tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7408079476623299004.post5951017417692986807..comments2023-05-07T04:41:28.057-07:00Comments on No Brainer Politics: Post-election ReactionsViking Viewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12197723979139702731noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7408079476623299004.post-80380028447729151842008-11-12T21:54:00.000-08:002008-11-12T21:54:00.000-08:00Who says blog comments should be short? :) Diffi...Who says blog comments should be short? :) Difficult issues require development, and this post, although it touched on many of the important points, only scratched the surface of the discussion that needs to happen in this country.<BR/><BR/>As you know all too well, the approximately 50 percent of LAUSD students who fail to graduate within 4 years are not far off from my own experiences at Berkeley High. Although that school has a higher graduation rate, it also has a widely acknowledged "achievement gap" which breaks down pretty strongly along ethnic and socioeconomic lines. There's no dearth of smart and dedicated teachers at Berkeley High School--I believe you know one of them!--but their work seems to have had almost no effect in trying to improve matters there.<BR/><BR/>My own observations in the public school classroom lead me to believe that American society--which barely seems to acknowledge the value of education, and diminishes it in favor of a Wild West mentality--lies at the bottom of all this. You make a lot of good points, and I agree that a crumbling financial and educational infrastructure are part of the problem.<BR/><BR/>The biggest problem, however, is a society that devalues intelligence and wisdom, that glorifies vigilantes and gangsters, that only half-jokingly calls abbreviates Berkeley High School's name to "Be High."<BR/><BR/>A large number of American students will never have the opportunity to learn, for the simple reason that popular American culture doesn't value learning. Increasing teacher's salaries would be nice, but it doesn't change the fact that there's a reason that they're so low in the first place: as a culture, we simply don't value education.<BR/><BR/>Is it any wonder that some of my friends have just up and left the place, for Canada, for France...rwhite5279https://www.blogger.com/profile/05657921863093970820noreply@blogger.com