School districts seem pretty intuitive, accepting only kids that live close to school. But is it really a fair approach? The schools in low income neighborhoods gets less and less resources (not particularly monetary resources, but personnel resources), and kids in those areas tend to mingle with more and more high risk kids which creates a downward spiral of negative youth development.
On the contrary, if the schools would accept any kid, from, say the county, or the state, that would flatten out this problem. Yes, you wouldnt want your kid to be hanging out with those gangster kids... But the reality is, your child looks for peers who matches his and his parents views. Thus if you spend more time looking after him, you wouldnt have to worry as much about his or her peers.
On the contrary, if the schools would accept any kid, from, say the county, or the state, that would flatten out this problem. Yes, you wouldnt want your kid to be hanging out with those gangster kids... But the reality is, your child looks for peers who matches his and his parents views. Thus if you spend more time looking after him, you wouldnt have to worry as much about his or her peers.
I also think that isolating ESL students from others does not help them get proficient in English. It's like you said, putting high risk kids together creates a downward spiral. The best way a kid can learn to speak a second language is if he is able to socialize with other students who speak fluently.
ReplyDeleteyes, but is that ESL student story really is a big trend? I think majority of the students can speak (esl students) english in general conversation. I think they are just exaggerating, and using that as a reason to isolate the immigrant minorities...
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