Being retired is hell, I have nothing better to do than sit and contemplate all these issues I know very little about.
I was thinking today of education, why some kids choose to study and others don't. Some of the dynamics of this issue are driven by common phenomenas that are not unique to low income groups. Other seem more affected by the economics and culture of a given area. The list of things I can think of was longer than I thought. I started wondering how comprehensive are the programs we have in place that exist to address alll these issues. Do they have different departments that address each issue or is the entire issue handed to one dept to figure out?
Safety and roll models seem like they would be huge issues in the schools. Are they doing enough to provide platforms for the types of kids that would make great roll models.
How confident to the kids feel that they will succeed if they work hard?
Do kids feel safe or more compeled to bow to peer pressure for fear of bullying?
Are bad students disrupting classes or lowering the bar for good students?
Are these types of things more likely handled in the physics dept. or the physical education dept.? I could see it possibly in both. Inertia is normally needed to get a good roll going, whereas proper technique with the legs and tumbling skills probably play into it as well.
I’d say make pre-college course material more stimulating. This would appeal to any student of any background. Classes and homework, from elementary to high school, was just so damn boring. When I got to college, classes were quite fun. The professors were engaging, assignments were challenging but in a good way, and I had intelligent classmates who we could bounce ideas off each other.
Well, I don’t know about the rest of the world, but my child studies because she has always studied, and she has always studied because her parents insisted on the primacy that her job is, in fact, to get an education. It’s now a habit - she might not jump to it, but she knows what is required of her and what it takes to get it done.
It doesn’t have much to do with the fact that she goes to a Catholic school or that we might have more money than others (and not as much as many) as there are a lot of slack-ass kids that are both richer and poorer than we are. She studies because we insist on it.
It seems to have a lot to do with the family, and maybe genetics. My kids were very self motivated - we never had to yell at them to do their homework, though they knew we knew if they had or not. We were also there to explain things if needed. Both of them had boyfriends with parents who were a lot less concerned, and both boys started doing a lot better with a bit of pressure. Same middle class economic level.
I suppose kids growing up in an environment where caring about school was injurious to you social health would have it tougher. The great thing about my gigantic high school was that there was a set of 70 -. 80 students in the best classes that made up a good peer group. I’m sure there were tons of people who called us names, but we never had to deal with them - except when they pumped ur gas.
