How can an 18 year old girl not read and write after going through our public sc

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   Cassie Smithposted 11 years ago

   How can an 18 year old girl not read and write after going through our public school system?
   
   Rachel Jeantel, a material witness for the prosecution in the George Zimmerman trial, can't read the material that she prepared.  She even needed someone to help her write what she prepared.  What credibility would she have?  How is she ever going to get a job?  What the heck did she do while she was in school that she can't read or write?
   
   

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   JThomp42posted 11 years ago

   You would be astounded how many of these children are just ignored and passed through school by "social promotion." It is a travesty and just goes to show how broken our school systems really are.

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      Cassie Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Are you saying she was socially promoted because she was black?  If that was true, then that's really sad.  It doesn't help her at all and now she's stuck.

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      JThomp42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      No. Race has no baring on who they socially promote.

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      dashingscorpioposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Cassie Smith, Race has no baring. There are inferior schools in the inner city as well as in the Appalachian Mountains and everywhere else in between. Our educational system is lagging behind many industrialized nations these days.

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      Cassie Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      If kids are being socially promoted, there has to be a reason.  Otherwise, what you guys are saying are that the adults we hire as teachers are not doing their jobs and are an uncaring bunch.

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   dashingscorpioposted 11 years ago

   Apparently "No child left behind" didn't work.

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   Say Yes To Lifeposted 11 years ago

   I work as a substitute teacher.  In high school English class, often kids try to get out of reading by telling me they can't read.  I respond by telling them to go back to the first grade and learn how.  In all but one instance, they could read; that one instance, it was a Special Ed student.
   I brought this up in an after-school English conference I had to attend, and one of the teachers told me, "You can't do that!  Some of these kids really can't read!"  I answered, "Why not?  Aren't they here to learn?"
   Many teachers, parents and students have lost sight of what schools are for.  They're more interested in "protecting the child's self-esteem" than turning them into self-supporting, useful members of society.
   P.S. If Rachel Jeantel believed she deserved to cut herself slack in school because she's black, it's obviously backfiring right now - right when she needs education the most.

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      CalebSparksposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Well said...

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   Sooner28posted 11 years ago

   She said she couldn't read cursive.  Anyway, our school system does push through students who can't read; I knew people who graduated who couldn't read above a 1st grade level. 
   
   It saddens me our school system would put through someone who didn't know how to read though.

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   Lady Guinevereposted 11 years ago

   Do't go blaming the school system.  Where are the parents and don't they read things like recipes, the newspapers and such.  That is one of the parent's responsibility, so what were the parents doing to teach their child how to do basics, like math, reading and such?

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      Express10posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You would not BELIEVE the number of parents that don't read anything at all. No books, papers, etc. Many parents tend to watch a lot of t.v. and let electronics babysit their kids. Some act like graduating high school is getting a PhD. Sad.

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   Old Poolmanposted 11 years ago

   You would be shocked if you knew how many graduate High School without being able to read.  When I had my business, I had job applicants unable to fill out a very simple job application.  Unfortunately for them, the job required being able to read work orders and filling out invoices to hand to the customer.
   I always figured these young folks were victims of the "No Child Left Behind" program.  They were passed from grade to grade without learning even the basics they needed to further their education.

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      Express10posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree and had an idiot ask me to fill out a job application for HIM a few years ago! He had to have been at least 45 years old. That threw me for a loop! Sad and absolutely shocking, but I refused. I was there to BUY something and leave.

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   Express10posted 11 years ago

   Unfortunately, this is common in certain schools and school systems, particularly those that are located in poor areas. Also, if the parents don't make their child's success a priority, it usually will not be. Children learn by example and compared to children with affluent parents, children with poorer parents don't enjoy the same amount of parental involvement in their school work or at the child's school such as through PTA meetings, fundraisers, meetings with teachers, guidance counselors, etc.
   
   We don't know if she had a two parent home, one parent home, good, bad, or ugly home. I would first place the lack of skills on the parents who in theory should be working hard to ensure their child has better opportunities than they had and then only secondly would I blame the schools. Parents created the life, they are the ones who are the teachers and nurturers in so many ways.
   
   In addition, schools in poor neighborhoods tend to have fewer resources and even lowered standards. I think it's wrong and many do, but when it comes to getting funding for the schools to improve it's easy to see where that ranks in importance when compared to other things whether on a local, state, or federal level. However, she is now an adult and if she wants more for herself she can definitely work towards it once this trial is over.
   
   On the NBC Nightly News they just said that the reading and math skills of today's high school seniors is no better than that of those high school seniors from the 1970's. Go figure.

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      dashingscorpioposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with you that parents are taking less of an interest in their children's education than in previous generations. Parents, teachers, and school administrators use to be on the same page. Now days schools have to worry about parents suing them.

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      Express10posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      What is wrong with so many parents that they cannot be more involved in their children's lives? There are many parents in this world that shouldn't be and then many of them want to blame the schools or government.

