PBS' The Newshour has been running a series on the reconstruction of the two most imperiled school districts in the country: Washington, D.C. and New Orleans. This segment is about teaching first graders to read in New Orleans.
I think it's quite the revealing report. They visited three schools: one that was undamagedby Hurricane Katrina and two that were housed in temporary buildings...one of which was swamped by 4-5 times the number of returning families than it was budgeted for. The results they found was pretty much what you'd expect.
Still, I got kind of a kick out of watching these 5-6 year old reading with comprehension in the first two schools. And you have to ask, what's going to happen to the kids that attend school #3, where the classes are crowded and most of the teachers are new and/or uncertified. Will they come to grief...and will they be condemned in the name of personal responsibility?
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Will they come to
That's a rhetorical question, right?
Yes.
Yes.