Not my fault
Parents of Philadelphia, put your worries behind you. Dr. Sergio Rodriguez has been removed as Principle of John Stetson Middle School in Kensington and with that the violence and gratuity that has plagued the school is over. Yeah...right. And illeterate kids deserve certificates because they filled in the right bubbles.
The sad truth of the matter is that the rape is not the school's fault. It's not the adminstration's fault. It's definately not the teachers' fault. Fault can be placed on the child but in truth it lies in the child's upbringing and the environment that Edison and the for-profit schools have created. As a friend of mine recently put it "if everything you ever see is shit, you're gonna act like shit."
When the CEO of the school district is paid a whopping $300 000 bonus for raising test scores by an outstanding 1%, and the 7th graders at Stetson Middle School don't have textbooks, there is a problem. When the students can't multiply single digits and the answer to that is give them calculators, there is a problem. When a 15 year old girl in 7th grade who is pregnant can't read the instructions on a math quiz, there is a problem. The problem will not be corrected by removing a principle, another staff member or any number of teachers. The problem can and will only be corrected by returning public education into public hands. Take the emphasis off of multiple choice standardized tests and pay attention to see if the kids are actually learning anything.
All that said, the fault for the 11 year old rapists actions still lie primarily with the child and his parents or whoever allowed him to come to believe that such an action was permissible. One has to keep in mind that the fight supposedly began over a handball. That an 11 year old would choose to settle a dispute over a handball by assaulting and raping another boy is not the fault of a school. There is no feasible way that parents should expect a school to constantly monitor the movement and actions of the student body.
The sad truth of the matter is that the rape is not the school's fault. It's not the adminstration's fault. It's definately not the teachers' fault. Fault can be placed on the child but in truth it lies in the child's upbringing and the environment that Edison and the for-profit schools have created. As a friend of mine recently put it "if everything you ever see is shit, you're gonna act like shit."
When the CEO of the school district is paid a whopping $300 000 bonus for raising test scores by an outstanding 1%, and the 7th graders at Stetson Middle School don't have textbooks, there is a problem. When the students can't multiply single digits and the answer to that is give them calculators, there is a problem. When a 15 year old girl in 7th grade who is pregnant can't read the instructions on a math quiz, there is a problem. The problem will not be corrected by removing a principle, another staff member or any number of teachers. The problem can and will only be corrected by returning public education into public hands. Take the emphasis off of multiple choice standardized tests and pay attention to see if the kids are actually learning anything.
All that said, the fault for the 11 year old rapists actions still lie primarily with the child and his parents or whoever allowed him to come to believe that such an action was permissible. One has to keep in mind that the fight supposedly began over a handball. That an 11 year old would choose to settle a dispute over a handball by assaulting and raping another boy is not the fault of a school. There is no feasible way that parents should expect a school to constantly monitor the movement and actions of the student body.
posted by Jamie at 1:10 PM
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