Students in low income areas?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
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<p>There are a number of problems, but the most glaring is poor teaching. I don’t know if it’s directly related to the area or the schools having less money or both, but there it is. I still can’t always spell effectively, despite being able to write well. Luckily, I’ve been able to self-correct most of it over the years, and just about everything’s through a word processor, anyway.</p>

<p>Oh, and class sizes seem to keep going up. Too few teachers, poorly paid teachers, such is the woe of low income students with poorly unionized teachers.</p>

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<p>@Jazzii Ah, I see. We probably just have different views about these subjects. All’s well! :)</p>

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<p>@halcyonheather & cchanged</p>

<p>Even having an abundance of AP classes might not be in a lot of poor students’ best interests. My school offers nearly every AP that there is, and the administration/counselors urge everyone to take some. However, I can estimate (from experience) that about half or more of the students don’t belong there (not advanced/motivated enough).</p>

<p>And it’s not always the teachers’ faults. I feel like they’re often a scapegoat for lazy students. I’m not defending them entirely; I’ve had my share of horrendous teachers over the years, but a fantastic teacher isn’t going to make a student love learning. I’ll give an example. Last year, I took AP Psych, and the teacher I had was arguably one of the best in the school. He was extremely flexible and supportive, he always let students make up tests, and he clearly loved to teach. The class right after mine consisted almost entirely of these unmotivated, probably low-income students (I had a friend in this class, and the teacher mentioned them sometimes.) On any given day, half the students were absent and for tests, it wouldn’t be uncommon to have only 2 or 3 students in the class of 25 PASS the test (with the rest getting Fs). In my own class, there were at least 6 students that slept in the back every day.</p>

<p>The cost of ECs is also an issue. I know that a lot of sport/musical ECs are very expensive, but many aren’t. The only ECs that I have that were paid for are the Honors Societies ($3-10 each). There are a lot of other inexpensive things like internships and volunteering as well, you just need to look hard enough. (& is it impossible to get a summer job?)</p>

<p>Also, I never really got much information about colleges either, besides my state schools. This is another reason that you have to be proactive. I researched all of the schools I applied to on my own, through the Internet mostly. My point is that it bothers me when people accept what they’re given as the ‘norm,’ and many low-income students don’t try to do better than their parents, friends, etc. I guess that when you’re raised in that type of environment, you’re expected to live a certain way, and don’t know a lot about alternatives. It’s sad, especially for very talented/gifted students, but you can’t always change someone’s attitude if they’ve had it instilled in their mind that there’s a limit to what they can achieve (it’s like a self-fulfilling prophesy).</p>

<p>Maybe I’m totally off about this and biased because I’ve seen SO many low income kids live in that kind of environment and still succeed (and maybe including myself; we’ll see come april :slight_smile: ), but I really believe that parents and students need to take incentive instead of blaming failures on their neighborhood, income, race, background, gender, etc. </p>

<p>(and sorry about the super-long post, rant over lol)</p>

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<p>I think the OP is asking for examples of some obstacles and disadvantages that a low-income student has to face. </p>

<p>Even without blaming neighborhood, background or whatever, the low-income students are still at disadvantages compare to others, whether they or their parents take incentive or not. They have fewer choices (not none). Did I say they can’t succeed? No, but they have to work extra hard. Compare to many other countries, I think the U.S. is pretty well off. Many countries do not offer free public education at all.</p>

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<p>“However, I can estimate (from experience) that about half or more of the students don’t belong there (not advanced/motivated enough).”</p>

<p>I agree that not everyone belongs in AP classes, but why are richer kids more advanced and motivated and able to succeed? Most likely because they had more opportunities available to them without having to work for them. Richer people are not inherently more intelligent…they just tend to have more options and more encouragement. </p>

<p>For extremely low-income students, money earned at a job will be going toward essentials. After school, they may need to work or care for their siblings while their parents work. The teachers at the school will often be worse than at more affluent schools. Peers may be involved in drugs or promiscuous sex. There is very little encouragement to succeed.
I’m lower-middle-class and not truly poor by any means, but I imagine people who say things like “poor people should just try harder!” don’t fully understand what kind of challenges low-income people face.</p>

<p>Anyone using this website is probably already okay. They knew enough to care about college and their future, and they found this site. But if you never are given any kind of idea that a better future is available to you, and searching out opportunities on your own is unheard of, you’re probably not going to do that. I never would have given a second thought to college until last year.</p>

<p>And we’re not just talking about the best and smartest students. Average and below-average students deserve access to accurate information about their higher education options, but they may not be intelligent or self-motivated enough to actively search out new information or question what is given to them.</p>

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<p>@halcyonheather- Thank you for your input. But- “Peers may be involved in drugs or promiscuous sex.”- I must argue that having peers who are promiscuous sexually is a bad thing. Promiscuity doesn’t make someone stupid.</p>

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<p>Yes it can.
One can have one’s mental facilities clouded by an excess of sexual encounters (often because of their psychological ramifications). It can distract from school work the way bfs and gfs can. Or drugs.</p>

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<p>But being promiscuous doesnt make you stupid.</p>

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<p>Then we disagree.</p>

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<p>“But being promiscuous doesnt make you stupid.”</p>

<p>I didn’t mean to imply that it did, and I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with having sex with a lot of people if that’s what you want to do (and you’re over the age of consent and all).
By “promiscuous” I mostly meant unprotected and unplanned sex at a young age that could lead to pregnancy/STI’s or emotional consequences if someone believes they had sex for the wrong reasons. I believe these consequences can make it more difficult for someone to succeed academically, even if they are intelligent - not always, but a lot of the time.</p>

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<p>I’m kinda low-income (I was never eligible for free-or reduced price lunch but I lived more than a year with no bed) and I live in a middle-income area of Long Island. School districts here are VERY segregated, racially and academically. School choice is a big no-no (well, their are BOCES schools for arts and career/technical education, but nothing for STEM). I support consolidation, and some of the stuff I’ve read has mentioned why schools so bad (Despite having 4 schools in the Top 100 of the country, we also have the absolute worst school district in NY state). The number one problem: the school lacks money (mainly due to a low-income tax base and high number of ESL students). The state tries to throw money at these districts, but they usually have corrupt administrators and boards that only take more money for themselves. Let’s face it: ESL student populations are just going to go up and up, but faster in low-income areas. Schools will have to cut more and more so their is money for ESL classes. Personally I think their should be consolidation to eliminate so many unnecessary, corrupt Admins and maybe more specialized/magnet/charter schools. I think everyone has the right to a good education if they want it. We need to eliminate the concept of "bad schools and “good schools”. </p>

<p>Oh and btw, someone before mentioned that they thought their school was too open with AP class enrollment? FYI the #22 high school in the country (which is not a charter/magnet, just in an upper-middle class area) had almost total open enrollment For AP classes.</p>

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<p>My school is total open enrollment (as in, you literally check the class bubble during registration and you’re in), and we are ranked one of the worst in the state. The point that I was making is that teachers can’t teach as quickly or efficiently when there are students who are barely reading at a high school level in college level AP classes.</p>

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<p>Students in low income areas?</p>

<p>Coming from one I could make a giant rant lasting more than two pages about this. The thing with my school is that its funding is actually pretty great. There’s awesome teachers, good clubs, and may opportunities. But motivation among the student body is extremely low. Very low. There were issues with the state for a while because of this. </p>

<p>I was looking at my school’s history during its golden days and it was amazing. So many wonderful classes and students that cared about their school. Then things went down the drain for a while.</p>