I found this article in The Herald today. Read it and see what you think. I found it to be interesting because we just discussed the History of Education, and I blogged earlier about how much education has changed over the years. Rock Hill School District is considering shuffling students around every couple of years to balance the number of poor children at each school. I just wonder how we are helping children by moving them around due to their socieconomic status. This just requires the children to be on the bus longer to and from school. I have heard teachers say that because schools have been rezoned, students are required to attend schools across town from where they live. This has made it difficult on the children. For example,
when they get sick at school, they have to stay in the health room all day until school is out because there is no one who can come to school and pick them up. They have to ride the bus home. If these children were attending a school near home, the parents could walk to school and get them. I just wonder how shuffling children around every couple of years can help them?What about the friends they meet, their self-esteem? What do you all think?
http://www.heraldonline.com/120/story/1248825.html
3 comments:
I do not agree with rezoning schools every couple of years. By doing this, students cannot establish any roots in a school if they have to attend a different school every few years. They also may not be able to retain long lasting friendships due to the frequent move. If a teacher happens to teach siblings, they have already established a relationship with those children's parents. Dr. Ferguson is always talking about hos important it is to establish a positive relationship with the parents. If siblings attend the same school and a teacher happens to teach both children, they have already accomplished the step of establishing a relationship with their parents. But if students are changing schools every few years, teachers will not have this opportunity. Plus, teachers look out for other teachers. If a kindergarten teacher knows the home life of a particular student and knows "tricks" of how to handle a student, they will pass this information along to the child's first grade teacher. And again, this will not happen if the student has to change schools year to year.
Hannah - you took the words right out of my mouth - literally!!!! After our conversation last night about this very article, I can only add that it would seem that balancing numbers seems to be more important than establishing relationships with students and their families.
I hate to see the shuffling of children too. Rock Hill School District 3 is just committed to diversity in the schools. I also think that the limited funds keeps the district from being committed to the neighborhood schools. It is usually more economical to get larger. With the tough economic situation, I don't see this changing anytime soon, though I believe the majority feel this way.
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