when i first came out here in 67....at that time california schools were in the top 10 nation wide...now look at em....theres a lesson to be learned here folkes....

you always get me confused with LA because I live in Louisiana (LA).

if they don't want to be in school, you can't force them to be. i am guessing most of them are blacks and minority. they need to have the inner ambition first if they want to make it out of the hood. we can't force them to become smart.

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As a teacher from a failing inner city district in NJ, I've found that there is two major problems in dealing with inner city kids:

a) Parents- I've never met a parent who honestly came out and told me that they didn't care if they child succeed in school, but I have met many many parents who didn't have the time to watch how well their children were succeeding. When you're working two jobs just to get enough money to feed your family, you don't have time to help your kids with homework. You're not home when the mail comes, so your kids just pull out any notices from the school and toss before you ever even know they arrived. Too many parents just aren't able to keep up with it.

b) Gangs- There's a lot of tough competition out there to win the hearts and minds of these children. A great many adolescents and teens don't take much interest in their future; they live for he moment. They want instant gratification. They don't get that in school, and they don't want to wait twenty years for a quality education to pay off. The gangs temp these kids away from school by telling them they don't need an education. They can get paid right now by putting in work for the gang. Schools can offer students life-long success, but the gangs can offer instant gratification. Now in a culture where these kids see violence all around them everyday, kids getting shot up and beat down on a regular basis, where the average kid doesn't believe, whether true or not, that they are going to live very long into their adulthood, what do you think they are going to choose?

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Ex-cons can get certified to teach in New Jersey?

That's a travesty in and of itself.

Why should that effect my ability to teach a class?

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No offense sir, but it's indicative of character.
Particularly, by your own admission, this was a drug related conviction.

God forgives,
but society shouldn't.

You should not be around children in any position of authority, once convicted
of a drug related offense so serious as to warrant prison time.

This is nothing personal against you...
I'd say the same for anyone w/ similar circumstances.
Nor am I trying to slander your character, you had previously admitted to serving time
in prison.

Too bad.

I went to jail for not paying a fine. I chose to do the time because it would negate the fine. The fine was related to drug charges that occured when I was minor. Such charges are removed from your permenant record once you turn 18.

But anyway, nice cheap shot, and kudos to you for addressing the real substance of my post.

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By admission of certain details, you open yourself up to fair criticism.

Some folks don't post any personal information.

I've posted quite a bit. I can't complain if someone takes me to task on what I've
openly admitted. So short of lying about stuff, I take folks at their word. Therefore
I stand by my comment that folks who've served time in jail have no business
teaching children. I don't care why they got locked up.
That is my opinion, and the topic is our failing school system.
I've pointed out that maybe this is another reason why our schools are failing.
Nobody cares about the teacher's character.
Nobody cares about character anymore, in anything.

You choose to take my stance personally.

You need to tell that to your political masters then. Average sentence for murder in this country is around 10 years. Rape and assault are much less. That's an awful lot of forgiving our wonderful government "representatives" are doing.

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I don't see why spending some time in jail automatically makes someone a bad teacher.

Of course, there are certain crimes that will keep a person from ever getting a teaching job, violent crimes, rape, and such, but thankfully those in charge of New Jersey aren't dumb enough to actually believe that someone who chooses to go to jail rather than pay a fine he can't afford is unfit to be a teacher.

Besides, I don't think there's a epidemic of ex-cons trying to get into the education system.

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