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   LandmarkWealthposted 11 years ago

   It's pathetic how common this has become.  Our public school systems have become about as effective as the rest of our gov't.  Being married to a public school teacher, and having attended NYC public schools in a low income inner  city, I lived it first hand. Teachers that are utterly disinterested and don't care are permitted to stay in the system and are guaranteed their employment once tenured with 6 figure pensions. The teachers that go above and beyond the call of duty receive no additional remuneration for their efforts thanks to those same civil service laws.  In my wife's HS virtually none of the kids know cursive anymore.  They get taught briefly and then are virtually never tested on it again.  Most of them can't sign their name properly.  Worse than that, they go so far overboard not to damage the students fragile little ego anymore.  My wife isn't permitted to grade a test in red ink anymore, because it is perceived to be to harsh.  We now live in a world where students can't be told they're wrong, and if they are we have to worry about their feelings being hurt because they can't add 2+2.  It's the world where everybody win's and nobody can fail. So we all fail.
   
   This country is rapidly falling behind the rest of the world in the education of our youth.  We have a severe shortage of engineers and mathematicians.  Part of the problem lies in the schools that are permitted to fail, why the teachers union stands in the way of allowing kids in inner cities to attend charter schools as a way out. The teachers union has turned the inner city public schools into a form of legalized segregation. They subsidize the incompetence and ignore the talent.  Meanwhile, even in many suburban areas, the situation isn't much better.   Parents are paying 12-15k a year in property taxes all over places like long island, of which 70% goes towards the school budget, and we get the same problems on a little smaller scale. They just throw money at the problem with no accountability.  In fact on average we spend more money nationally per student in low income areas then high income areas.
   
   Another issue is the parenting. Parents are too often not involved, and sometimes don't care.  Many of the parents won't even return a call to my wife if there is a problem with their kid. Kids like this will just get moved through the system with no accountability all the way around.  From public school to low income employment and/or social services.  A lifetime on the Govt dole.

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      Say Yes To Lifeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      One teacher told me about a student who wasn't doing his work. When he reported it to his mother, she said, "That's your problem, not mine!" Why should a teacher be expected to parent 30 kids? It's not really the school system's fault.

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      LandmarkWealthposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      They shouldn't but the schools are also at fault. Mainly the administration and the Teachers union that won't allow good parents the freedom to choose through school vouchers. It's a form of legal segregation the perpetuates the poverty cycle.

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      Say Yes To Lifeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Instead of dumping their responsibilities on wealthier schools, how about tutoring their kids themselves? Re social promotion: one teacher I subbed for could have failed 3/4 of his class - but would have had the brats next year. Can you blame him?

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      LandmarkWealthposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      And some schools in NYC put teachers in the "Rubber Room" pay them for years while not even permitted to teach and then pass the cost on to the taxpayer, when the funds could be used to pay good teachers. I had teachers who were sound asleep in class

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    lone77starposted 11 years ago

    Our government has been hijacked by psychopaths who gave us Wall Street bailouts, private Federal Reserve obfuscation of Trillions, 9/11, the loss of Trillions in Defense funds, and chemtrails to poison the American public.
    
    Three years ago, it would've been difficult for me to imagine our Government doing such things, but after Obama's kill list, the NDAA with its indefinite detention of Americans (without trial, attorney, charges or even a phone call), and HR 347 which makes it a felony to protest the government, I'm no longer surprised that tyranny has crept into our once beloved land.
    
    The corruption of our educational system is only one part of the greater master plan to cripple America.
    
    You see, America stands in the way of their goal for a New World Order.
    
    Only one journalist that I know of is fighting the good fight to expose what they're doing.
    
    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/439 … -project-0

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    ladydeonneposted 11 years ago

    I believe that Rachel is (19) now.  When I learned that she was (19) and still in high school, I told my daughter that she is a special education student  with a learning or mental disability.  Some disabled children remain in the school system until they are (21)by law. Their teachers and Therapists or Counselors along with their parents develop an Individual Education Plan for them.  Once they meet the goals on their plan, they either move on to the next grade or they graduate.  Their curriculum and grading system is geared to their unique abilities and intellect.  These children come from all backgrounds  and from all economic  classes.  All of my work was done with predominantly middle and upper class children.  Their families were well Educated and supportive.  The children I worked with often had parents who worked long hours or were out of town a lot.  Parents often want these children to remain in school until they are (21) because  they do not want them at home doing nothing and the additional years give them more time to mature and to get ready for the world of work.  Many of them have disabilities too severe for them to work.
    They receive a special diploma when they graduate.  I worked with children like Rachel for many, many years in the school system.   What I don't understand is why the prosecution did not know her educational background   She was a terrible witness and did not understand a lot of the questions she was asked.  Though Rachel has a disability, there are jobs that she can perfprm...jobs that do not require a high intellect.

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       LandmarkWealthposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       My wife is a spanish & special ed teacher. Not all special ed kids have a "disability".  Sometimes they are the kids on parole. We just call it that now.  Sometimes they are 19 and in HS because they never went to class, instead out screwing arou

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       Say Yes To Lifeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       In Hawaii, where I live, most special ed kids are emotionally disturbed and screw around instead of doing schoolwork. The ones who actually have a disability are usually the better students.

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       LandmarkWealthposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Some are disabled. But these days, a kid steals a car, gets 6 months in Rikers Island.  Gets out and goes into remedial reading because he never attended class...and we call them disabled...instead of a punk   An insult to someone with down syndrome.

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       Say Yes To Lifeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Amen to that!

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    Penny Gposted 10 years ago

    It happens all the time. They just push them through other wise it looks bad and effects their fundings.

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