Comments on: Slow Growth For NWI http://christopherhedges.com/2007/11/17/slow-growth-for-nwi/ Attorney serving Northwest Indiana's legal needs Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:00:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Buzzcut http://christopherhedges.com/2007/11/17/slow-growth-for-nwi/comment-page-1/#comment-248 Buzzcut Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:52:25 +0000 http://christopherhedges.com/2007/11/17/slow-growth-for-nwi/#comment-248 I hold out hope for "scripting" and other such common sense education/ pedagogical reforms. But they're not miracle cures to what ails the education system. What we need is to take Bill Cosby seriously. The people who are not living up to their responsibilities as citizens of this great country (a country that people literally die trying to get into) need to be held accountable for their actions. We can't make excuses for people just because they live under less than ideal circumstances. I hold out hope for “scripting” and other such common sense education/ pedagogical reforms. But they’re not miracle cures to what ails the education system.

What we need is to take Bill Cosby seriously. The people who are not living up to their responsibilities as citizens of this great country (a country that people literally die trying to get into) need to be held accountable for their actions. We can’t make excuses for people just because they live under less than ideal circumstances.

]]> By: admin http://christopherhedges.com/2007/11/17/slow-growth-for-nwi/comment-page-1/#comment-247 admin Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:19:23 +0000 http://christopherhedges.com/2007/11/17/slow-growth-for-nwi/#comment-247 Hi Buzzcut, I know what you mean. When I was in high school, I felt positive peer pressure to succeed because all of my friends were ultra competitive. Sometimes just being around people who were driven to succeed was enough to provide that extra motivation to keep plugging along even though a class was tough or the subject matter was mind numbing. When I look around, I see that a lot of my classmates and peers are relatively successful. There is something to be said for competition and the human desire to want to follow what others are doing. I keep up the hope for Gary. You are right that most of the will to success has to come from the individual. Forcing someone to appear at school won't make that person learn unless he or she wants to absorb, process and remember the information taught. But, I do hold out hope that the educational system and the community as a whole can reach out and show students that education isn't a chore, but the key that unlocks the limitless potential of the future. I'm optimistic for the future. We just need to figure out a way to reach out to today's students who aren't motivated externally. Maybe the solution would be to radically change the way classes are taught? Hi Buzzcut,

I know what you mean. When I was in high school, I felt positive peer pressure to succeed because all of my friends were ultra competitive. Sometimes just being around people who were driven to succeed was enough to provide that extra motivation to keep plugging along even though a class was tough or the subject matter was mind numbing.

When I look around, I see that a lot of my classmates and peers are relatively successful. There is something to be said for competition and the human desire to want to follow what others are doing.

I keep up the hope for Gary. You are right that most of the will to success has to come from the individual. Forcing someone to appear at school won’t make that person learn unless he or she wants to absorb, process and remember the information taught.

But, I do hold out hope that the educational system and the community as a whole can reach out and show students that education isn’t a chore, but the key that unlocks the limitless potential of the future.

I’m optimistic for the future. We just need to figure out a way to reach out to today’s students who aren’t motivated externally.

Maybe the solution would be to radically change the way classes are taught?

]]> By: Buzzcut http://christopherhedges.com/2007/11/17/slow-growth-for-nwi/comment-page-1/#comment-246 Buzzcut Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:54:18 +0000 http://christopherhedges.com/2007/11/17/slow-growth-for-nwi/#comment-246 Yeah, good luck with that. The "problem" with Gary schools has nothing to do with the administration of them. It has to do with the people who go to them. My kids are in Munster schools. In don't think that there is anything special about Munster schools. I think that there is something special about the people who go to Munster schools. It is competitive beyond belief. That competition for excellence is what makes the schools good. Until the parents and students in Gary want the schools to be good, and increase their own effort in getting an education, those schools will be failures. That kind of cultural change is a lot harder to enact than just changing administrators. Yeah, good luck with that. The “problem” with Gary schools has nothing to do with the administration of them. It has to do with the people who go to them.

My kids are in Munster schools. In don’t think that there is anything special about Munster schools. I think that there is something special about the people who go to Munster schools. It is competitive beyond belief. That competition for excellence is what makes the schools good.

Until the parents and students in Gary want the schools to be good, and increase their own effort in getting an education, those schools will be failures.

That kind of cultural change is a lot harder to enact than just changing administrators.

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