Yeah no ... I described failings in the students - or rather, that wouldn't say 'failings' so much as 'contextually, utterly not prepared, willing or able in any way'.
"A good school will not have most of those problems."
Because a 'good school' is full of conscientious and prepared students, raised by conscientious and prepared parents with jobs and stability.
There is nothing a 'decent group of well meaning teachers' can do when 50% don't show up, 90% are literally years behind in reading and the curriculum, 50% are borderline illiterate, nobody pays attention or does any homework, students get violent in class, they are interested only in the most ridiculous artifacts of pop culture, even the students who might try are bullied, and there are zero role models in the lives of students, kids are neglected and abused and the students collectively could care one bit about learning.
There is no possibility for 'education' to happen on those circumstances.
Give them healthcare, parents stable jobs, 2 parents in stable relationship, stable family life, destroy the gangs somehow make them irrelevant, and watch grades magically rise without a single change to the school. We know this because when you take these kinds out of those stark situations and put them in regular suburban schools with teachers roughly the same credentials, they do reasonably well.
Inner city school teachers are not crap, they're basically 1/2 social workers 1/2 teachers, totally undervalued.
> even the students who might try are bullied, and there are zero role models in the lives of students
Some schools allowed students to beat these odds and decide to give themselves a chance by being in an environment where they could succeed academically. Lowell was such a school here in SF [0]. Sadly, it became a target of a certain crowd and has now switched to a "lottery" system to admit, so the bullies have as much chances of getting in as the victims. [1]
An area won't improve in one year because you switch teachers, and this problem is really socially whole. You don't just switch teachers, you need to inject money into the local economy, invest in public spaces (green areas, children's playgrounds, etc.). And of course, in education as well.
But you gotta start regardless. We can't just shrug, though I feel like this problem is so complex it really requires a complete re-structuration of the way America handles its social structure.
I don't think the USA is going to solve these problems without a complete 180 degrees change in how you view the world, and that won't happen until the empire has completely collapsed. In that regard, I have quite a grim view of the future of America.
"A good school will not have most of those problems."
Because a 'good school' is full of conscientious and prepared students, raised by conscientious and prepared parents with jobs and stability.
There is nothing a 'decent group of well meaning teachers' can do when 50% don't show up, 90% are literally years behind in reading and the curriculum, 50% are borderline illiterate, nobody pays attention or does any homework, students get violent in class, they are interested only in the most ridiculous artifacts of pop culture, even the students who might try are bullied, and there are zero role models in the lives of students, kids are neglected and abused and the students collectively could care one bit about learning.
There is no possibility for 'education' to happen on those circumstances.
Give them healthcare, parents stable jobs, 2 parents in stable relationship, stable family life, destroy the gangs somehow make them irrelevant, and watch grades magically rise without a single change to the school. We know this because when you take these kinds out of those stark situations and put them in regular suburban schools with teachers roughly the same credentials, they do reasonably well.
Inner city school teachers are not crap, they're basically 1/2 social workers 1/2 teachers, totally undervalued.