You are an amazing mom (I've read your posts)--he is blessed to have you as a support.

Mine doesn't. But it's still a great tradeoff. :001_smile:

I don't want to scare you, but my cousin's 43yo dh just died last month of a stroke. The direct cause was untreated high blood pressure. He was otherwise healthy--healthy eating, exercising, etc. My cousin is devastated by his loss. He hung on in the neuro ICU for almost a month, but this type of stroke has a 97% mortality rate. Here is his obituary, maybe you can read it to your husband. He should be taking this very, very seriously. :grouphug:

((hugs))

My husband's district replaced some of the teachers they laid off with Teach for America teachers. It's one of the things they are doing to shore up finances after they pissed away millions of dollars on bad land investments. Naturally, it's been great for the students and the laid off teachers. :001_rolleyes:

A lot think this way? Where are the stats on that?

Who are these people? Is it because they aren't lining up to take money from their kid's good school district and give it to a failing school district? Is it reasonable to expect them to volunteer for that? My husband's school district sucks with money, school board members have made stupid decision after stupid decision and have hugely impacted the classroom in a negative way. And yet, the community keeps reelecting them. Why should the neighboring districts be expected to fix that? How would it work exactly?

If they weren't segregated by race, but by reading level, how is that racist? Each student is an individual, it's not helping them if they are in the wrong reading level just to make things appear properly diverse. If Joe is a great reader, do you think his teacher looks at him and thinks, "Joe is black and even though he's a good reader he needs to stay in the turtle reading group--he would fail in the rabbit group." Maybe there are a few, but I don't think very many teachers think that way.

That was interesting--thanks for the link! Something caught my eye (well, many things, but here's one): "Students are still tracked based on color," she added. "They are often put in low level classes based on the whims of an administrator." That quote is from Tammy Johnson, "program director of the Oakland, Calif.-based ERASE Initiative, a national public policy program that works on issues of race and public education." I read that and it leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. Who are all these administrators whimsically placing students in low level classes simply because they are Hispanic or black? And this is supposed to be happening in California as well, I assume since they are based in Oakland? **Oh, and good night! Hopefully we can continue in the morning, I'm enjoying the conversation and learning some things.

I know there are high dropout rates at some schools, and that the dropout rates are under reported.

Yay! I'm spoiled, I hate when the board runs slow. :tongue_smilie:

I would be interested in links if you have them. I didn't realize that there were entire schools where the average 8th grader reads at a 1st grade level, or that higher ed institutions regularly turn down the best students from particular schools. What is your reference for the students who graduate from high school yet are illiterate with no documented learning disabilities? I did know about the need for remedial classes in college (my dh is working on this problem with the local cc :001_smile:--so proud of him).

So sad. I have nightmares about things like that. :(

Also me. :iagree:

Also me. :iagree:

I mean slooooooooooooooooooooooow.

If we are talking about failing their classes, I believe it. But failing is not the same as being illiterate. And I'm not talking about severely learning disabled--even mildly mentally retarded, for example--but moderately learning disabled.

I wasn't talking about homeschooling either. My dh teaches in an urban public high school. The students love him (he gets picked 75%+ by students for favorite teacher and graduation speaker every year), the administration loves him, and his coworkers mostly love him. But having a great teacher isn't enough to make up for what's lacking at home and in the community, and there are still kids in his classes who don't do any work and who act out. Their parents are mostly defensive or don't care. There's no magic wand that he can wave to change that. When you speak of kids who graduate without knowing how to read, you are likely talking about kids like my son--learning disabled. I'm pretty sure that they could have taught him how to read, etc. at school (not as well as I do), because he does have a loving family, educated parents, and access to health care. But schools can't fix broken families and communities. There will be exceptions (or outliers--did I use that right? thanks for expanding my vocabulary :001_smile:), but when people say that public schools are failing, my response is that communities and families are failing right along side. Changing perceived test bias isn't going to fix any of that. (I realize that you weren't saying it would.)

The system is not equipped to fix some of these situations. For example, one of my children is falling further and further behind his peers, despite therapy, medication, and my best efforts. There isn't a school in the world that could give him what we do, and yet still he struggles. He has all the good stuff--health care, a comfortable home, an intact, loving family, and educated parents--and that's no guarantee of success. But he'd certainly be at a higher risk of failure without these things, and they aren't the kind of things that schools can provide.

Seriously awesome post. :iagree:

I got one of those forms two years ago when I sprained my ankle (fell down my own garage steps). Blue Shield said on the form that they wouldn't pay out until they got the form back.

Me too. I guess I don't get it, why it was such a problem.

I gave up on HST Online for that reason too. I finally figured out how the program worked, and then I realized it doesn't allow for the flexibility I need. Their solution for bumping is to not schedule out too far in advance. :001_huh: So I'm continuing with my old, never going to be updated and doesn't work with Windows 7, program. I just hope that there will be another, better option by the time I'm forced to change.

I've been watching it, and I like the beginning episodes better (I've seen through episode 6). Some of the story lines are bizarre, for example the sisters are accepting of an ongoing incestuous relationship and suicide. I've been meaning to get the book from the library, I want to see if these are real stories or if they are taking liberties for shock value.

All freakin' day. And it's probably going to kill me.