Obama seeks money, interventions to stem high school dropouts

This sort of shake-up of bad schools sounds good to me! The effect on drop-outs will be a long-term one however.

This administration is trying to mask its agenda of control and indoctrination by dropping carrots on strings with 'we really care' tags. Nowhere in this article, designed to appear as if the great and powerful Oz has spoken, is there anything about the actual cause of dropping out- an individuals choice, for gang -related reasons, or otherwise. Instead, blame the 'bad' schools, the 'bad' teachers, the 'bad' economy, and demand more money to 'fix' it, and compliance to 'receive' it. Fed. govt. has no place in state matters... The audacity of nope.

The president could start with reform and restructure of the almighty teachers' unions, but of course they probably account for a large part of the Democratic Party's base. Although they worship Obama - - or rather, the idea of a figure like Obama - - were he to actually demand accountability from 'progressives' this would get him laughed at. In the end it's the children who will lose...

An American president who is actually directing the majority of budget spending on America and Amercans.

Haven't seen one of them since the last Democratic president.

Odogma - "Although they worship Obama - - or rather, the idea of a figure like Obama - - were he to actually demand accountability from 'progressives' this would get him laughed at."

No, mate. We're all laughing at you.

I don't think the school closure idea is that wise. I say this because my home town is a good example of what happens when you close all the schools and try to make the kids go to a "higher achieving" school. It flops, and just brings down the other schools. And who is going to teach these kids? Most of the "bad" teachers from those drop out schools weren't always bad. I wish more people would talk about another issue, which is the mindset of the community, and the parents. And I'm not just talking young parents who just have babies so they can cash a welfare check--though in the majority of cases, a lot of the kids are coming from backgrounds like this. Other kids may have a potentially "better" situation but their parents are probably just as absent in their lives and their education. They don't care if their kid graduates. If the parents don't care about their child graduating, then neither will the child. They won't even bother trying. And since both don't, that leaves the teacher up a creek. Like they say, it starts at home.

"Obama... proposing $900 million"

Where's he going to get it?

Sarge - "Where's he going to get it?"

Too late Sarge. You should have been asking that before your pal bush launched those 2 wars of his.

Karma sucks, no? :-)

Shame that ordinary Americans are increasingly prevented by the Democratic Party from being able to exercise choice, and send their children to private schools - - like the one President Obama attended in Hawaii, and like the schools his own daughters are sent to.

Hypocrisy, thy name is 'progressive.'

Sushi - Have you noticed that more than a year into the Obama presidency we still have a hundred thousand troops in Iraq, we've got more troops in Afghanistan than ever, and he's wasted over a trillion dollars on the stimulus boondoggle? Reality sucks, huh.

Too late Sarge. You should have been asking that before your pal bush launched those 2 wars of his.

Is there any sort of actual relevance to this story with that comment? Drop-rate rate is at an epidemic level because of Bush? Sheesh.

Obama does not have the track record of fixing schools (Chicago etc).

I would say give the students choice of what schools you can go to and let the bad schools fail. The good schools should just kick the bad students out. It's the Liberal/Progressives that have caused many of these school problems to begin with.

I believe students deserve a choice and would be more competitive for a school if given a choice. School would not be a given anymore = you must earn it.

I'm game for almost anything that is going to fix the school system in the US. But, if they are not going to do anything about the teachers unions across the US, its meaningless. I know of people without any college who are teaching - literally. Good for him, but bad for students.

I'm not going to say Japanese schooling is better, but I do know kids are pretty much consumed with schooling for up until late night where as American kids are running about.

To create a society where all are dependent on the government - the goal of 'progressive' government - you have to start as young as possible.

That is why modern Democrats in America are so opposed to choice - - in education, in health care, and in the workplace (hence the Democrats' creepy, Orwellian enthusiasm for 'card check').

Spending more money that he doesn´t have...

