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And when do we actually make the determination that a particular student is a "problem" and remove them from the company of schools and other students? First grade? Fourth? Seventh?
And once we do identify these incorrigibles at age six or ten or thirteen, what do we do with them?
Some form of incarceration? Put them in a "labor pool" so they can pay for their accommodations and not burden the rest of us? Summary execution?
Please do elucidate.
In each case in the years ahead I caught wind that things went right for them after they found that their options were limited. One showed up at our graduation but wasn't able to walk with us. One sheepishly asked if he could attend the reunion even though he didn't graduate with everyone else. Another enlisted. I think they all felt responsible in the end. Point being there was always a network of second chance options of varying levels of strictness. Just letting them move forward would have been unfair to my classmates and my teachers who were hired to teach and not mold rough teenagers into mature adults. Alternatives were always there but now we err on the side of making sure they move forward because it jeopardizes the district's funding.
That often happens regardless. You might as well spare the poor teacher from dealing with them so they can focus on kids that are still redeemable, because otherwise, if you force them, the teachers will just choose to leave the system entirely, only because you had misplaced empathy for the irredeemable bottom % of society, when you weren't the one actually having to deal with that problem you want fixed. It's easy to write cheques you don't have to cash but most people, just like you and me, have limits to the amount of abuse they will take at work, even for humanitarian jobs like nurses and teachers.
And if they stay, they become adults who live large on food stamps and medicaid, and on top of that seriously hurt or permanently disable teachers, staff, or other students. It's as if letting them pummel teachers in the face will somehow result in them becoming upstanding citizens.
My partner was also a single mother who utilized wic and food stamps and food pantries until she was able to work full time again.
When the system works, it works well. When it gets abused, there's less for the people who need it.
> No one lives on food stamps and Medicaid because they enjoy it.
Unfortunately, this is also not true. My best friend's mother stayed on benefits because she didn't want to work, and moved out of state because her assistance ran out. She was nominally capable of working, though she also abused drugs and was more comfortable using and getting benefits than getting clean and a job.
They basically have mastered exploiting government assistance. It's 9 parts enraging and 1 part deeply impressive.
and if not, why not? is it because people who have a house are good people and deserve it, while CHILDREN who are born to the wrong parents are bad people and don't?
while we’re at it, let’s take public money away from public schools and give it to private schools with no audit requirements.
that will solve the issue, right?
If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and use this site in the intended spirit from now on, we'd appreciate it.