Daily Howler -- Back to School Blues
I'm a big fan of Bob Somerby's site, The Daily Howler. I like his blunt, tough, suffer-no-fools politics. And when he speaks about urban schools, he knows what he's talking about. This week he is devoting each of his daily howls to the issues facing urban schools. I heartily recommend his first two installments:
BACK-TO-SCHOOL BLUES (PART 1): "Poor fourth-grade kids can't read at all. So we need to set our standards higher! Poor kids are light-years behind the non-poor. So we need to define one set of graduation standards! In our view, such 'recommendations' tend to come from people who have never set foot in urban schools--and think tanks funded by both major parties sometimes seem to be full of such people."
PART 2--WHY CALIXTO CAN'T READ: "After attending school for three years, low-income students are 'about three grade levels behind' non-poor students! Say it again, and let it sink in: After three years, theyÂre three years behind!! But Herbert shows no sign of grasping the enormity (or the absurdity) of the situation described here."
BACK-TO-SCHOOL BLUES (PART 1): "Poor fourth-grade kids can't read at all. So we need to set our standards higher! Poor kids are light-years behind the non-poor. So we need to define one set of graduation standards! In our view, such 'recommendations' tend to come from people who have never set foot in urban schools--and think tanks funded by both major parties sometimes seem to be full of such people."
PART 2--WHY CALIXTO CAN'T READ: "After attending school for three years, low-income students are 'about three grade levels behind' non-poor students! Say it again, and let it sink in: After three years, theyÂre three years behind!! But Herbert shows no sign of grasping the enormity (or the absurdity) of the situation described here."
2 Comments:
Here's a quote from part 3 of the series THE QUESTIONS NOT ASKED: "And for kids like this—kids whose reading skills are far below traditional “grade level”—school can be a daily bath of frustration, due to the massive failure of the schools to provide them with instructional programs actually geared to their existing abilities."
Curiously, Bob didn't think yesterday's effort was up to par, so he rewrote it and replaced it with this post: SECOND EFFORT
Post a Comment
<< Home