In New York, there has been a lot of talk about the expansion of quality education and rooting out the problems with the system. The parents feel that it is inadequate teachers, as well as the Department of Education against them and their children. If it's not that, it's the mayor and his lackeys preying on the minority (which happens to be the majority, but that is another topic entirely). In all honesty, the real problem lies in the parents and the government.
The school administration can only do so much to help families out. A principal can do so much to assist a parent and their child. It doesn't help that most parents feel that their children are perfect beings that have been sent to Earth to enhance the lives of others by slowly eating away at their psyche. Nonetheless, parents find fault in the school system without taking some of the blame on their part.
I receive questions constantly on why a child did not get into a particular program or school. And despite (or maybe in spite) of what I am saying; there are parents who automatically feel that every issue needs to be taken to a lawyer or to the news media. Policy is policy to be quite frank.
If a program has a limited amount of seats and has a set list of priority groups that the selection methods are based upon, why do you think your child was not chosen?
In regards to the mayor and his fiends; a specialized school with an assessment that tests the abilities of the students who aspire to take said assessment, does not make it a racist (or excludes students based on race). If you feel that the SHSAT (an acronym for Specialized High School Admissions Test) has too many students that belong to a specific group, the solution is not to have a quota for races. If you build up the skills and the love of learning, then you have more students from different backgrounds that want to be able to excel on their own merits rather than their races.
It all reeks of disaster. Politicians with agendas and no brains, and parents with...this desire to bend the world to their will. The best way for children to learn anything about life is to experience disappointment. It teaches humility. The best way for schools to succeed, is for parents and the school staff to work together. But this is all just...wishful thinking. Perhaps the school systems of other states appreciate their school staff more...but in this day and age, I'm starting to highly doubt it.
I once wanted to be a teacher; with this crazy idea to open minds through the books that I've read. But now, with the nine students winning the lawsuit against the teacher's union in California, and everything that I've experienced in New York, or read in the news, it all seems like a waste. Why bother trying to get a child to learn, or to teach when all there is now are parents who don't know the difference between a great teacher and an awful one; or the mayor pulling the race card out of his sleeves like a sleezy magician,
-Alicia
