mother charged for wanting better education for son (Full Version)

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defiantbadgirl -> mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 9:01:09 PM)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110425/us_yblog_thelookout/rally-for-prosecuted-homeless-mom-who-sent-son-to-a-better-school-district




Termyn8or -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 9:10:04 PM)

Ummm, if she is homeless how can they make this stick ? Find a bridge in that locality or something, case closed.

If I was her I would probably just plead guilty. " I'm homeless, what do you think I wouldn't like three hots and a cot ? ".

Separate but equal my ass. We are sure as hell separate.

T^T




littlewonder -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 9:10:28 PM)

I know at least 5 parents around my area who have done this and I know of two of them who were caught and given huge huge fines.

I dated a guy for a little while who was sending his mentally challenged daughter to my daughter's school using his sister's address because the school where they lived was the worst school in the area while my daughter's was in the top best 3 for here and he couldn't afford to move to this area. After we broke up I heard that he had been fined and last I heard he withdrew his daughter completely from school.

It is unfortunate but there is a lot of issues involved in where your children attend school, taxes, political, number of student/teacher ratio, cost of materials for each student, etc...





gungadin09 -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 9:19:09 PM)

A couple of things:

How do they determine what school her kid's *supposed* to be in if she doesn't have a permanent residence??

20 years in prison seems ridiculous. What's the sentence for murder?

The school's obviously using this just for publicity.

Parents would do better to encourage their kids' success by taking responsibility for it themselves, and making their kids take responsibility for it, rather than buying in to the idea that all they have to do is send their kids to the right school. This quick fix mentality and lack of personal responsibility is perhaps the reason why so many kids are failing, and not the school.

pam






defiantbadgirl -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 9:19:54 PM)

To fine parents for looking out for their children is soooo wrong. I don't understand how they get away with it, especially with the resulting protests and phone calls.




gungadin09 -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 9:33:40 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

To fine parents for looking out for their children is soooo wrong. I don't understand how they get away with it, especially with the resulting protests and phone calls.


Parents who think they can fly in the face of the rules and help themselves to whatever they want, and then by example teach that principal to their children, is waaaaaaaaay more wrong. What about all the other students who go to this underpriveledged school? Are they all just chumps? To stupid to lie to get their kids out of there? Are you sure it's the school that's the problem?

Mind you, i don't know what happened here. Specifically, i don't know how the woman is supposed to know what school to send her son to if she doesn't have a set residence. What school district would she be in if she's *homeless*? But people who know what school district their kid's supposed to be in, and then lie about it- i think that's deplorable.

pam




Selectivelight -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 9:38:49 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: gungadin09


Parents would do better to encourage their kids' success by taking responsibility for it themselves, and making their kids take responsibility for it, rather than buying in to the idea that all they have to do is send their kids to the right school. This quick fix mentality and lack of personal responsibility is perhaps the reason why so many kids are failing, and not the school.

pam





Perhaps. In some cases. But obviously there is something wrong here more than a lack of students who want to study.


In sixth grade I was being taught basic algebra. (I already knew it, before second grade. Thanks mom, I hate you, but credit where credit is due.) Everyone knew I was beyond that stuff but nobody bothered to step up to the plate on my behalf, and give me the education I was ready to receive.

In seventh grade I was being taught basic algebra. Again. I didn't learn anything new, except that I hated busywork, and could sleep through class and still pass with a C.

In eighth grade, I was being taught basic algebra. My "history" class glossed over the dust bowl, great depression and new deal, before switching tracks. Apparently the history of our economy, the politics and strategies of our leaders and the evolution of our agriculture should all take a back seat to the names of the fifty states, their capitals, their birds...

In ninth grade, I was being taught basic algebra.

Is it any surprise I didn't bother going back for tenth?

I would have -killed- to have gone to the better organized, better funded, modernized school in the upper class section of town.

But I lived in the barrio. No education for me!




defiantbadgirl -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 9:44:18 PM)

So you think the father of a mentally challenged daughter deserves to be fined for doing what he had to in order to send his daughter to one of the best schools instead of one of the worst?




gungadin09 -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 9:48:11 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

So you think the father of a mentally challenged daughter deserves to be fined for doing what he had to in order to send his daughter to one of the best schools instead of one of the worst?


i think the father deserves to be fined from breaking the law regardless of who his daughter was, and i think that "a better education" begins at home and not at the school.

pam




SAMHAIN09 -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 9:48:16 PM)

That's fucked up!




littlewonder -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 10:27:44 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

So you think the father of a mentally challenged daughter deserves to be fined for doing what he had to in order to send his daughter to one of the best schools instead of one of the worst?


He was cheating the local taxpayers out of money by doing so and was proud of it. There are programs he could have used to help his daughter but instead thought he'd take the "easy" way out. Turned out to not be so easy.




gungadin09 -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 10:44:15 PM)

Okay, do you know what's really ironic?

The mother is quoted as saying "If you could see... where he is now compared to Brookside, you'd see why I chose Norwalk." Brookside Elementary in Norwalk, Conneticut is the supposedly better, richer school, right, the one her kid was pulled from? Thomas Hooker Elementary in Bridgeport, Conneticut is the inferior school where he ended up. Right?

Well, check this out:

Elementary school rankings based on the CMT test scores at the two schools shows Brookside ranked 352 out of 580 and Thomas Hooker ranked at 220 out of 580. (Based on the combined math and reading scores for 2009-2010. The CMT or Connecticut Mastery Test is the standardised test given to elementary students in Connecticut.)