Ogdama - "To create a society where all are dependent on the government - the goal of 'progressive' government - you have to start as young as possible."

What a load of rubbish.

Not intending to point fingers, but just look at what happens when Americans are left to do as they please:

Obesity rates skyrocket Personal savings drop into minus territory Housing bubble then collapse Continued massive overconsumption.

All this points to that many Americans need MORE government control, not less.

You seem to support a hands-off government.

Sorry, that will only make the current situation worse.

You need to start thinking why you are so opposed to government controls, look at what could/will happen if they are not implemented or put in place, and then re-evaluate your position based on that.

Blind opposition to government controls - without good reason - doesn't do much for your credibility.

Odogma - "That is why modern Democrats in America are so opposed to choice - - in education, in health care, and in the workplace (hence the Democrats' creepy, Orwellian enthusiasm for 'card check')."

Again, that is rubbish.

More of Americans' freedoms - to move around, communicate with each other, even just to get on a plane - were quashed under bush - a Republican - than have been squashed under Obama.

You need to stop freaking out and start exercising some rational thinking processes.

WillB - "Spending more money that he doesn´t have..."

Such a short memory...........

More of Americans' freedoms - to move around, communicate with each other, even just to get on a plane - were quashed under bush - a Republican - than have been squashed under Obama.

To move around? When was the last time YOU visited the United States? When I compare it to Europe, Canada and Japan I am always amazed at how mobile Americans are,especially when you consider the vast spaces there.

Communication? Web blogs, YOUTUBE, netroots - - all of this new media stuff exploded while the supposedy draconian Bush was America's president.

No one I know was prevented from boarding a plane in America. Longer lines, yes. But that was thanks to people like the shoe bomber - - a British national trying to imitate his Al Qaeda heroes.

"Quashed" A little melodramatic today aren't we...

Failing schools are a symptom but not a cause of high dropout rates. I believe that can be accredited, in large part, to inner-city gang influence and peer pressure to drop out. Big stigma within some minority communities against 'acting white'.

This needs to be addressed on a cultural level. We need to get the message across that there is nothing wrong with getting an education for yourself and that doing so doesn't mean giving up their cultural diversity. Because the best equipped school with the best trained teachers can still recieve a failing grade if nobody shows up for class.

Obesity rates skyrocket Personal savings drop into minus territory Housing bubble then collapse Continued massive overconsumption.

If I want to eat deep fried Twinkies (which are heavenly by they way) and blow money at a strip bar that’s nobody's business but my own. And as for the housing bubble that was a long time coming and anybody with any sense knew it. To bad the SEC was to awe struck by their own savviness to notice anything was going wrong (just like Enron, just like WorldCom, just like Fannie & Freddie, etc...), but considering they are a branch of the government it's to be expected. Because the government knows so much about how to run businesses cough Amtrak cough and personal lives (minus all the sex scandals on both sides of the aisle of course)... Forgive me for doubting the abilities of people I've never met and who have no stake in my everyday life to make personal decisions for me. I'll take my mass produced pastries and hollow savings account any day of the week.

TheQuestion: This needs to be addressed on a cultural level.

I agree. Throwing money at it hasn't worked in the past. It's much deeper than that. But I guess that won't stop Obama from spending a billion dollars on it.

TheQuestion-- Absolutely. My community is one of those with the cultural stigma against 'acting white', where success or wanting to actually get an education was seen as being a way of looking down on one's roots, which made absolutely no sense and it makes me angry just thinking about it. And again, I think that starts at home. How many parents in neighborhoods like that whether literally or simply through their actions indoctrinate their kids to believe that everything should be handed to them, and if it's not, it's the system's fault. That is why I feel so many people are banging down the doors of the schools rather than really looking at where the problem comes from. New faculty or simply shifting a troubled group of kids to another school will not solve the problem at all.

Gosh....I sure hope we don't have to hear from some right wing yahoo that strong family values and a good moral conservative up bringing might be the real long-term answer to this. I just hate that type of neanderthal thinking.

