@Roentgen
I’m going to disagree with you. Today, my oldest is on track to graduate with two undergrad degrees and a minor. He just turned in his application for a graduate program. Success greater than one’s parents is still possible.
My husband and I are committed to seeing our kids better educated through school and life than we were. Our youngest started saving for retirement with his birthday money in the 7th grade. He’s heard the lessons all along.
@PokeyJoe, I’m not doubting one can be better than one’s parents, but the question is how far that trajectory truly is. You’re not going to jump from poor to upper middle class in one bound from parent to son, without divine intervention and luck, hard work be damned.
@Roentgen
We’ll just have to agree to disagree.
I am a Yale grad who came from a very blue collar school district which this study says is below average. I agree with the study’s conclusion about my old school district. I am involved with interviewing applicants for Yale and I see many privileged and many not so privileged kids get into Yale including one recently from my old school district whose dad is a lawn care worker. The common denominator between the privileged kids and the non privileged kids who get into Yale (and even the kids who don’t get in but who are still very qualified) is a parent or parents who are hands on and involved with their lives. I don’t mean tutoring etc. I mean instilling a work ethic and a belief in themselves. I hear and see that over and over again during my interviews.
That is admittedly a small slice of the population but I have seen it elsewhere. Character counts.
Now a separate point: the study rates districts based on an average. To say they can’t all be “above average” may be an affront to Lake Woebegone mentalities but that is what is called a statistical truism.
^ I thought the study was base on grade standards and not on a curve.
Grade standards are a curve.
This is definitely true.
One does have the ability to change ones zip code. Our school district is located in the far upper right of the graph. If you enter the elementary school districts surrounding us, most are one grade level lower even though housing costs are not that much different.
@mathyone
What I meant to say with the curve is that not only there is a gap but that the lower performing schools are way below standards. So it is not like everybody wants to be above average but at least you would like to see more schools up to standards. However, then one might argue standards would go up so it might be irrelevant and the only thing that matters is the gap.
^Although standards will probably be raised over time (I’ve learned some things in high school that my grandparents learned as college juniors), most people would agree that ensuring a certain minimum is important. That minimum - which IMO should include 11th or 12th-grade literacy, everyday mathematics, some understanding of personal finance, a good grasp of civics, and familiarity with the most practical aspects of medicine and psychology - helps people lead wealthier, healthier, and happier lives while making them more productive members of society. In this day and age, and more so in 20 years’ time, some knowledge of programming basics may also be considered essential.
It’s hard to bring students up to that level by the end of their senior year if they start the 7th grade trailing state standards by 2.3 grades. To all intents and purposes, the average student in Detroit is getting half an education. Those students - and especially the 50% who fall below the district average - deserve better. I posit that resolving Detroit’s municipal bankruptcy once and for all might be a good start; when the public coffers were emptied, education was hit hardest, and those who most needed a way out lost their path to the middle class.
Eventually, some bright souls will move countless scientific fields forward by leaps and bounds, and in 2036 students in Lexington or Braintree will probably be taking courses like AP quantum computing. In all likelihood, they’ll still be ahead of kids living in Detroit or rural Mississippi. I just hope our government will invest in its schools, until even the worst public in Detroit has a few working computers.