3 ms·

Bad parents are the ultimate equalizer, and are inherently unfixable. Good parents will have children that perform under bad teachers, and excel under good tea

• bedhead 12y ago
  So very true, and that's what makes it so depressing. I believe many of the problems with schools are structurally unfixable because there's a powerful network effect with - for lack of a better phrase - "good people". The good ones want to be with other good ones, naturally. So they all move to certain suburbs and neighborhoods, and the result is a segregation of good and bad folks. And of course, breaking the cycle of bad parenting often times seems nearly impossible...
• tveita 12y ago
  > Bad parents are the ultimate equalizer, and are inherently unfixable. That's a large assumption. I am sure many things can be done to improve peoples' ability, means and motivation to be good parents.
  • bedhead 12y ago
    I would phrase this another way: many things can be attempted. Getting people to actually permanently and radically change their behavior has to be one of the most difficult tasks in the world.
• Kluny 12y ago
  I see no reason why it's inherently unfixable. I feel like there's a bias in our culture that parents will "just know" how to raise children properly. How often do you see classes for teaching parents of toddlers/young kids/preteens/teens how to deal with kids in that age group? There's plenty of resources for newborns, but little past that. Just recrimination and blame for parents who can't get it right. Parenting classes might actually go a long way, but there's no way of knowing for sure right now.