Thanks to Keith Schoch over at Teaching That Sticks for pointing me to the OUTSTANDING op-ed by Steve Peha (from Teaching That Makes Sense. ).
I have to admit that at first I was a bit uncomfortable with the using the word “Genocide”, it seemed a bit extreme. However, let’s look at the definition:
violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group – USHMM
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part – ICC
Hmmmm, looking at it according to the definitions and defining it as “academic genocide” maybe that’s not too strong.
THOUGH, it’s important to realize that it wasn’t me, (or even Steve Peha) that used it …. it was Judge Howard Manning:
Halifax County’s public schools do such a bad job of educating students that they are committing “academic genocide,” a state judge said in ordering a hearing next month on who should run the schools.Manning based his statements, in part, on the system’s scores on end-of-grade reading tests. More than 71 percent of elementary school students are not proficient in reading, and more than 74 percent of middle-school students are not proficient, Manning wrote.
“This is irrefutable evidence of a complete breakdown in academics” in the Halifax County schools, he wrote.
Manning manages a public school funding lawsuit known as the Leandro case, after one of the plaintiffs. He has focused much of his attention on high school improvements since the state Supreme Court in 2004 largely upheld his ruling, which found the state is required to provide a “sound basic education” to all public school students. The judge’s order for a hearing is another outgrowth of the Leandro case, originally filed in 1994. Halifax was one of the five original school districts in the case.
Unfortunately this problem isn’t limited to Halifax and is even worse for children with “special needs”. This doesn’t seem that hard … if the child isn’t LEARNING the system isn’t WORKING!
For two related posts about what to do when the school isn’t teaching your child how to read check out : Waiting To Fail and Not One Size Fits All over at the Wrightslaw Blog.