Follow this link and click "school rankings". You can type in the names of the two schools to find their ranks.
http://www.schooldigger.com/go/CT/schools/0309000640/school.aspx

This woman was only *assumed* that the one in the rich part of town was the better school.

pam




popeye1250 -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 10:48:31 PM)

"A penalty for stealing our services."
And what about the illegal aliens who send their kids to school in our country? What, these assholes turn a blind eye to that but pick on homeless U.S. Citizens?




Termyn8or -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 11:28:28 PM)

"What, these assholes turn a blind eye to that but pick on homeless U.S. Citizens? "

Ummmmm, yes.

T^T




gungadin09 -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/25/2011 11:29:37 PM)

Okay, apparently it wasn't because she thought the school was better, but because she thought the school was safer, but...still. Unless they drop the charges, she'll have a felony conviction and will have a much harder time finding a job because of it. i'd say that was a big mistake if she has her son's best interest in mind.

pam




Termyn8or -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/26/2011 12:03:02 AM)

Pam, I haven't responded to you as of yet because I agree with you, perhaps more than you agree with you. Education not only starts in the home, but is in the home. School is just an augmentation.

Now temporarily discarding the fact that she had no home.........

What about those Parents who do not have the intelligence to effectively teach ? You can't teach little Johnny to read if you are illiterate. You can't teach little Albert algebra if you don't know a little S.M.A.D. yourself. And you can't teach anyone much of anything when you are at work all the time.

But now, it's not just the acamedic scores that make a school desirable. Harvard and Yale are only a bit above mediocre yet those with political aspirations pay through the nose to go there. Why ?

So maybe she wanted her kid to hobnob with the rich kids, which might lead to a better future. Judging from the performance of academia in this country, that seems a whole lot more important than academic achievement.

Does this indicate the possibility of a class war ?

T^T




WyldHrt -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/26/2011 12:53:47 AM)

quote:

Elementary school rankings based on the CMT test scores at the two schools shows Brookside ranked 352 out of 580 and Thomas Hooker ranked at 220 out of 580. (Based on the combined math and reading scores for 2009-2010. The CMT or Connecticut Mastery Test is the standardised test given to elementary students in Connecticut.)

Ummm, no.
The Thomas Hooker school ranked 220 is in Meriden, not Bridgeport. The school in question is listed as 'Hooker School' (who the HELL thought that was a good idea???) on that particular site, and it is ranked 487 out of 550.

Think what you want about what her actions, but she did pick the better school.

ETA- What is ironic is that she had apparently stayed at a shelter in Norwalk on several occasions, but never registered there. Had she done so, her son would have had every right to go to school in Norwalk.
Unfortunately, she did not know the rules.




gungadin09 -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/26/2011 1:08:05 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Termyn8or
What about those Parents who do not have the intelligence to effectively teach ?

Every parent has the ability to teach certain things if they want to. For example: honesty, accountability, making good choices, the idea that success comes from hard work and not from taking shortcuts, etc. Call me naive, but i still think those traits are the keys to success in school and in life, and that was exactly what this mother failed to teach her child.

And you can't teach anyone much of anything when you are at work all the time.

i don't know what to tell you there. I don't know why she was homeless, or whether there were programs that could have helped her. i don't know she had 2 jobs, or 1 job, or none. i don't know if her kid was living with her, or with friends or family, or in a shelter. i don't know why this country doesn't do something about the problem of homelessness. But i'm pretty sure about this- this kid was underpriveledged because his mom was homeless, not because of what school he went to.

But now, it's not just the acamedic scores that make a school desirable.

i don't know, i think it is.

So maybe she wanted her kid to hobnob with the rich kids, which might lead to a better future.

i can't remember a single person i went to kindergarten with. i can barely remember anyone i went to elementary school with. i can't imagine those connections being of any use to me as an adult. At different times i have gone to school on the rich and the poor part of town, and yet i never felt that *where* i went to school was what held the key to a successful future.

Does this indicate the possibility of a class war ?

i have seen plenty of evidence that there is a class war. i work in a blue collar profession where most people have limited education, and many of them were born into the lower middle class and will die in the lower middle class, without ever knowing anything else. i have heard it said (i don't know if it's true) that the U.S. has one of the lowest class mobility rates in the Western World. It wouldn't suprise me. i've worked for enough people to know that hard i work, intelligence, and proficiency aren't always enough to ensure success. But i'm confident that those traits are still the most likely to lead to success. i'm also pretty confident that most people can be successful if they try, and i wish this woman had tried to teach her child *that* philosophy instead.


pam




gungadin09 -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/26/2011 1:10:51 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: WyldHrt
Think what you want about what her actions, but she did pick the better school.


Aw, shit. Alright, my bad.

pam




DarqueMirror -> RE: mother charged for wanting better education for son (4/26/2011 1:11:40 AM)

Shouldn't the headline to this thread read "mother charged for breaking the law?"

The headline as it currently reads insinuates that the mother, some innocent victim, was charged with the "crime" of wanting a better education for her son. That's roughly like the pro-illegal immigrant supporters' claims that we're being "mean" to illegals who "just want a better life."

The fact is, when you commit a CRIME (and LARCENY is a crime, no matter the reasons behind it) then you get charged with that CRIME.




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