Where the hell do you live to have so many lower IQs? I know one thing when I went to school my parents made sure I was doing good.. If I was to piss off and not do the work then I would have my possessions taken away, football, ball glove, ATARI 2600 :mj07: Plus there was no fucking around with adults like the kids now do.. A crack in the ass was a common place and no time outs.. What the hell was that?
I thank my parents greatly for being that way too, and if I needed help in school they gave it to me. Did not need much though cause I had to give the effort.
It's not where we live but where she teaches. It is right across the street to the BB court where LeBron James honed his skills as a youth. It is in the heart of roughest, toughest part of the city of Akron.
The majority of the children are the offspring of parents who have used drugs as the driving force of their lives. The bulk of the kids live with mom only and many live with their grandparents. They are the lucky ones because the grandparents do the best that they can which is light years ahead of most of the parents.
My wife's class was set up to be a regular 3rd grade classroom. When discovered how low the kids were, it has now being converted to special ed status even though she has no special ed training. All but two of her third graders were reading at a level above first grade with some even lower than that. The top two will be going into another room.
Some of the things that go on down there are basically beyond belief to most.
Example: My wife had scheduled a parent teacher conference with one of her poorest student's mother last week. She waited well past five PM before finally calling the home. The 9 yr old student answered the phone him self. " Mom's not coming to see you, she's in jail" Wife says, well who is watching you? Is there going to be somebody staying with you tonight? "NO" So the wife calls children services to make arrangements to have the child taken care of. I believe she came home at close to 7.
You may think that is extreme, but events such as this are common. Unless people live this life or work in this environment, they have no idea what life is like in this inner city school.
Bottom line: It's the drugs that give these children no chance. I don't proclaim to be an expert by any means but I believe these kids are born with some sort of genetic damage brought upon by the constant drug use of the parents. If that doesn't get them, how the drugs affect and crush families and their neighborhood does.
I really didn't believe how bad it was down there until I became a volunteer at the school. I spend 4 hours a week there. Mostly I work with their reading and math in a one to one setting in the hallway. I try to slip in a little motivational talk as well. Sometimes, when I hear these poor children talk of their lives at home, I just cover my eyes and fight back tears. It is that sad. When I do manage to reach one of these kids and their eyes light up it is like the most gratifying feeling that I could ever experience.
Again, you have to see it first hand to really believe it. Thank God that we are all fortunate enough to live in an area far away from that.
PS you are correct about the punishment. A good whack in the ass may reach where words don't.
