[NormsRevenge]

Quit teaching them how to put condoms on cucumbers and be an Islamist for a week, and maybe that might help too.

[ClearCase_guy]

The education system must find new ways to involve families more fully in the process.

Okay. Here's the plan:

Decrease funding for math programs
Decrease funding for reading and writing programs
Use these funds to hire additional adminsitrators
Have new hires conduct feasibility study on increasing family invovlement.
Abandon study when Jesse Jackson announces that he will not tolerate criticism of family structures in the minority community.
Provide grant money to Harvard to see if the problem has worsened.

[odoso]

Let's give credit where credit's due...

The immigration of millions of ILLEGAL ALIENS is LARGELY responsible for MUCH of CA's financial infrastructure problems.

[sergeantdave]

Oh, goody. A new word. Let's see if I can use it right:

Al Gore was a droput from divinity school before he invented the Internet.

When I play golf, I droput the ball near the hole when no one is looking.

The cop droput the doughnut in his coffee cup.

Can you droput the lawnmower in my garage when you're done with it.

Please don't droput the turkey on the dog.

[Chode]

here's a hint that won't cost them a single penny:

everybody speaks PROPER ENGLISH while in school!!!

white black brown yellow or red... NO JIVE/SLANG of any kind at all... they have the rest of their lives to talk sh!t.

[shrinkermd]

Teachers, their unions and their administration fail to adjust to reality as to the ability of the students they are failing to educate. The problem is more the student's abilities rather than teacher liabilities.

At the risk of this post being extirpated, I would point out that for at least 100 years we have known that there are intelligence differences between children. Whether from nature or nurture, presently the mean I.Q. for some minority groups is 85. It usually requires an I.Q. of 85 or better to profit from the usual HS education. This means that one half of these students will either fail at HS work or quit unless the system is dumbed down.

Those of Whie European ancestory need not be too puffed up by these findings. Presently, we are trying to send 40-60% of HS graduates to college but only 26% or thereabouts are graduating. Since it takes at least an IQ of 110 (about 20-25% of the population)to do real, academic college work, it is not surprising that the college "drop out" rate is so high.

An unbelievable cultural, egalitarian shared delusional bias keeps education in the backwaters of discovery and success. As long as everyone believes "all children are above normal" then you will have a mythical community of Lake Wobegone rather than a real society. Since children and society live in real communities the Lake Wobegone option won't work.

The real crisis in education is not money or ability but honesty and planning for children of different abilities. It may be we need to spend a lot more on the lower half of the bell curve: we might also need to expect a lot more from the upper half of the bell curve.

Just my opinion. I hope I don't bet banned.

[diverteach]

I wonder if this numbers are skewed. By that I mean that are students that are pulled out of these schools by thier parents to be homeschooled being counted as dropouts?

[Tribune7]

Just imagine how bad things would be if they hadn't stopped that school choice inititive. < /sarcasm>

[ReagansShinyHair]

I taught for LAUSD for one year. My enrollment was capped at 20, but I had 50 students roll through my room that year. I only had 8 students who lasted most of the year with me. I think less than four were on my original enrollment sheet. Kids just moved in and moved out, and the ones that came in never knew even the basics like sounds and letters or how to add 2+2.

Not that LAUSD isn't really messed up, but to be fair there are many circumstances out of the teachers' control.