernable and honest personality that others can engage with.
ReplyDeleteThat was an interesting link - I've never seen that before but the paraphrase of McIntyre vs. Ohio is amzaingly coincidental.
However, I was remninded of McIntyre through a political mentor and good friend several months ago.
Unfortunately I'm off to a meeting right now, otherwise I would address your encouragement of white flight and de facto block-busting. That's a really bad thing to encourage from so many perspectives, i can't begin to summarize them now.
(even though I can't blame families for avoiding the KC school system and that don't have the means or interest for parochial/private schools, or to enroll their kids at Lincoln prep)
Mainstream,
ReplyDeleteIn my case, it was Brown Flight. Yes there are minorities in Lees Summit and Blue Springs!!
Mainstream,
ReplyDeleteAlso, like my Eddie Murphy video suggested and as many current residents may not share, both of the burbs I mentioned are very affordable and probably less expensive than inner city housing.
The other thing is, the schools in the inner city have been corrupt since desegregation. (Either a curse or on purpose??)
ReplyDeleteIt would take another few decades to cure.
Hmmm... Once again it's minorities in the spot light. Tony, what do we contribute to this society? Everytime you mention African Americans, we're killing on the east side or you're saying something negative about the "inner city" schools. You are fueling this "racist, unreliable, mediocre, corrupt and uncaring vibe" you mentioned on an earlier post.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't noticed, these schools mentioned are not 100% African American, or 100% Hispanic, or 100% White. But people in this city are blind to this fact. All they see east of Troost... Black, and ignorant people are quick to tell us what "we" need to do with "our" kids. Drop out rates are a national problem... including ALL races.
When the story was first released by the local news agencies I was not surprised.Being an educator myself who has left the area for several years and upon returning chose not to go back to the inner city schools. Not because, I couldn't handle it but because I had a desire to forge ahead with a district of my choosing.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly disagree with dee in that moving to the burbs is NOT the solution. They have not cornered the market on well qualified and highly skilled administrators and teachers. There are a bunch of fuddy duddies out there as well.
The difference is that the parents are controlling the school system in much the same way as KC Schools. If they say jump...the school says how high. If their child is failing they have and find the resources to help them. Hence, if you take notice there are a lot of the wonderful tutoring agencies popping up in these areas and making a killing on these unsuspecting parents. However, in inner city, parents will do much of the same but due to life's circumstances they do not have the wherewithal to get their child the much needed additional resource to ensure their future success. Hence, no tutoring agencies nearby.
But in all honesty, one does not need them to help our children succeed. What is needed is a little bit of time and knowledge on behalf of the parent(s) to support our children. This is where we all are failing and its happening across all classes. But its just more apparent in areas of the "have nots"
As for the character who posted the comment blaming the parent for not caring enough to ensure that their child speaks english...Well I do believe that you were born not being able to speak the language and thus was taught. These people are immigrants in much the same way as anyone who migrates from another country. They are just like you...they must be taught as well. Give these people some support and stop being so obnoxious.
We must all remember that every parent entrusts their precious cargo(their child) to the educational system and if the system in flawed then the citizens must find a way to fix it. In closing, mainstream you touched on valuable point.
For those who care....TEACH!
HEY I WENT TO SOUTHWEST CHARTER
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHHAAHA
oh and the racialist jackasses on this beezy
ReplyDeletelook.
why do people have to demonize another culture just cuzz of the language...are they less of a people,less thoughtful, less important?
if you go any where else outside of the states...guess what,you're gonna be speaking another language...how about learn as many languages as you can.
in my experiance natural spanish speakers want to learn english...and do.
y'all act like they're not even humans.
but back to the school thing...
i went to sw as a freshman thru junior....it was tight with alot of potential,we had great athletes,cool mix of cultures, in that bks side BROOKESIDE! but honestly the teachers did not know THE FIRST THING ABOUT THEIR JOB...i feel they failed us,and we being malos had riots just cuzz we were tired of the bs,the nonsensical teachers,the ever changing curriculum,the subs,the filthy conditions...so we did wat we saw...teachers stop caring...so did we,so did I. 75 PERCENT of freshmen there didn't graduate,i mean we had some real talented hoopers there,could EASILY crush a miege or rockhurst. but we didn't..and it moved...to stanky NORTHEAST......i was running the streets by then,thankfully graduated at an alternative school.
THE LEADERSHIP OF THIS CITY IS FOOLED.
and damning talented youth in this town...but we gota get it together.
alot of the vatos are just stuck...angry...and looked down on,always with a guard up.
do you regardless is what i say.
people are gonna let you down,get over it cuzz.