ESPN poll: future of Big East

[keefe]

Anyone that has volunteered in areas of need knows exactly what I am talking about.  It's not rich or poor or middle class, it is those that choose to take the opportunities afforded them and doing something with them and those that do not.  Not all these opportunities are equal, nor is anyone saying that they are.  But those that choose to squander it, yeah...I have a problem with it, regardless of your stature in life.  If you are a rich kid and you sit around not taking advantage of what is there for you, then I am every bit as disgusted.  80% not being able to read...it's a damn joke and a disgusting one at that.

Good Lord, have you ever done volunteer work in conditions of extreme poverty? Because I am and I find your words ill-informed, callous, and brutishly insensitive. You trivialize how crushing to the human spirit are conditions of abject poverty. Why not quit your corporate job and join me for one year working with orphans and displaced children who have been recovered after having been forced into sexual slavery and indentured servitude.

Most of these children cannot read in any language and have no concept of maths, science, literature, or the arts. Their bodies have been violated and their souls eviscerated. When we get them back to safety they are often dispirited shells devoid of hope, purpose or will.  They were not given any choice. They did not opt for anything but the degrading cesspool into which they were thrown.  So I beg you, please join us and work with these children who have a quiet nobility that would put most of us to shame. There are 9 year olds who have lived more in 5 years than many on this board will in 50. 

Are you willing to experience that poverty and save some lives in the process?

[avid1010]

Yes, I did (attend a Jesuit university)....Despite throwing more and more money at it, test scores, verbal achievements, math aptitudes have worsened in many parts of this country for the last three decades.  That's what I find sad, the fact that we can't get this right despite the resources that have been thrown at it the last three decades.  I don't look down on poor people at all...I look down on those that have an opportunity and waste it...rich or poor.  There is a difference.  We have accepted mediocrity.  It is disgusting that 80% of high school graduates are in a position like that and it is allowed to happen.  Be it parenting, schools, gov't, individuals that are not putting in the effort. 

Anyone that has volunteered in areas of need knows exactly what I am talking about.  It's not rich or poor or middle class, it is those that choose to take the opportunities afforded them and doing something with them and those that do not.  Not all these opportunities are equal, nor is anyone saying that they are.  But those that choose to squander it, yeah...I have a problem with it, regardless of your stature in life.  If you are a rich kid and you sit around not taking advantage of what is there for you, then I am every bit as disgusted.  80% not being able to read...it's a damn joke and a disgusting one at that.

I understood just fine what I was reading.  I typed too fast and skipped over a word.  It is what it is, I do it often when I'm thinking faster than my fingers can output. 

pick up the book "hope and despair - why there are no bad schools in raleigh" it's a good read in regards to your concerns. 

test scores among socio-economic groups have also risen in every single category in the US over the last 10 years, however, we have a shrinking middle class that highlights our inability to properly educate poor children.  in this country if you are in the top 50% socio-economically you're in the best country in the world at getting you a college education.  if you're in the lower 50% we rank something like 48th in the world.

look at the value added data for a poor kid in classroom where there is a healthy mix of socio-economic status and educational aptitude, compared to a poor kid in a classroom with all low socio-ecomic status students and average/low educational aptitude, and you'll quickly see why a district like MPS struggles.