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This isn't working a profession, It's education. You are supposed to be able make mistakes. And you are supposed to get help to overcome those mistakes and lear

This isn't working a profession, It's education. You are supposed to be able make mistakes. And you are supposed to get help to overcome those mistakes and learn. Some students need more support than others. If all these kids aren't doing well, it's not a failing of the kids, but of the people who should be helping the kids succeed, and the system that graduated them. A high income student who struggles with their grade gets tutors and help. A low income student who struggles is passed along without getting support to learn, allowed to fall further and further behind.

nitwit005 9y ago
If students are missing multiple months of school, I doubt they're going to show up for a tutor. My university offered free tutoring, and nudged the struggling students toward it. Most of them never showed. Of course, many of them were skipping the normal classes, so not too much surprise in that case.
rimliu 9y ago
> If all these kids aren't doing well, it's not a failing of > the kids, but of the people who should be helping the kids > succeed, My favourite "how many" joke goes like this: "How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? One, but lightbulb need to want to change". And there is a saying: "one man can lead the horse to the water, but even forty cannot make it drink". The point being: yes, there are people who "should be helping", but the key word is "helping". The kid should put some effort too. I find that attitude that everyone around is to blame except the one in the middle quite dangerous. It teaches not to be responsible for your own actions (or inaction). We had a president a few years back, whose long lasting infamous contribution to the society was the catchphrase "I am not responsible, the environment is". He was impeached. Let's not raise more like him.
- noobermin 9y ago
  Right blame a student who had to work at a fastfood job in high school, they're not putting enough effort in life and don't deserve help. What you're describing certainly isn't represented by the article, what I read is there are students who society is already failing, and so no doubt they don't win by its rules.
landryraccoon 9y ago
I completely agree. It seems like discussions about education always devolve to an unproductive argument about who should be blamed. Who’s failing? Can we assign blame to the student? Can we be angry at teachers? Etc.. Why does this matter at all? Is the goal to inflict shame on students, teachers or their parents? Society has all kinds of people. That means brilliant students who will succeed no matter what, and it also means students who are lazy, inconsistent, distracted, have bad home lives, etc. Our nation prospers when we can figure out how to educate even kids that are difficult to educate because of circumstances or even maybe factors intrinsic to the kid like disabilities. Blame is useless. Kids become adults and if they are uneducated now it’s a real problem for everyone. Uneducated adults are more likely to be unemployed and more likely to commit crimes and less able to work and pay taxes to support the system. Now, are we going to figure out how to educate kids so that doesn’t happen or are we going to assign blame to them, then throw them into prison / welfare when they get older?

nitwit005 9y ago

If students are missing multiple months of school, I doubt they're going to show up for a tutor. My university offered free tutoring, and nudged the struggling students toward it. Most of them never showed. Of course, many of them were skipping the normal classes, so not too much surprise in that case.

rimliu 9y ago

> If all these kids aren't doing well, it's not a failing of > the kids, but of the people who should be helping the kids > succeed, My favourite "how many" joke goes like this: "How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? One, but lightbulb need to want to change". And there is a saying: "one man can lead the horse to the water, but even forty cannot make it drink". The point being: yes, there are people who "should be helping", but the key word is "helping". The kid should put some effort too. I find that attitude that everyone around is to blame except the one in the middle quite dangerous. It teaches not to be responsible for your own actions (or inaction). We had a president a few years back, whose long lasting infamous contribution to the society was the catchphrase "I am not responsible, the environment is". He was impeached. Let's not raise more like him.

noobermin 9y ago
Right blame a student who had to work at a fastfood job in high school, they're not putting enough effort in life and don't deserve help. What you're describing certainly isn't represented by the article, what I read is there are students who society is already failing, and so no doubt they don't win by its rules.

landryraccoon 9y ago

I completely agree. It seems like discussions about education always devolve to an unproductive argument about who should be blamed. Who’s failing? Can we assign blame to the student? Can we be angry at teachers? Etc.. Why does this matter at all? Is the goal to inflict shame on students, teachers or their parents? Society has all kinds of people. That means brilliant students who will succeed no matter what, and it also means students who are lazy, inconsistent, distracted, have bad home lives, etc. Our nation prospers when we can figure out how to educate even kids that are difficult to educate because of circumstances or even maybe factors intrinsic to the kid like disabilities. Blame is useless. Kids become adults and if they are uneducated now it’s a real problem for everyone. Uneducated adults are more likely to be unemployed and more likely to commit crimes and less able to work and pay taxes to support the system. Now, are we going to figure out how to educate kids so that doesn’t happen or are we going to assign blame to them, then throw them into prison / welfare when they get older?