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More cash won't stop the kids from stealing, accusing the teachers of inappropriate behavior, or vandalism. More cash won't make the kids stop bringing knives

More cash won't stop the kids from stealing, accusing the teachers of inappropriate behavior, or vandalism. More cash won't make the kids stop bringing knives into school, won't make them want to learn, won't make them behave in class, and won't make them stop beating each other up. ADDED IN EDIT: Those problems run deeper than the school simply not having enough money.

maxklein 16y ago
Perhaps the kids should be swapped out for more obedient kids?
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- RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
  Right. I've cooled off somewhat, so I'm going to delete my other comments because I feel that they are intemperate and, in some cases inappropriate. I apologise for them. To answer your question ... That's not what I said, and I feel it's a misrepresentation of my position. I was answering the question in this comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2211298 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2211298 where the author said: Could you clarify why having more cash will not help? My point was that the socio-economic conditions of some kids being dis-engaged, disinterested and actively disruptive would not be helped by throwing more cash at the school, or at the teachers. Whether you blame the teachers, the kids, their parents, the social circumstances, the gangs, television, or whatever, the situation is that in some classes there is behavior that prevents any kind of learning. That behavior won't be fixed by mending copiers, or providing laptops. That's my answer to the question that was asked. In addition, however, I will say that yes, in some cases I do blame the kids, but in some cases I don't. I don't know that I would be any different given the circumstances that surround them. The challenge is to find a way to give them the skills, tools, abilities and opportunities to go where they can make something of themselves. My wish for every child is that they have the opportunity to be the best they can. Sounds corny, and it's certainly Quixotic, but I put money and time into it. And now I am going away for a while.
  - mgkimsal 16y ago
    "I don't know that I would be any different given the circumstances that surround them." So... change some of the circumstances. You can't change their home life, but you can spend appropriately to have classrooms that are free of banging pipes, heating/cooling issues, bird droppings, electrical problems, etc. "...the socio-economic conditions of some kids being dis-engaged, disinterested and actively disruptive would not be helped by throwing more cash at the school..." It looks like that spending "more money" on the problems this poster pointed out hasn't, in fact, been tried. Students who have crappy home life situations, then have to come sit in a rundown building with all the problems listed earlier might in fact not have a great learning attitude. Demonstrate that we as a society do, in fact, care enough to give them basics like copy paper and decent electrical systems, and - wait for it - they might actually have a different attitude. This is all just crazy talk, of course.

maxklein 16y ago

Perhaps the kids should be swapped out for more obedient kids?

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RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
Right. I've cooled off somewhat, so I'm going to delete my other comments because I feel that they are intemperate and, in some cases inappropriate. I apologise for them. To answer your question ... That's not what I said, and I feel it's a misrepresentation of my position. I was answering the question in this comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2211298 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2211298 where the author said: Could you clarify why having more cash will not help? My point was that the socio-economic conditions of some kids being dis-engaged, disinterested and actively disruptive would not be helped by throwing more cash at the school, or at the teachers. Whether you blame the teachers, the kids, their parents, the social circumstances, the gangs, television, or whatever, the situation is that in some classes there is behavior that prevents any kind of learning. That behavior won't be fixed by mending copiers, or providing laptops. That's my answer to the question that was asked. In addition, however, I will say that yes, in some cases I do blame the kids, but in some cases I don't. I don't know that I would be any different given the circumstances that surround them. The challenge is to find a way to give them the skills, tools, abilities and opportunities to go where they can make something of themselves. My wish for every child is that they have the opportunity to be the best they can. Sounds corny, and it's certainly Quixotic, but I put money and time into it. And now I am going away for a while.
- mgkimsal 16y ago
  "I don't know that I would be any different given the circumstances that surround them." So... change some of the circumstances. You can't change their home life, but you can spend appropriately to have classrooms that are free of banging pipes, heating/cooling issues, bird droppings, electrical problems, etc. "...the socio-economic conditions of some kids being dis-engaged, disinterested and actively disruptive would not be helped by throwing more cash at the school..." It looks like that spending "more money" on the problems this poster pointed out hasn't, in fact, been tried. Students who have crappy home life situations, then have to come sit in a rundown building with all the problems listed earlier might in fact not have a great learning attitude. Demonstrate that we as a society do, in fact, care enough to give them basics like copy paper and decent electrical systems, and - wait for it - they might actually have a different attitude. This is all just crazy talk, of course.