...wanting to actually get an education was seen as being a way of looking down on one's roots,

What is truly shameful is how 'rejecting middle class values' has been sometimes quietly, sometimes enthusiastically, encouraged by the cultural left. The attitude you speak of is present in Obama's first autobiography.

Just a small comment. In my immediate neighborhood, the school campuses from primary to high school education are ultra-modern and too large. Yet, we have one of the lowest national achievement ratings from our students. I did well in my primary and secondary education days not because I was smart but because I grew up under the "little red school house" concept at the time where we combined two classes in one room. In effect, I was exposed to next year's subjects every other year. The most concern I initially had then was parsing and drawing maps that the upper-classmen ahead of me were learning. It was double osmosis, so to speak. It was very effective but realize it is no longer realistic by today's standards and requirements.

I think the real shocker would be to show the statistics along racial lines....

http://www.archive.org/details/bendingtwigrevol00ruddrich -free book of the day.

Obama's attack on our schools completes the triad (financial-health-schools). We must indebt ourselves to the Federal Reserve in order to save ourselves and fix these problems. Where are the terrorists?

Only about 70% of entering high school freshmen go on to graduate.

That number is optimistic and skewed at best. With an adult illiteracy rate in the US of 45%, (that's illiterate in any language!) by DOE's and DO-Labor's own numbers, it's got to be higher than a 30% dropout rate. Maybe in Martha's Vineyard, but not in Flint, East LA etc etc.

vouchers - let schools compete evenly. Get rid of the teachers union and hold the teachers responsible.

Use retired professionals as a source for teachers and new ideas. "Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach. And those that can't teach, become counselors." Some truth to this.

I do think government should get out of micromanagment and let the private sector compete evenly with the public (public may have a conflict of interest here and perhaps should get out of education except via vouchers). It is a bit lopsided now and only the wealthy are able to afford the better schools (private). We certainly do not need more government running everything and making decisions for everyone. It can lead to Totalitarianism in the disguise of a democracy.

Vouchers is the answer for schools to let the private sector work properly. However, government must ensure the rules protect everyone and ample opportunity is offered via the private sector through seed money etc. Never perfect as everything else in the temporal world of ours. Beware of promises of utopia.

BTW, does going to a trade school count as a drop out. If so, most of those kids may do better than most of us on this forum. They got a skill in the trades which can pay quite well. Nothing to be ashamed of there.

All this points to that many Americans need MORE government control, not less. You seem to support a hands-off government. Sorry, that will only make the current situation worse.

And printing more money to throw at the problem will solve it. I don't think so. Less government is almost always the ideal solution. Allowing the productive portion of the economy to work, is almost always a much better solution then promoting the unproductive portion of the economy. And this idea of Obamas, of spending a bunch more money on schools, while I'll give the man credit for having his heart in the right place, I have to ask the simple question, how do we pay for this?

vouchers - let schools compete evenly. Get rid of the teachers union and hold the teachers responsible.

Now this is a good idea. Unfortunately it will never happen. The Teachers Union is in bed with the Dems too much for it ever to happen.

That number is optimistic and skewed at best. With an adult illiteracy rate in the US of 45%

Where in deaths name did you dig up that statistic? Because the CIA factbook and a host of other groups put U.S adult literacy at about 99%.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2103.html

Maybe in Martha's Vineyard, but not in Flint, East LA etc etc.

I don't know about Flint but in Detroit (at least back when I was there) most of us got through high school, maybe a few years over the normal graduation age but we did it. Since then it's gone way downhill, a lot of kids are afraid to go to class because doing so incurs the risk of getting beat up, mugged, or shot a few steps outside (or even inside) of the school.

