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marmar

(76,991 posts)
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 12:45 PM Apr 2013

System Failure: The Collapse of Public Education


from the Village Voice:


System Failure: The Collapse of Public Education
From our high schools to CUNY, New York City's numbers are in—and they are terrifying.

By Anya Kamenetz Wednesday, Apr 3 2013


"I hated math. Math was like, the worst thing on the planet. I would be late. I would go to the bathroom and just sit there." Jahleah Santiago, 18, widens her eyes, outlined in cat's-eye makeup. Santiago grew up in Flushing, Queens, of Puerto Rican and Native American descent. She graduated from the Academy of Environmental Science in Manhattan and sent in just one college application, which brought her to this windowless fourth-floor classroom at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City. Both of her parents dropped out of high school; she is the third person in her family ever to go to college. And given her attitude toward math in high school—and the grades to show for it—the odds are stacked against her finishing.

In the Michael Bloomberg era of school reform, we hear a lot about rising educational standards. "When Dennis Walcott became chancellor," Josh Thomases, a deputy chief academic officer in the city's Department of Education, tells the Voice, "one of his first acts was to say the correct bar was no longer a high school diploma, but career and college readiness."

Put another way, New York City officials openly admit that a high school diploma earned in our public schools today does not mean that a student is ready for college. In fact, 80 percent of New York public school graduates who enrolled in City University of New York community colleges last fall still needed high school level instruction—also known as remediation—in reading, writing, and especially math. Despite the department's proclamations, that percentage is up, not down, from 71 percent a few years ago. Algebra, which is a CUNY graduation requirement, is by far the most challenging for the city's public school grads: Just 14 percent pass the CUNY algebra placement exam.

With 272,000 students and a $2.6 billion budget, CUNY is the fourth-largest public university system in the country. CUNY's four-year colleges don't accept students who need remediation, but its community colleges are required by charter to accept every New York City high school graduate who applies. Some 98,000 students—most of them working class, 82 percent minorities—are in the community college system and 10,000 more graduates of New York public schools enrolled in 2011 than in 2007. The city points to that growth along with rising high school graduation rates as evidence of its improved performance. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-04-03/news/system-failure-the-collapse-of-public-education/



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System Failure: The Collapse of Public Education (Original Post) marmar Apr 2013 OP
The Collapse of Public. valerief Apr 2013 #1
It's not because it is public but the "collapse" is a direct result of neoliberal policies duffyduff Apr 2013 #2
It didn't collapse. Lindsay Apr 2013 #3
All the good students switched to private schools and left all the struggling Auntie Bush Apr 2013 #4
 

duffyduff

(3,251 posts)
2. It's not because it is public but the "collapse" is a direct result of neoliberal policies
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 12:56 PM
Apr 2013

which demonize ALL public institutions BECAUSE they are public.

The blame for the current mess directly falls on Obama and Duncan.

It is an insane ideology, and it has corrupted BOTH political parties.

Auntie Bush

(17,528 posts)
4. All the good students switched to private schools and left all the struggling
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 01:48 PM
Apr 2013

and problem students for the public schools to deal with. Along with the good students went the money and now the public schools are going broke.

Rethugs and conservatives feared the PS were turning out liberal students. They also wanted to teach religion and indoctrinate them with their own crazy conservative and fundamentalists ideas...like creationism etc. and turn them against liberalism and teach them to hate. Private schools tend to propagandize the students.

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