Some Baltimore City Schools Now Passing All Students Who Attend Regularly

Yup, some Baltimore City Schools are passing all students with regular attendance, regardless of their academic achievement. I found this out today from a Baltimore City School teacher, so I know it's not a rumor. I'm going to find Dr.Alonso's address and send him a letter, letting him know of my passionate disapproval.

For those who don't know, I teach developmental (remedial) writing to community college students. Basically, I teach middle school level English to people with high school diplomas who somehow made it through high school without learning how to write. Here is a sample from an essay a student recently submitted. This student is not going to pass my class and came to me crying, hoping I would have sympathy. Students are conditioned that they can pass if they just present their sad story to the teacher, but that just doesn't cut it in college. Here's the writing I received:

"To receive information on how the prison system operate. Many teens have seen prison stories on TV however they have not lived them. Another way to try and rehabilitate the young teens is to allow them weekends inside of the prisons to see the daily life of a convict. Begin able to witness how their life can change for begins a ward of the state."

This is what happens when students do not receive a proper education. How can students possibly receive a proper education when grades do not matter and everyone passes? How does this benefit the student? Adults have the responsibility to be straight with kids, to tell it like it is. Kids need to be told that their skills are below-level and they need to know what to do to improve. Teachers do a great disservice by passing students along.

I have students come to me with letters they have written to the police department to complain of unnecessary verbal abuse and letters they have written to the court system. They want me to see if I can understand what they are trying to say so that their letters will be read rather than laughed at and thrown away. People can't write letters and they can't read contracts. How are we giving our students a chance at life by just passing them through? I think that's the most terrible thing we can do to youth. If they do decide to one day go to college, they'll have to suffer through the shock of realizing that they are way behind where they actually need to be in order to be admitted into credit bearing classes. I know because I teach these students that the system has failed.

City Kids Facing Forever Expulsion for Setting Fires

I just read an article written by the Baltimore Sun:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.expulsions19may19,0,2683888.story

Students who have been expelled for setting fires in Baltimore City Schools "may appeal to the city school board and after that the state board of education, but if the expulsions are upheld, they are never to return to a Baltimore public school."

"The school system will cut off home tutoring and alternative school placements for those students in June, and then parents' options will be limited to home-schooling their children or sending them to private schools."

These stricter rules seem to be making a difference, and the article states that "the number of arsons in city schools has dropped sharply, from 80 last academic year to 47 so far in the school year about to end."

"Before this year in Baltimore and typically in surrounding school systems, students who engage in violent behavior such as arson are expelled, but they can attend an alternative school or complete work at home, and eventually they are permitted to return."

I think permanently expelling students for setting fires in schools is an excellent idea. By enforcing severe consequences, students will get the message. Otherwise, they won't. Shifting a student from one school to another doesn't get the message across. Students (and parents) need to be dealt serious, permanent consequences when seriously dangerous acts are committed. If a student sets a fire at school, he or she has no business being in school. Maybe the punishment will be a wake-up call for the student; maybe it will be a wake-up call for the parents.

If staff sends a clear, concrete message that violent acts will not be tolerated, the students and parents will get the message. If a student doesn't have to go to school anymore and is assigned a private tutor to come to the house, and then is able to get his or her HS diploma, then what have they learned? Who cares if I make brazenly stupid mistakes...the school system will cater to me anyway.

If the school system has to permanently black list certain students, then so be it. Baltimore City Schools are in dire need of change; and I'm all for drastic change.

I guess those kids that have set fires in school will have to take their own initiative if they wish to be educated. I think that is fair. We can't always feel sorry for the people who are jeopardizing the safety of others. Kids know the difference between right and wrong, and they definitely know that setting a fire in school is a terrible thing to do. Education should be seen as a privilege; not as a joke.