And in this system the truly bright kids growing up in the least privileged families will realize that the educational game is stacked against them, and opt out.

Since our school district and state has decided to label my kids as English Language Learners, I have recently amused myself by attending parent meetings targeting those families. The assumptions by school/district personnel re. parents and children are unbelievable. And the parents who care enough to come to those meetings (and that's most of them!) just swallow it up. And sob while thanking the people who are making sure in early elementary school that their kids will get tracked to nowhere by high school.

I was listening to a conversation between parents and staff about rising high-schoolers who were refusing to go to the non-neighborhood high school with the special programs for ELLs. Their parents were terrified. The staff was telling them they had to do what was best for their kids. And I was thinking that those teens who had already spent 8 years into remedial classes, never catching up with their peers, were actually pretty smart to realize that maybe more of the same wasn't going to be much help.

Last edited by SiaSL; 05/01/13 12:45 PM.