As I stated in an earlier post I dropped out of High School the first week of the 10th grade. I clearly remember my last day which was spent in the principals office. He was lecturing me on my attendance while I explained my situation at home and the fact that I needed to work because at 15 I was on my own. His classic response to my tragic situation.

"If you don't attend school we don't get our $36 from the State for that day".

It was the last day I spent in High School. Forget the fact that a 15 year old kid is living on his own sleeping in garages and sneaking in the window of his girlfriends home to sleep when he could. He was more concerned about his budget.

Here is the kicker...I bet most kids don't know you don't need a high school diploma to go to college. The only thing you need is to pass the entrance exam. I'm guessing there are a lot of kids attending High School who could pass and a handful who could pass who have dropped out before graduation for reasons such as my own.

Yeah, and look how you turned out.

You are big exception and your situation is not the norm for the kids dropping out. I also think that you grew up in a time where there was still some semblance of responsibility. I have the misfortune of regular contact with high school aged kids, most of them not the kind that is self-motivated and blessed with natural smarts. You would be appalled at how poorly educated so many kids are. I'm talking about basic reading and writing. It's truly frightening. It would be amazing that any of them could fill out a job application at a menial job much less pass a college entrance test.

I don't know your circumstances and I respect your achievements despite serious challenges. You truly are exceptional and there aren't many kids who have the stuff it takes to do what you did.

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I havent seen it yet, but i will now.. Sounds similar to the 4th Season of "The Wire", which is also Baltimore MD....

I watched today, off the DVR; thanks for the tip, BigR.
About what I expected and pretty well done, if somewhat
discouraging and depressing. Good example of "well meaning"
politics pumping out rules and "programs" in hope of modifying
behavior, way of life, etc. The geniuses that dream these
"programs" up are sitting in bureaucratic cubbyholes, looking
through telescopes, trying to interpret the lay of the land,
out across the country, imo. Clueless, but they keep getting
elected/appointed/hired...

Anecdotal, here in Haywood County, HillbillyHeaven NC, a
well regarded, veteran Special Needs/Spec Ed teacher was
canned a month ago over his refusal to "give the test" to
his classes of special needs kids. He said that in his opin
and experience with his classes, (some of the kids he has
had for 8+ years), that forcing them to a "test" where most
could barely write their name to, would be embarrassing to
his kids, disrespectful of their real abilities, a sham and a
waste of his teaching time and his kids' needs.

Condensed version: Every parent of his pupils rallyed to his
defense, as did his fellow teachers, principal and the town...
after a 20 min closed door "hearing", the school board/bored
fired him saying their hands were tied. Only in America...

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Ol'UncleMotor
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Check out this write up from the Baltimore Sun, hits the NAIL DIRECTLY ON THE HEAD:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...2752455.column

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Audie was the truculent guy, the one with the braided hair and grills in his teeth. About 25 minutes into the HBO documentary Hard Times at Douglass High, Audie pretty much summed up why the school named after one of the most erudite men of his or any century is having hard times.

"This what we do," Audie said about a bunch of students roaming the halls and standing around aimlessly. "Just walking the halls all day, baby. [Bleep] class. That [bleep's] for clowns, man. Don't nobody go to class around here, man. Man, [bleep] academics. Academics? We gon' leave that to them nerd-[bleep] [bleeps]. We gon' keep [bleep] straight 'hood. All my [bleeps] out here, we gon' keep it gutter."

Audie's pearl of wisdom took no more than a minute, but that's all he needed. The documentary, which I finally saw Thursday night, premiered Monday night and repeated all this week. Given HBO's schedule, you still have plenty of opportunity to catch rebroadcasts if you missed it.

Alan and Susan Raymond directed the documentary, which runs one hour, 50 minutes and some change. That's about an hour and 50 minutes too long, because Audie's little tirade pretty much says it all. But in case you have doubts, there are others in the documentary who tell why Douglass and other city schools have fallen on such "hard times."

There's English teacher Mr. McDermott, who left Douglass after the first semester of the 2004-2005 school year, when the Raymonds filmed their documentary. School honchos at Douglass must have been punishing McDermott for some reason, because they gave him the unenviable task of teaching three ninth-grade English classes that year. He left after the first semester, burned out by being unable to teach because he had to spend too much class time just keeping order and discipline.

On Parents' Night, only five parents showed up to talk to McDermott. They were the parents of children who were doing well in his class. McDermott said he wanted to see - needed to see - the parents of children who were doing poorly. Science teacher Mr. Hunt saw one parent; world history teacher Mr. Woods saw four.

"When I was in school it was a bit different," Woods said. "Mom and Dad around the corner. Teachers packed. Everybody waiting to see teachers. But nowadays, kids and parents - at least in this community at this time - don't stress education like they used to."

Woods may be the bravest man in Baltimore. To utter such a thing - and in front of a camera - takes courage not seen much in these parts. Many would accuse Woods of "blaming the victim." You're not supposed to speak ill of poor black folks, you see. So Woods isn't supposed to say what he said. Nor are we to judge the girls shown in the film who had babies before they finished high school. Woes betide us if we suggest to them that they've increased their chances of remaining in poverty by having a child in their teens and out of wedlock.

When students talk about how either one or both parents are not vested in their education, we're supposed to ignore that. To offer any criticism at all is "demonizing poor black folks," you see. But there are at least two things far worse than demonizing poor black folks that we can do to them.

The first is romanticizing them. The second - and perhaps most harmful - is patronizing them. And patronize them we do, in a way that is insidiously cruel. Listen to what English department head Mr. Connally had to say in the documentary:

"We did our ninth-grade reading-level tests at the beginning of the year, and I think out of maybe 300, 400 students that were tested, our incoming ninth-graders, maybe three were on grade level. Most were in 5, 4.5 level. It's unrealistic to think that if you have a fifth-grade reading level that you're going to pass a 10th-grade reading test. It's baffled me for years that we've allowed this to go on. It's almost as if no one wanted to admit that the students were passed to high schools with third- and fourth-grade reading levels. And I'm not talking about special-education students, either. I'm talking about regular students in regular classes. It's a crime - been one for years."

The emphasis in that last sentence is all my own, the better to drive home Connally's point. This is a crime, perpetrated and aided and abetted by those who don't want to "demonize" poor black folks. As a former poor black person myself - who grew up in an era when all black folks were demonized, regardless of class - I'm left to ponder whether it's better to be demonized and well-educated, or patronized and miseducated.

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