Posted by Liberal on April 17, 2011, 8:20 pm, in reply to "Re: ESL schools..."
opi - as much as i will agree something must be done - i am glad the state is stepping in...i feel i should discuss something with you.
the students in GC are different than those in ESL. there is a different culture in both places, and i think granite actually (for the most part) cares about education.
because the students are different - because the students in ESL require more work, they require more hands.
the specialists they bring in actually give workshops to teachers - i attended many and they were helpful in teaching new methods of teaching. i needed new methods because sometimes i would be at my wits end. i had some kids who could not read, some who barely could, and others who had no desire to. college taught me how to be a teacher, but teaching there is unlike teaching at most other places. teachers there need the support, they need the extra training...
and i did it for less pay than any teacher in GC makes.
some of the specialists might be family or part of some corruption - but i understand their need to bring in outside help.
the people they bring in have PhD's - they have track records of success in communities comparible to ESL...so on that one point i disagree with you.
the problem i see at the forefront - i feel the district tries to be a magnet school for sports, and the focus should be more on acedemics.
furthermore - i feel the district tries to protect their athletes.
the school i worked in would take any kid from ESL high school - and we did not have sports teams so they could go to my school and play for ESL high - so the young athletes could come to my school with smaller classes and SOME teachers who handed out passing gradess that were un-earned.
some of these athletes were obviously gang affiliated. some students spoke rumors of one athlete who brought a gun to school every day and hid it somewhere around the building.
...
above all else - the schools can not change the problems within the community - the community must do that themselves and the schools will be there to help in very important ways.
but - that can not happen until the economic situation improves for the region.
streets in extreme need of repair, infrastructure so fargone it must be replaced...
these problems discourage commerce - which keeps the area poor.
on April 17, 2011, 8:20 pm, in reply to "