7.31.2007

Maybe Homeschooling Isn't That Bad

Home-schooled kids are usually easy marks. As Mean Girls pointed out, home-schooled kids tend to be stereotyped as spelling whizzes or religious nuts. But maybe the parents who lock their kids away from basic social interaction are on to something.

In what has to be considered a black eye for the Fenty administration, DC public schools will not be prepared for the first day of classes on August 27. Three thousand classrooms currently lack air conditioning. The average high temperature in DC in August is 86 degrees Fahrenheit. If I were a student, I would prefer A/C.

Air conditioning is a nice little luxury, but what about heat? DC classrooms don't have that either. Twenty schools were temporarily closed last year due to a lack of heating in the classrooms. The problems haven't been fixed. DC has until October 15 to fix this. In the meantine, the air conditioning will just have to wait.

Oh, and there aren't enough textbooks to go around. Not only are the schools uncomfortable, they're also impotent. Kids can go have some hands-on learning with dealing with uncomfortable environments. After that, the education stops.

I can not fathom how it got to this point. Twenty school closures and we're just now getting to fixing the problem? Three thousand classrooms without air conditioning in a city with a ruthlessly hot climate? No textbooks? How can a parent feel good about sending their kids to these schools? Fenty ran under a platform of changing the schools. Basically the platform that everyone runs on and the public continues to buy hook, line, and sinker. But it's the same old shit. Expecting wholesale changes in one year is a bit too much to ask. I'm not that naive. But, Christ, they still haven't fixed the heating? That's the issue that's fallen through the cracks?

I continue to applaud myself for not voting for this man.

UPDATE: I find it hard to keep a link to the terrible Examiner up when the Post has an article concerning the same problems. Here's something notable:

At a news conference yesterday, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) promised that this would be the last year of such textbook debacles and said the city is updating school heating and air-conditioning systems.

I am now very, very excited for July 31, 2008.

21 comments:

  1. Bah, my public school in New York didn't have air conditioning either. No one complained, because we started school after Labor Day and the temperatures hovered around 80. Why does DC have to start in August?

    That's one thing I never really understood about school scheduling. The further south you go, the earlier school starts. But that means that electric bills are going to be higher for the schools because they're running their AC units all the time.

    The state of NY came up with an awesome concept to save money during the energy problems of the 70's. Give the kids an entire week of in February and save money on oil bills. DC should follow suit, and start later in the year if everyone's going to complain about the lack of air conditioning.

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  2. My friend teaches at an inner city school in Philly with broken heaters. He says its frustrating to have to harp on students for wearing baggy clothes and poofy ghetto jackets when it's winter and freezing cold outside. You can't deny CHILDREN wanting to be warm.

    What goes on in DC city council meetings? Seriously. We could fix DC's school system with, say, $611 Million dollars! Nawwww. Let's blow it on something that will TOTALLY pay off in the long run.

    I suppose DC won't have to worry about poor urban children if they can't afford to live here.

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  3. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    I really don't understand how things got to this point either. It's some third world bullshit, and it is shameful. It's not like the District doesn't have the money (collectively, I mean).

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  4. No Child's Left Behind

    D.C. is a city of rich and poor; hence, public schools are screwed. Thus, the kids are screwed, which in turn means everyone living around here is going to be screwed, because of crime and blight.

    Maybe Rusty should send Michelle Rhee a letter to tell her she has just inherited:

    No A/C

    No heat

    No books

    No pencils

    And soon, tons of dirty looks

    She's set up to fail and so are the kids.

    Kiss my right cheek, but no child's left behind...

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  5. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    my friend who lives in nw, her parents are rich but they send her to public school and the school along with the building is utter shit. there are kids from se who are bussed out to charter schools in the suburbs to very nice schools and buldings so go figure.

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  6. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    Which public school in NW? Isn't Wilson ok?

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  7. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    Ik kan niet fathom hoe het aan dit punt kreeg. Twintig schoolsluitingen en wij worden nu net aan het bevestigen van het probleem? Drie duizend klaslokalen zonder airconditioning in een stad met een ruthlessly heet klimaat? Geen handboeken? Hoe kan goed een ouder over het verzenden van hun jonge geitjes naar deze scholen voelen? Fenty liep onder een platform van het veranderen van de scholen. Fundamenteel blijven het platform dat iedereen in werking stelt en het publiek haak, lijn, en zinklood kopen. Maar het is zelfde oude shit. Het verwachten van in het groot veranderingen in één jaar is een te vragen beetje teveel. Ik ben niet naïef dat. Maar Christus, hebben zij nog niet het verwarmen bevestigd? Dat de kwestie dat gevallen door de barsten? Ik blijf voor stemming niet voor deze mens toejuichen. U moet zwijgen. U hebt niet hier lang genoeg geleefd om te weten wat u van spreekt. Bastaard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  8. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    I think they just keep this stories canned, change the date, and repeat them every year.

    After school starts, the story will be about how X number of kids were kicked out or denied admission because their immunizations still aren't up to date.

    Same thing, every year.

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  9. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    Yep,that school would be Wilson. Imagine the richest ward in the city having one of the worst maintained schools. Ohhh the irony.

    Anyway, back to the problem at hand, it doesn't matter how many shiny new people Mayor Fenty appoints to fix the mess that is DC public schools. the problem doesn't lie at the top, because they aren't the people who actually run the show. That would be the mid level managers that are hireed by the DC government The ones that Fenty can't fire at the drop of the hat. That would take an act of God. And to add insult to injury, most of these employees neither live in DC nor do they send their children to DC public schools.

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  10. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    But we're going to have a nice new shiny baseball stadium!!!

    I applaud myself for not voting in DC and actually voting in a REAL STATE with REAL politicians and REAL elections!

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  11. you ask how a parent can feel good about sending their children to these schools?

    the answer: they don't care enough

    i spent three years tutoring in both catholic and public schools in DC. one student told me about the cockroaches that share the bed with her and her twin brother at her grandmother's house. another one warned me that i was too bossy and if i ran my mouth more i should watch my back. another one just ate up all the attention i gave her because nobody else cared enough to fix her broken glasses.

    granted, it's a generalization that no parent in DC cares.

    perhaps it's that no parent of the children that need tutoring actually care.

    i think it's just that nobody in this town really gives a damn. and the people that do send their boys to gonzaga.

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  12. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    أشْكالُ ٱلجُمْلةِ ٱلية أشْكالُ ٱلجُمْلةِ ٱلعربية أشْكالُ ٱلجُمْلةِ ٱلعربية أشْكالُ ٱلجُمْلةِ ٱلعربيةأشْكالُ ٱلجُمْلةِ ٱلعربية

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  13. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    Oh and I guess GIRLS don't go to school? or they should go to public school. Fuck Gonzaga. Fuck DC.

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  14. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    another one warned me that i was too bossy and if i ran my mouth more i should watch my back.

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

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  15. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    I blame the asian.

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  16. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    Hey Rusty!

    There's a post on Jezebel about Oprah that you haven't commented on yet. Better get on that.

    Douche.

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  17. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    Well color me surprised. 16 replies deep and nobody has blamed the blacks yet. Oh well. The evening is still young I guess.

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  18. AnonymousJuly 31, 2007

    Oh I think if you translate the arabic there it does blame the blacks!

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  19. I blame the Puerto Ricans!!!

    Is that close enough for ya?

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  20. Things that make you go mmmm!

    You vote in a REAL state, in a REAL election, with REAL polititions. And still you got a FAKE PRESIDENT.

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  21. I like turtles.

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