The State of Education

More Than Merely Going to School

The other day, I ran across a great post on Agricola's blog that discussed the dismal state of education in South Carolina and especially among black males, and I had a wonderful back and forth with the author in the comments.

Here are more of my thoughts.

Who Is Responsible?

I'm a firm believer in education being a way to get above the circumstances of your birth. Ideally, education doesn't start and end at the school door.

It starts at home with parents who know that it is their job and not the responsibility of the state to educate their children with public school being merely a partner and helper in the child's education. It's the parent's job to cultivate a love of learning in their children and impart to them that education is a lifelong process than can happen almost anywhere. Parents need to ensure that the child comes into school prepared to learn

Of course, many things aren't idea, are they? Then who is responsible?

We are.

Chaos and Control

Many of the problems in the school system stem from children coming into the school not at all prepared to learn. Too many children comes from lives of chaos, uncertainly, and danger. While there is so much chatter about excellence in schools, no child left behind, and standardized test, many children come into school every morning hungry, tired, perhaps abused.

It 's really hard to prepare for school when the electricity turned off or your family is facing eviction, or you may have to be the primary caregiver of younger siblings, or gunshots keep you awake at night.

While I recognize that South Carolina's public school have many problems that need to be solved and we as citizens need to hold our lawmakers accountable to produce safe competitive schools, we are only dealing with part of the problem.

We need work on controlling the some of chaos in the lives of children by dealing with issues of crime, drugs, poverty.

Help--Not Hate

Single mothers are under tremendous amounts of stress and need help. Inner city single moms engender a great deal of contempt in our society, but they are the one of the keys to working on the problem. Bringing in fathers in essential too. Girls and boys need to learn from an early age that they have choices and making good choices can help them in life.

Real law enforcement is another key component. Most people in the inner city are held hostage by the crime and drugs in their neighborhoods with little help or hope.

The Solution?

Not one of these things I mentioned is a solution to the poor performance of South Carolina's students alone. It is very complex, and there are tons of other factors we may agree and disagree on.

We can build all the schools we want, spend all the money we want, test kids every day if we want, but if we don't come together as a society and help outside the classroom, it will do no good.

Back and Better Than Ever???

I'm watching Monday Night Football. It's the fourth quarter, and New Orleans is enjoying a comfortable as well as surprising lead over Atlanta.

I'm really glad this game will be over soon. The hype and the self-congratulations have been just plain tiresome.

I know, I'm such a grumperina.

I'm glad that the Superdome has been repaired from all the Katrina hell, and that the citizens of New Orleans get to take a small break from their troubles to enjoy some football. I'm totally down with the respite that sports can give one from the mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world.

What I'm not down with is when people say, "New Orleans is back."

No it's not!

Yes, the French Quarter may be up and the Superdome looks good, but let's not forget the the lower ninth ward is still in ruins. It been over a year since the storm, and debris still hasn't been cleared, and until fairly recently, dead bodies were still being found.

Also remember the many who are far from home and still cannot return.

I hear the sportscasters encouraging people to come to New Orleans and spend money. "They city needs money to rebuild," they plea.

I wonder just how much of that money will go to clean up and rebuild the ninth ward and let those who are displaced return.

Of course, I also wonder, what did the city do to help the poor with all that tourism money before Katrina hit?

Maybe, in that sense, New Orleans is back.