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What about the students who aren't smoking weed and spraying graffiti? Why should they be grouped with students who need more than an education and fed a curric

What about the students who aren't smoking weed and spraying graffiti? Why should they be grouped with students who need more than an education and fed a curriculum geared towards the lowest common denominators (students who aren't even prepared to function in a school environment)? Arbitrary tolerance will fail for the same reason zero tolerance fails. Schools are being asked not just to educate but to parent. In many places they are falling short with the former so why do people believe they can do the latter? School administrators need to be honest with themselves and with the people they answer to. If parents raise children who lack the basic skills required to function in civil society the burden can't and shouldn't fall on schools.

sukuriant 13y ago
Great, so what do we do with them? > Schools are being asked not just to educate but to parent. I agree a hundred fold that schools are being asked to educate and parent. Latch-key kids do happen and are probably pretty common. > If parents raise children who lack the basic skills required to function in civil society the burden can't and shouldn't fall on schools. (emphasis mine) Yeah, but it will. Now what? Parents aren't going to step up. Or are they? How do they? With all that parents, both very rich and business-focused; and poor and very busy to make end's meet, that aren't able to properly care or don't want to care for their children, what do we do next? People aren't going to stop having kids for a LOT of reasons, and I don't think they should. So, what's the next step. We can't just say "this sucks" and not provide some sort of next step. Maybe the first solution isn't sufficient, but what about the second? Third? Four hundred and thirty-second? An amalgamation of several? Unique per student per class? It sucks, but we have to say more than "this is wrong" in these situations. [edit: changed school per class to student per class]
dragonwriter 13y ago
> If parents raise children who lack the basic skills required to function in civil society the burden can't and shouldn't fall on schools. It manifestly can and does, whether or not it should. And if we build a society which demands, in practice, that even in two-parent families, both parents work outside of the home full-time to provide the necessities of life, we probably shouldn't be surprised that suboptimal parenting often occurs.

sukuriant 13y ago

Great, so what do we do with them? > Schools are being asked not just to educate but to parent. I agree a hundred fold that schools are being asked to educate and parent. Latch-key kids do happen and are probably pretty common. > If parents raise children who lack the basic skills required to function in civil society the burden can't and shouldn't fall on schools. (emphasis mine) Yeah, but it will. Now what? Parents aren't going to step up. Or are they? How do they? With all that parents, both very rich and business-focused; and poor and very busy to make end's meet, that aren't able to properly care or don't want to care for their children, what do we do next? People aren't going to stop having kids for a LOT of reasons, and I don't think they should. So, what's the next step. We can't just say "this sucks" and not provide some sort of next step. Maybe the first solution isn't sufficient, but what about the second? Third? Four hundred and thirty-second? An amalgamation of several? Unique per student per class? It sucks, but we have to say more than "this is wrong" in these situations. [edit: changed school per class to student per class]

dragonwriter 13y ago

> If parents raise children who lack the basic skills required to function in civil society the burden can't and shouldn't fall on schools. It manifestly can and does, whether or not it should. And if we build a society which demands, in practice, that even in two-parent families, both parents work outside of the home full-time to provide the necessities of life, we probably shouldn't be surprised that suboptimal parenting often occurs.