Sunday, December 16, 2012

PPS grads/Pittsburgh Promise/ catching up

On another post Anonymous wrote:\


This editorial written to the PG is very eye opening and sad. No graduate of PPS should have to attend community college for 3 years to catch up. So much for their "promse" money, it isn't being used for the degree they want to get, just preparing them to get into a 4 yr college. I thought that was what high school was for. Very few kids are as determined as this one. Great kid.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/letters/help-the-students-666089/

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is troubling here is that the spark didn't get ignited in high school. It would be great to hear more from this kid or better yet have this kid inform the admin and Board what was most lacking in 4 years of high school. Perhaps we can name Lamar a consultant and have some new directions drawn. His opinions are certainly more relevant and valuable to the conversation that all the words getting spewed by experts. Is it just me or do you sometimes think people talk hoping to be quoted somewhere that might impress their peers or the media?

Anonymous said...

Why don't we tell it like it is?

The 50% grading policy enabled numerous kids to get on the pathway to the promise when they really didn't deserve to be there. As long as it provided the Promise and PPS good publicity, who cared?

Well, as most teachers predicted, the idea has backfired.

Many students who were woefully unprepared thanks to a lack of personal commitment to academics can sing this same tune, and local colleges look at PPS curriculum and grades as a complete joke.

Anonymous said...

Somehow our kids get to college not knowing things kids from other schools/districts know. For that I have to blame the curriculum and wonder if the adoption of this commom core will eliminate that experience for future pps grads. Sad that not all kids have grabbed on to the buzzwords; promise ready, pathways to the promise, dream big/work hard, because ya'll know the buzzwords are all that should be needed to inspire, right?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 5:38

I agree, but no one listened to the people in the field, did they? I mean, teachers just work there, why listen to them at all.

I do have to say that while this student has voiced an opinion about their particular situation, many students have decided to go to CCAC in order to get their liberal studies out of the way for a cheaper cost, in hopes of having more money to use toward bigger, more expensive colleges.

Anonymous said...

CCAC is a good option. At some high schools it seems likely that kids are exposed to more information about careers and make better choices about majors and in picking post-secondary institutions. My kids have been done for a few years and I am now disappointed in the counseling done in their junior and senior years in pps.

Anonymous said...

Top public schools have full time college counselors. College bound high schools are are a great investment for all communities. It draws more people to move to your district which results in more tax revenue.

Pittsburgh has a "Promse" with unclear results, apparently it isn't our business.

*whoever runs this blog, first of all thank you. Secondly I have noticed a fair bit of my posts have not made the "cut" recently. No names or positions easily traced were involved. You might want to check what you are checking.

Questioner said...

Plse resend.