Good Job Texas!

[ROCK]

Well being a new parent I must make a statement on this thread. Yes it does start at home and school is not a babysitter as as I am concerned e I will be pro-active in my daughters education. Its extremely import to me and for her which will be a very high focus. Both my parents had high school education and did well but its not the 50s.
I have done very well as my wife with only Jr College Associate degrees....we are the lucky ones. My daughter will have a BA or MA if I can help it. I will instill the importance of education through her life and take the time to help her with homework............something I did not have. Teachers now days have a very hard job. I respect them highly and will tell my daughters future teachers in the upcoming years.
Teachers are here to help them learn.....values should be learned at home by the parents.................simply put, parents are teachers as well.

agreed....

[Lindaloo]

Good points, KatDaddy. But what some have not realized is that those parents NOR children had a chance in the corrupt New Olreans school system. We ALL know it starts at home, but it was NOT happening in New Orleans. Those kids failing those tests in Texas says it all.

[Mattie]

I can't resist the temptation to put my two cents in . . . I grew up and was educated in Louisiana. My daughter and I moved to Texas when she was 8 years old and has now returned to Southeastern Louisiana University for nursing in Hammond, Louisiana. Their basic college level classes are redundant to her now because she learned all of the basics in High School. She chose SLU because of the reputation of their nursing program - not ever dreaming that basic college classes would not be challenging in some degree.

It IS the education system and standards set for Louisiana. It IS the parents, but in their defense, they don't know anything different. Face it, these long term New Orleanians have not been outside that area often, and in some cases, NEVER. They do what their grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles etc. did because that is truly all they know. It's not the fault of anyone, but the basic culture structure in the poor areas. The people that had the means and the knowledge about school, knew what an education could allow them to do, they had it. EVEN in New Orleans. The majority of the poor were never offered or took opportunities, exposed to any degree of culture, knoweldge, etc. outside of the city or didn't have the means to explore options. You can't fix what you don't know. And trust me, these people (most of them) did not know and only continued in the vein that their families were accustomed. If a family knew nothing but shrimping, fishing, and barely getting by, how would they teach their children something they do not know?

The tangent can run on, but these people that have moved to other areas because of Katrina will at least have the opportunity to thrive and experience a new culture. Perhaps it will spur them on and there will definitely be success stories. As the years pass, it would be so cool to track the success of these kids, their families into the kid's adulthood. I bet the results will be surprising!

[timNms]

Better late than never in replying to this topic.

Speaking from experience as a teacher, I have to say that the blame lies in four places: Parents, teachers, administration, and students.

1.. Parents need to be involved in their children's education. I know there are many working parents and it is difficult sometimes to find the time to sit down and talk about what little Johnny did at school today, but it needs to be done.
2. Teachers..there are some who need to get off their butts and do what they are being paid to do. A good teacher can take that child who comes from a horrible background, inspire and instill in them the desire to be successful and watch that child blossom into a successful adult.
3. Administrators. I have worked for some wonderful admins who go beyond the call of duty to see to it that students in their school are successes. On the other hand, I've worked with some admins who aren't worth a penny. Send a kid to them for discipline after you've exhausted all of your options and they come back with candy or pencils LOL.
4. Students need to be taught at an early age that, contrary to popular belief, the world does NOT owe them anything. They need to be taught that if they want something, they have to work in order to get what it is that they want and the shortcut to getting what it is they want is to get an education.