HISD: Public Schools are fun

[Doc Reeves 6434]

19 minutes ago, Nivek said:

Nothing of your story phased me.  None of it sounds worse, bigger or more diverse than my school in S. Florida.   My HS seems like it was designed to be a hardening lesson for middle class doughy naive white, hispanic, black, and asian kids, as we mixed with the worst they could offer.   I would have rather been in the Hitler Youth than my high school.   I am sure their instructors would have been better as well.   

A drug dealer kid showed me his pistol in class.  Loaded of course.  Teacher saw it, stopped, and then went back to the lesson.  Welcome to the 9th Grade.  Kid later stole from me, I was stupid enough to think we were kind of friends at school.  Willy had no friends.   Lesson learned.  No fucks given should have been the school motto, I can count 4 teachers who were good, and one of them married his student.  

 

Oh im no trying to piss contest with that one. I’m trying to keep it light. Ive got stories about vicious gang rapes, murder and kidnapping, gang wars between factions from all over the USA/world, counterfeiting rings tied to the N. Korean gov., teen prostitution rings, my adventures with our HS police officer who was a former SMU LB and ran drugs at our HS, I could go on and on but you wouldn’t believe it.

[BabaYaga 15331]

12 hours ago, Goofyboy said:

My point remains - there are great teachers, but there are a whole lot less when a kid does not fit traditional school.

Happened with my brother.  Diagnosed with dyslexia and struggled mightily in Austin.  All the schools had tons of programs if you were a star.  At the bottom?  Not so much.  My folks moved to Odessa and he flourished with the number of alternative education opportunities and programs to help students with learning disabilities.  

[Knoxtnhorn 6066]

On 2/22/2022 at 9:17 AM, BabaYaga said:

Yep.  Most are various grades of shit.  Parents vote with their wallets.  The district they chose.  The house they buy.  Even the cars they own.  Many teachers are great.  father was one for a while.  I have the utmost respect for what they do and what they go through, but like the "heroes" in blue, not all fit that bill.

The really good ones, for the most part, recognize their value on the open market and go elsewhere (higher performing schools, etc).  Not all, but many.  This leaves many that really "can't" leave.  Can't in that they understand that they can't make more in the open markets, and stay.  This asymmetry of information on their skillset/aptitude relative to the market, or adverse selection (as they self-select to stay) plagues many, many districts and widens the gaps between many districts. 

As a teacher, I appreciate the kind words.  I think my dirt-poor, yet multicultural upbringing confines (in a good way) me to economically disadvantaged schools.  I can't imagine dealing with the "Karens" of Suburbia.  As it stands, I have very good relationships with 1/2 of my students' families; the other half I never see.

I actually like the mentoring aspect of working in my school.

[Harrison Bergeron 1798]

19 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

As a teacher, I appreciate the kind words.  I think my dirt-poor, yet multicultural upbringing confines (in a good way) me to economically disadvantaged schools.  I can't imagine dealing with the "Karens" of Suburbia.  As it stands, I have very good relationships with 1/2 of my students' families; the other half I never see.

I actually like the mentoring aspect of working in my school.

Kudos to you. That's a calling. Your kids and their parents are blessed to have you.

[Guest]

Doc Reeves with the 

FAAFO post of 2022?
 

Damn, son…

Edited February 23, 2022 by slorch

[TurkeyChew 383]

I usually enjoy your takes and ideas Slorch, but I couldn't disagree with you more on your position on public schools. If you have the privilege to homeschool or private school and choose to do so, you are not a wuss or otherwise worse than those who choose not to.

Freedom as a parent to dictate how you educate your children is a good thing.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, TurkeyChew said:

I usually enjoy your takes and ideas Slorch, but I couldn't disagree with you more on your position on public schools. If you have the privilege to homeschool or private school and choose to do so, you are not a wuss or otherwise worse than those who choose not to.

Freedom as a parent to dictate how you educate your children is a good thing.

We are actually in agreement that that freedom should absolutely exist. I do however take issue with some of the associated factors in private schools such as racism, elitism, and parents who basically set their money on fire and assuage their guilt that they were involved in their kids’ education.  Are there positives?  Surely.  Are those negatives in play for every private school situation? Certainly not.
 

Additionally, that choice shouldn’t exempt the parents from publicly funding schools.  If you’re going above and beyond, the rest of society doesn’t foot the bill.

Edited February 23, 2022 by slorch

[TurkeyChew 383]

8 minutes ago, slorch said:

We are actually in agreement that that freedom should absolutely exist. I do however take issue with some of the associated factors in private schools such as racism, elitism, and parents who basically set their money on fire and assuage their guilt that they were involved in their kids’ education.  Are there positives?  Surely.  Are those negatives in play for every private school situation? Certainly not.
 

Additionally, that choice shouldn’t exempt the parents from publicly funding schools.  If you’re going above and beyond, the rest of society doesn’t foot the bill.

I agree with everything you just said. I guess I took exception to your saying this:

"Parents should be stepping up to pull their own weight, not take their money elsewhere because them publics are so scary. Stop being a pussy."

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, TurkeyChew said:

I agree with everything you just said. I guess I took exception to your saying this:

"Parents should be stepping up to pull their own weight, not take their money elsewhere because them publics are so scary. Stop being a pussy."

Fair enough.

I have family and friends/ coworkers who absolutely fall under that assertion.  It does make me angry for them to point the finger at publics while bailing out on their own responsibilities.

I should not have said it so broadly. It’s not everybody who is involved in private school education.

[Nivek 16992]

13 hours ago, Doc Reeves said:

 

Oh im no trying to piss contest with that one. I’m trying to keep it light. Ive got stories about vicious gang rapes, murder and kidnapping, gang wars between factions from all over the USA/world, counterfeiting rings tied to the N. Korean gov., teen prostitution rings, my adventures with our HS police officer who was a former SMU LB and ran drugs at our HS, I could go on and on but you wouldn’t believe it.

yeah that sounds a bit rougher of an experience.  I checked out and missed a bit, but I never heard of any hard felonies (kidnapping+) at my school or neighboring ones.   

[Nivek 16992]

13 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

Happened with my brother.  Diagnosed with dyslexia and struggled mightily in Austin.  All the schools had tons of programs if you were a star.  At the bottom?  Not so much.  My folks moved to Odessa and he flourished with the number of alternative education opportunities and programs to help students with learning disabilities.  

Growing up it seemed like the teachers I had were mostly focused on the end-members of the class.   If you were a B student, there was zero incentive to help the kid out until those slid into D's.  This was more of a grade 1-8 phenomena though.