Some things have come to my attention in the past few days and, believe it or not, I'm confused again. :confused:

 

I read in the local paper that one of my old football teammates had a son graduate from Yale recently with a bunch of honors.

 

In another paper they carried a story of a highly successful lawyer who has over the course of his career won some historic, landmark cases. His son is now joining him in his practice.

 

The paper recently reported local students who had made the Dean's List at several universities and colleges.

 

I read in the GD forum's Oprah thread that the solution to EKY problems is better education. In the "Fees" thread it is suggested that taxpayers should demand better or perhaps spend the extra $ for private schools.

 

Our local system has schools that are performing so poorly on NCLB and CATS that they are required to offer transportation and pay for students to transfer to qualifying schools.

 

 

What has me confused is that all of the above concerns the same school. How can a school or system perform so poorly yet turn out many, many highly qualified, top notch students?

 

Please, I'd rather this not turn into a Public/Private issue. That won't answer my question.

 

I have no agenda here. I understand parental involvement makes up a bunch of the difference, but I don't understand how a school can't prepare it's students for college yet can turn out Yale, Centre, and a myriad of state school graduates.

Some things have come to my attention in the past few days and, believe it or not, I'm confused again. :confused:

 

I read in the local paper that one of my old football teammates had a son graduate from Yale recently with a bunch of honors.

 

In another paper they carried a story of a highly successful lawyer who has over the course of his career won some historic, landmark cases. His son is now joining him in his practice.

 

The paper recently reported local students who had made the Dean's List at several universities and colleges.

 

I read in the GD forum's Oprah thread that the solution to EKY problems is better education. In the "Fees" thread it is suggested that taxpayers should demand better or perhaps spend the extra $ for private schools.

 

Our local system has schools that are performing so poorly on NCLB and CATS that they are required to offer transportation and pay for students to transfer to qualifying schools.

 

 

What has me confused is that all of the above concerns the same school. How can a school or system perform so poorly yet turn out many, many highly qualified, top notch students?

 

Please, I'd rather this not turn into a Public/Private issue. That won't answer my question.

 

I have no agenda here. I understand parental involvement makes up a bunch of the difference, but I don't understand how a school can't prepare it's students for college yet can turn out Yale, Centre, and a myriad of state school graduates.

 

You answered your own question. Some may be naturally smarter than others, while some may have more drive than others. Overall however, it mainly depends on upbringing and who a parent allows a student to associate with as friends.

To me it's simple. You get out of it what you put into it. If you are a hard-working kid, who cares about their education, you'll be successful no matter where you go to school. If you're only there because you're forced to be, you won't amount to anything. JMO.

You answered your own question. Some may be naturally smarter than others, while some may have more drive than others. Overall however, it mainly depends on upbringing and who a parent allows a student to associate with as friends.

 

So, is it a waste of money to try to upgrade the local school system's scores?

So, is it a waste of money to try to upgrade the local school system's scores?

 

Sometimes.

This may sound cruel but genetics plays a part in it but to me parental involvement is the biggest key. You can have a student who is not the most intelligent but if they have a good work ethic instilled by their parents they can do something with their lives.

Yet we see kids transfer from one district to another all the time. We see various schools test well and we see posts on here about schools winning awards and rankings. Still, we see individuals from low ranking schools achieve some rather lofty goals. We see academic and Odesey of the Mind teams from these same schools consistantly rank among the best in the state and in some cases, the world.

 

How do we reward/punish these schools. Again, I have no agenda, no point to prove. I'm genuinely curious about the whole deal.

Politicians have to show that they are trying to solve the problem when it cannot be solved if the parents do not teach the child to value education.

 

There will be specific individuals that will succed despite their home life but in general home life is going to determine their education success.

 

Till politicians solve that issue, they will not be able to solve the problems with schools.

It has more to do with what the student wants. Some are very highly motivated and will push theirselves in all aspects of education, Others are only interested in what will become their vocatiion and will just get by in everything else. Then there are some who just do not care and make no effort and often drop out of school.

It is the minority usually that these stories or programs are geared at, I know that isn't always the case, but there are more succussful students roaming the halls of our schools than not. Everything stated in this thread I agree with, very good points from all.

Politicians have to show that they are trying to solve the problem when it cannot be solved if the parents do not teach the child to value education.

 

There will be specific individuals that will succed despite their home life but in general home life is going to determine their education success.

 

Till politicians solve that issue, they will not be able to solve the problems with schools.

 

I agree, but here is what confuses me. The function of a school is to prepare a student either for college or for life. If that school can graduate students who not only attend but excel in a school such or as Yale, or even a Centre, does that not mean the school is meeting it's requirements regardless of test scores or graduation rates? If the same school has recently boasted the pilot who flew the C130 that brought Jessica Lynch home from Iraq, a Coast Guard member who saved many lives in a daring storm-at-sea rescue, and a National Guardsman who's heroics in saving a life in the post-Katrina chaos earned him the medal of Valor, wouldn't you think the school is doing an adequate job of preparing it's students for life situations?

 

I'm neither defending nor condemning any school system in my comments. I'm merely musing and pondering the question: If a handfull of kids can successfully complete high school with the skills and education needed to excel in either life or college, does that mean the school is doing it's job regardless of scores or rankings?

If a handfull of kids can successfully complete high school with the skills and education needed to excel in either life or college, does that mean the school is doing it's job regardless of scores or rankings?

 

Key word: Handfull.

 

If not all kids are excelling then the schol system is failing. According to the US Govt.

Key word: Handfull.

 

If not all kids are excelling then the schol system is failing. According to the US Govt.

 

I agree, all kids must make it. My pondering is, if one can make it, then obviously all the tools are in place. Maybe I should focus on motivational tools.

It boils down to some kids require greater tools to be taught, rather it be teaching styles, methods, etc. There is also the minority of students who don't care, they are the ones who answer questions wrong on tests on purpose and sleep all day in class, etc. Not much can be done with these IMO, their parents or guardians have to set them straight, first.

There are very few actual "stupid" kids. Even here in EKY there are many, many brilliant kids, even if the popular census is that we are the hick step-children of the nation. There are VERY many unmotivated/unsupervised/poorly parented kids. I have to agree with an earlier post. You get out what you put in. If you want to learn, most of the time, you will learn. I don't know how many kids I saw when I was in school that slept, stared out a window, etc. that now blame teachers for each and every shortcoming in their lives. Their parents always blame the system, too. There may be some problems with our schools, but there is a much bigger problem with our "not my fault" society. I know that one of the leading NASA programmers/developers came from Lynn Camp. Most of the schools around here have produced their share of doctors, engineers, teachers and the like, but those students are never recognized as much as the student that never cared but now wants to disrupt everything. I don't know what the answer is, but I know where much of the problem lies. The majority of students around here turn out to be contributors to society.

I also know that the smaller the school, the smaller the margin for error. If a 5a school has 10 kids fail CATS testing, it is a blip on the radar. If Lynn Camp has 10 kids fail, it is a big percentage of the student body.