Oregon Public Broadcasting

1st congressional district 2012 election 2012 session agriculture art arts author beer births books budget business central oregon college congress crime culture death penalty eastern oregon economy education employment energy environment eugene fishing food gangs gay rights health health care high school history homeless housing jobs law legislature literature living media mental health military movies music native americans obama occupy portland occupy wall street onthejob oregon our town outdoors parenting police politics portland portland business journal portland mayor pregnancy prison public health race rebroadcast recess recession religion republicans rural schools science shooting sports supreme court talking business technology teen theater unemployment union university of oregon washington water weekend women youth

As a high school drop out and college graduate I know first hand how our schools fail to meet the needs of the modern student.  Our over crowded and underfunded schools fail to offer solutions to the challenges that many students in todays society face.  I found that advisors beleived that peer presure and drugs were the only factors affecting student acheivement.  The hard reality is that social and ecconomic challenges are a deep and robust problem in our schools.  I found my self in the same situation as a large number of students; not being adequately supported by my parents,  having to work to pay for my basic needs like food and clothing, and unable to get government assistance because I wasn't yet 18.  At school I found indifferent teachers, verbally and physically abusive peers, and counselors who were uninterested in trying to address my problems.  I too dropped out from Grant High, so I appreciate the difficulty Cassandra faced at school.  I want to encourage her to go forward and earn a degree, she certainly can accomplish this.  I am still astounded by the amount of rhetoric I hear from the PPS educators about how progresive and sound there education programs are, when my experience and the experience of many of my peers is to the contrary.  Why do we allow our concerns about our failing education system to be so readily placated by the same old empty rhetoric.  We need evidence based evaluations of our schools and educators and greater accountability.

posted 2 years ago
view in context