high school graduation rates

[HayateWind]

Originally Posted by crabapplejoe

I grew up in a fairly affluent Fulton County school district and my parents never helped with my homework. My friends and I still laugh about this because nobody can remember homework being an issue. It was a short reinforcement of what was taught at school that day. We went out an played the minute we got home. I challenge you to go witness any middle school kids getting of school buses today in upper middle class subdivisons. Every kid trundles off to their respective homes slumped over from carrying a 50 pound backpack to start their homework. More often than not, "homework" is a new learning experience that hasn't been taught in the school, or some major busy work project with little or now learning value. If your grandchildren aren't doing this then they truly are blessed with some pretty good DNA/intelligence. The kids in the lower class neighborhoods, knowing they have no help and can't do the work simply say "screw it lets go do weed" and have dropped out by tenth grade.

This. More often than not, a teacher will assign work that the student can't do, that the parents can't remember how to do, or any of the student's friend can't do, and as a result the child is left discouraged. All this does is build a hole, and depending on what kind of attention you get, you may not get out.

I, personally, as a student, receive many homework assignments a night, and even in our program, the pressure is truly on us to turn in our work on time and to study diligently as students, regardless of our extracurricular activities. If basketball comes easier than British Literature, which one do you think an at-risk kid would do more often?

I think that more academic support options should be made/advertised better for at-risk youth who may be struggling in school. This, along with better teachers, would help stem the flow of drop-outs significantly.

[RoslynHolcomb]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Is that really all that common? I didn't grow up in an affluent area but we did have pretty good schools and a good graduation rate. However, my parents didn't help with homework and I'm pretty sure that was the case with the other kids in school.

Likewise with my children and grandchildren. If they have a particular problem they're welcome to ask for help (although I probably wouldn't have the answer anyway). But ordinarily they work entirely on their own.

You don't even know the half. Homework is the bane of my existence. It started in kindergarten, and it's only worse now that he's in second grade. Most nights we spend thirty minutes to an hour on it. Mind you, it's probably fifteen to twenty minutes of work, but trying to lasso a highly energetic child who's already been cooped up in a classroom all day to sit down and do MORE schoolwork takes everything I've got and then some. My parents never helped me with homework, and I can't imagine what parents who work out if the home do. And yes, they fully expect parents to help. They send notes home that say, "Please help with homework. Your child can't do it by himself." This makes me furious. If you haven't taught it sufficiently so that the child can do it, why the hell are you sending it home for me, an untrained parent, to teach? Most of it is busywork, but occasionally they send something home that leaves me baffled. And I'm a well educated woman with advanced degrees. I can't imagine what other parents do. And the spelling test! He's had those since kindergarten. Last year when he was in first grade one of the words was "photosynthesis." To his credit, my son spelled it correctly, but good grief!

[crabapplejoe]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

You don't even know the half. Homework is the bane of my existence. It started in kindergarten, and it's only worse now that he's in second grade. Most nights we spend thirty minutes to an hour on it. Mind you, it's probably fifteen to twenty minutes of work, but trying to lasso a highly energetic child who's already been cooped up in a classroom all day to sit down and do MORE schoolwork takes everything I've got and then some. My parents never helped me with homework, and I can't imagine what parents who work out if the home do. And yes, they fully expect parents to help. They send notes home that say, "Please help with homework. Your child can't do it by himself." This makes me furious. If you haven't taught it sufficiently so that the child can do it, why the hell are you sending it home for me, an untrained parent, to teach? Most of it is busywork, but occasionally they send something home that leaves me baffled. And I'm a well educated woman with advanced degrees. I can't imagine what other parents do. And the spelling test! He's had those since kindergarten. Last year when he was in first grade one of the words was "photosynthesis." To his credit, my son spelled it correctly, but good grief!

This. And wait until your child gets further along. I gets to be maddening. I took Geology my first year at UGA, yet my 6th grade child had a test in Earth Science that was more difficult than any test I had in that class. My 6th grade child had a math problem this year that my wife (who was a wizz at math), myself with two post-secondary degrees, and a 12th grade math tutor in AP classes couldn't figure out. The teacher finally admitted that it "might have been a little difficult and maybe there was no answer". On the next test the class average was failing. What happens to the kid in a lower class situation with no resources in this same scenario? During elementary school if I heard one more mother look at her child getting off the bus say "what do we have for homework tonight" I was gonna puke.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by crabapplejoe

I challenge you to go witness any middle school kids getting of school buses today in upper middle class subdivisons. Every kid trundles off to their respective homes slumped over from carrying a 50 pound backpack to start their homework. More often than not, "homework" is a new learning experience that hasn't been taught in the school, or some major busy work project with little or now learning value.

Interesting! I certainly couldn't disagree, although I haven't personally experienced that.

Why all the homework these days? My grandkids do their homework so far as I know, but they are not toiling away like you and Roslyn describe. Maybe I need to get on them about it.

[neil0311]

I have not read through this entire thread, but as I read the news reports, isn't this just a different method of calculating the rate, not a real change in the rate? If so, nothing has materially changed, correct?

As for everyone blaming the system or evil corporations, I think you are blaming the wrong people. Much of the blame belongs to the parents, or in too many cases....the singular parent. There are way too many cases of out of wedlock and single parent births, and these lifestyles have consequences.

Even in two parent families, when you have parents without education themselves, in many cases they are not providing the children with support and help. To me, when you hear about success stories (in any economic or social group), it is almost always because the parent(s) got involved and pushed the child to be successful.

I don't accept the "it's society's fault" or "the system let them down" type of excuses. But hey...that's just me.

[flyonpa]

The new system of calculation changes the 'transfer' out default (also keep better track of movements). In the old system, it allow the school to tag a student as transferred out, who actually drop out. The new system now changes the default, a student to transfers out is now counted as a drop out, until the departing school receives conformation that the student has enrolled in a new school.