I cannot stress this enough. The high dropout rate is not due to students failing so much as a disinterest in attending. I've known incredibly intelligent people who dropped out for the stupidest reasons having nothing to do with a lack of academic merit. It's a damn shame when you think about all the wasted potential.

wow, that all children left behind bush program has really been another iron-clad failure. Even the hardcore conservatives now are saying that the program was a huge waste.

Another example of how Obama has to clean up after the bush trainwreck adminstration. Yes, and its so trite for the palinistas to blame teachers. All of you arm chair nerds, get a job teaching. Then talk about how its all the teachers fault.

Do republicans do anything other than complain and whine and then in the end do nothing at all?

Detroit is probably the worst US city right now = they don't even have the money to plow snow off the streets. Detroit Suburbs are good, but Detroit itself "does nothing" -easiest way to explain it.

=due to the snow everything closed (schools etc) in Detroit.

Let's think about this, replacing all the teachers in a district or changing management to a charter company doesn't get at the roots of the problem. Poverty is the overall issue with all that entails in the states. Broken homes, drug use, teen pregnancy, lack of parental involvement. I'm not saying I have any answers but I can tell you that it's the parents and students that are "failing" every bit as much as teachers and administratos. I have a friend who taught in the innner city in Milwaukee. 6 years of teen pregnancies, fights, students being shot or going to jail because of gang activity, parents who didn't show up for conferences. He went from being this idealistic student teacher to one who gave up and took a job in the suburbs where he has a chance to see some of his kids succeed. Just sayin' it's not as simple as throwing money at it and firing some teachers.

The Question: Thank you for your post, well said.

Which conservatives are saying it is a huge waste? Actually no child left behind isn't a pure 100% failure, there are some things of that no child left behind that are actually good and are going to be retained. We also have to remember that what the no child left behind did was something that was never done before in the USA and was expected from the very beginning to not entirely work, in fact if the no child left behind didn't exist and obama was to do something similar it would be expected to have similar problems. Those problems are its size and how much of the system it is trying to change. The success of no child left behind is on the focus of kids that have special needs and children that are learning English as a second language and that

The real issue or primary issue with No child left behind is that it was considered underfunded.

At the very least zurc you have to give President Bush credit for at least trying with the no child left behind act doing something had never been done before in the USA but something of its scope had to be done and if it wasn't him it would have been his successor doing it, Obama is actually just building off it. No child left behind act was always seen as a launching point not the entire/final solution.

Even the hardcore conservatives now are saying that the program was a huge waste.

Give us some credit Zurc. Most conservatives said it was a waste the day it was passed. I should point out, that it was passed with broad bi-partisan support. However only a very few conservatives supported this new big government mandate.

No child left behind act was always seen as a launching point not the entire/final solution.

Another example of progressivism.

Well be honest Molenir did you honestly think that one ACT could solve all the academic problems in public schools?

No, but then, unlike many so called Republicans, I'm actually a conservative. I was against NCLB when Bush proposed it. When Orrin Hatch partnered up with Teddy Kennedy, I knew something stank to high heaven. Back in the day, I was between the loons and the Republicans, who blinded themselves to Bush's failures because he had an R next to his name. Now Dems are doing the same thing, excusing everything Obama is doing. Only a very few of the extremists, and the open-minded Dems on the left, dare to criticize him. Its truly sad, when the letter next to the persons name, is more important then the policies that person promotes. But thats where we are these days.

With an adult illiteracy rate in the US of 45%, (that's illiterate in any language!) by DOE's and DO-Labor's own numbers, it's got to be higher than a 30% dropout rate.

Have you been to America? Do you believe the DOE? Roughly one of every two Americans is illiterate? 45 percent ! is the kind of constant crisis rhetoric that must mean the DOE is a largely 'progressive' department,far too long at the trough, bloated and addicted to handouts.

Obama could more strongly make his case on education issues - and on others - by releasing his academic records. But he won't. Why not? Since his education was private his refusal undermines his position. It is like telling the people of America that public schools are great - for all the ordinary schlubs out there. He comes off as an elitist.