5 Comments:

 Arch City Expatriate said...

"Hey, it's a slow news week for the RFT. Let's go do a (negative) story about Vashon this week." (sigh)

While attendance is important and should be highly valued and highly encouraged, do absences by some students necessarily mean they aren't grasping the material presented in class when they are present? Should absenteeism automatically mandate failure? State law doesn't even suggest so.

After all, we all know (or should know) that there are students who attend class almost everyday and still flunk. Again, this is not to negate the importance of attending class regularly.

Contrary to popular belief though, many students can easily grasp material offered in class by some of these teachers because the material is work my 4-year old great nephew could do.

Perhaps part of the absentee problem has to do with a lack of true of stimulation on part of the teachers and poor curricula implementation by the SLPS.

Also, I am concerned about the "unnamed teachers" in this story.

What teacher would say,

"You get these untamed animals, and you're trying to train them, and they're trying to bite you while you do it."

If this quote is accurate, I would ask, "What kind of people are teaching in the SLPS? Who are they allowing to teach our kids?"

If the quote is not embellished, no wonder some of the kids aren't going to school.

They are looked at (and probably treated) as animals.

Sad.

5/19/2006 10:16 AM

 

 Anonymous said...

The story notes that gangs are a problem. Last time I spoke to some SLPS students, the three young men agreed that the gangs were the worst thing about school.

Making students feel safe at and on the way to school should be a given. How can anyone learn, or teach, when they have to consider their physical safety at all times?

Does that have anything to do with the absences? Or with the teachers' willingness to excuse absent students?

The article really brings up more questions than answers. I hope the RFT stays on this topic. Maybe they can redeem themselves for all the non-news they've been publishing.

5/19/2006 10:58 AM

 

 Doug Duckworth said...

The RFT would rather spend their time reviewing trendy hipster movies, and porn shows on the east side...

There really is no good local print media, which is why blogs are the king, and the future, of media reporting.

5/19/2006 6:44 PM

 

 Travis Reems said...

#1 Many students unfortunately do not know how to behave in polite society, which stems from poor upbringing.

#2 Teachers in general are far under paid for the services they perform for our society.

#3 Teachers and schools need to be held more accountable for improvements in their students' knowledge.

#4 Gangs and other distractions need to be wrought out of our schools to foster not only a safe, but also successful learning environment.


We know what to do to improve our education system. Let's get to the business of improving it for the future of our city.


#5 Blogs are neither journalism, nor reporting. They are an outlet for opinions and observations. That being said, the many I read related to St. Louis, do much more in the way of educating about the local events than does the established media in print, on radio, and on TV.

5/21/2006 2:05 AM

 

 Anonymous said...

I found the story on Vashon interesting. What is tells me is a lot of parents don't care about their kids education, teachers are passing kids so they don't get them back next year, and the school district and the teachers union allow all of this to take place.

We should be outraged that this is going on and should hold everyone, from the parents to the teachers to the union accountable. The system must be made to teach students.

5/21/2006 7:31 AM

 

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