# K-12 Schools should not be sorted by income level **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 13, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-12-schools-should-not-be-sorted-by-income-level/731144 "2015-09-13T21:26:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-12-schools-should-not-be-sorted-by-income-level/731144/121 "2015-10-06T18:55:40Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > Why are you so willing to write off everyone, warehousing them and ignoring them for the benefit of the majority? This doesn’t really make sense. If it’s for the benefit of _the majority_, you’re really not writing off _everyone_. Are nothing even approaching _everyone_. > [@pbbth](#): > > I went to school with a kid who was a total dickbag. Getting high during class, getting in fights, and generally being a superdouche. He should have been warehoused under your approach. Except he turned into [this guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Rains), a productive member of society following his dreams. And you know what? Good for him. I’m glad he isn’t out robbing people and spending time in jail. You know why he is an actor now? Because he and his brother were in my theater classes and they went off to Hollywood together, found they love it, and made a life for themselves. Why is it more important to point a finger at kids like him and say that someone else didn’t become a doctor because of them instead of him not becoming another orange jumpsuit on the side of the road? Why is it more important to stop them from being a disturbance than to stop whatever is going on at a societal level that caused them to be a disturbance in the first place? Nice anecdote. Do you think that as you read this, that there is no classroom in which a bunch of kids are being dripped of learning because a small minority doesn’t want to be there and is disrupting the class? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-12-schools-should-not-be-sorted-by-income-level/731144/122 "2015-10-06T19:11:03Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > Why are you so willing to write off everyone, warehousing them and ignoring them for the benefit of the majority? I don’t remember saying that they should be ignored. They are not getting an education now, and they are preventing others from getting an education. Having them not get an education somewhere where they can’t bother the rest of the students doesn’t hurt them as much as it helps others. > [@](#): > > I went to school with a kid who was a total dickbag. Getting high during class, getting in fights, and generally being a superdouche. He should have been warehoused under your approach. Except he turned into [this guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Rains), a productive member of society following his dreams. And you know what? Good for him. I’m glad he isn’t out robbing people and spending time in jail. You know why he is an actor now? Because he and his brother were in my theater classes and they went off to Hollywood together, found they love it, and made a life for themselves. Fine - offer theater classes in reform school, and encourage the dickbags to go into show business. :dubious: > [@](#): > > Why is it more important to point a finger at kids like him and say that someone else didn’t become a doctor because of them instead of him not becoming another orange jumpsuit on the side of the road? Why is it more important to stop them from being a disturbance than to stop whatever is going on at a societal level that caused them to be a disturbance in the first place? It is important to prevent the dickbags of the world from interfering with the education of the non-dickbags. That’s why it is important to stop them from being a disturbance now, rather than waiting until we have solved all the problems of our society. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-12-schools-should-not-be-sorted-by-income-level/731144/123 "2015-10-07T20:46:57Z")
[Ta-Nehisi Coates’s new article, "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/10/the-black-family-in-the-age-of-mass-incarceration/403246/), has an interesting note: > [@](#): > > In 1968, while campaigning for president, Nixon was taped rehearsing a campaign ad. “The heart of the problem is law and order in our schools,” he said. “Discipline in the classroom is essential if our children are to learn.” Then, perhaps talking to himself, he added, “Yep, this hits it right on the nose, the thing about this whole teacher—it’s all about law and order and the damn Negro–Puerto Rican groups out there.” Plus ça change. . . . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-12-schools-should-not-be-sorted-by-income-level/731144.md?page=6)