It has been a while since I have posted to this blog, partly because I have been saddened by the violence in Mexico. I do feel that I should comment on an article in the New York Times: "No Child Left Behind. Just a Demographic." by ROSS RAMSEY, published online October 6, 2012, published in the Sunday NY Times October 7 on page 27A. Here are the key quotes from the Ramsey article:
"As of 2010, 40.4 percent of Hispanics in the state 25 and older had completed something less than a high school education....
If the numbers persist, that population will have problems operating at full potential in the Texas of the future. That’s trouble for them. It’s trouble for future employers looking for help. And it’s trouble for the next generation of well-trained, working taxpayers who will have to carry that group, either as social cases, prison cases, undertrained employees, whatever.
They will be the band that didn’t practice, the team that didn’t work out. Dead weight."
The "dead weight" comment really saddens me. College can be hard academically and financially, but high school is tuition-free. Having been a public school teacher I can tell you that poor attitude from parents towards education is a cancer that destroys a child's education.
Public education is vital to a child's future. It is not the amount of money a school district has that determines success, it is the attitude and involvement of the parents that makes the biggest impact.
Robert
