Comments on: Ford\’s Week 3

By: Patrice Dent

Patrice Dent — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 07:56:36 +0000

Adrian, I commend you on your detailed plan to rid the public school system of corruption and emend its shortcomings. You acknowledged a problem that definitely needed to be addressed, but I am not confident that all of your expectations are reasonable. Specifically, I do not believe that step 5 is realistic. How do you plan to force parents to get involved in programs that their children are not affiliated? Many parents whose children attend public schools are working parents some of which are single parents, struggling to keep bread on the table and a roof over thier heads to shield them from the elements. Some work more than one job, and they barely have time to rest. How could they possibly have the time, energy, or resources to contribute to any other cause than survival? I am not saying this to be harsh, but think about what you are demanding. Secondly, I agree that decorum is important. However, I do not support the uniform policy you proposed. Uniforms do not make it easier to identify students nor do they make school enviornments safer. At a school with hundreds of students, it is impossible to recognize every single student with or without uniforms. There is nothing stopping the “improper/outside influences” from disguising themselves in a uniform, coming on campus, and wreaking havoc. You have good intentions with this project, but re-evaluate its practicality.

By: Dr Homan

Dr Homan — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 15:53:12 +0000

You have some great ideas, and I would love to see the NOPS improve. There is much corruption and other issues. But you have many big picture items that might be hard to address over the course of the semester. What can you do exactly in the next few weeks to address the problem. Can you volunteer, or meet with people, or start a program or something?

By: Brandi Castine

Brandi Castine — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 17:36:35 +0000

I think that your project is very well, thought out and very well planned. I agree with the fact that there is a huge amount of corruption within the school system. YOur project is one well worth working on. Keep up the good work, Ford!

By: Aarika M. Diggs

Aarika M. Diggs — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 19:18:08 +0000

I totally agree with your blog, you have a direct focus and set it in complete steps, especially about getting the parents invloved, because I like many people believe all teaching starts at home. I also agree with the community service, this will make the student more aware of their surroundings, and expand their knowledge of other communities, the community service will also help the kids focus their energie to a more positive source. Good blog.

By: Dennis Steverson

Dennis Steverson — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 15:31:21 +0000

Fire corrupt employees? I’m sure no one has ever thought of that. Let’s be real, if employers new their employees were corrupt then they would fire them. But what can you do? Make every employee take a lie detector test; thats a little extreme. It seems to me that your twelve step plan would take a committee completely devoted to this plan. I do not think this is a plan you can pull off by yourself. You should re-evaluate how broad your plan is, take a step back into reality and come up with a feasible plan. I just think that you have a good plan, but can you do all of that in a semester. If you can prove me wrong.

By: james woods

james woods — Sun, 13 Feb 2005 16:39:46 +0000

These steps to cleaning up corutption should spred all over the country because it is alot of coruption going on and this could be a solution which is most definetly needed most places could definetly use some of this information do to the fact that most of the people doing the corputing dont think that there crooked or the just dont care about what there doing to people while being that shady to the community so yeah keep us informed on things like this so we dont get a little crupted ourselves.

By: Ashley Robertson

Ashley Robertson — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 14:25:11 +0000

I agree with you in that teachers are definitely under paid. Teachers spend more time with children than most of their parents, which in a way means that the teachers have more of an influence than some parents. If someone was spending approximately 6 hours a day five days out of a week, then I would want them to be the best teachers and well paid for their services to the youth. It is a whole lot easier to get good teachers who are focused on the children when they feel they are appreciated. I agree with the idea to set budgets, but I believe that the budget should be equal straight across the board. As for some of the other aspects of your plan, I feel some of them are a little extreme. The idea of parents participating in their children��s lives, but insisting on 75% is rather demanding, don��t you think. What about children who��s parents are doctors, fire fighter, law enforcement, just to name a few. Don��t you think they��ll feel left out if their parents are unable to attend as often as other children��s parents? The dress code idea is also an extreme idea in my opinion. It will cost more to enforce a dress code than for students to be able to choose what they wear, unless there is a way you plan to incorporate popular clothing into the code. Otherwise, parents will be forced to purchase two wardrobes for their children. You really have some good ideas, I just feel you need to develop them a little more. Perhaps if you provided more explanation for your steps I could see more of your plan. All in all your project is on the right track, keep up the effort.

By: Joliette Barnum

Joliette Barnum — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 00:04:15 +0000

Education is an issue that needs to be addressed, and you have done so in a very structured manner. I guess you are going with the idea that if education were more regulated and structured, then it would work better and have better results in children. That is probably true. I don’t think number 5 will fly though, with tax paying parents who are working hard to support their families and save for retirement. And it won’t work for parents who are not working, and who just stay home watching TV. It would be best to just deal with how schools are managed here, and if you are dealing with parents, have them work with their children at home on homework. Perhaps some clarifications are needed–like, who are these private investigators? Anyway, good project.

By: amber ambrose

amber ambrose — Sat, 05 Feb 2005 06:07:47 +0000

I really do believe that your 12 step process is a beginning to finding a better way to enforce education. As I stated in my project I think education is a great and is the key to the success of all of us. Your steps definitely give us as adults something to think about, but you should think more about focusing on the view of education from the aspect of the students, and not focus on money so much. I do believe that money is needed to properly educate or youth, but money and extracurricular activities are not the only thing that is needed to give a formal education to our students. Over all you have captured all the things that are wrong with the school system, but now all you need to do is come up with a solution to some of these problems.

By: Hilary Hebert

Hilary Hebert — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 17:06:33 +0000

I think you have some very good ideas and make some very good points. I agree that money is not dispersed well, especially in the education system. It is very important to set budgets for different programs and departments. Although, not funding sports programs does not seem fair because the sports programs bring in a lot of money. That one is a tough decision. I understand what you are saying, that sports do not affect academics, but sports are a big part of some student��s academic careers. For some, sports gives a student a chance to go to college, so it��s really not fair to say that sports programs receive too much money if they are the one��s bringing it all in. But, I do agree that there needs to be some type of budget for other programs too. I also like your idea of increasing discipline actions and consequences in the schools. I think too many kids are getting off to easy, which does not teach them a very good lesson. I strongly agree with you idea of increasing teachers salaries. Teachers are definitely not paid enough. If it wasn��t for teachers many of us would not be where we are today. Teachers give us the knowledge to grow in our studies and eventually start a career.