Slow Times At Cali High

Ugh, in fact Ugh squared. Upon opening the SF Chron this morning, that is what I said and felt in my heart. The headline reads "States High School Dropout Rate Almost 20%. That is soooo no good. That is 1 of 5 students. Look man, I was a punk rocker and new waver in HS in the 80's. I was an outcast. The Breakfast Club was like a documentary to me, but I'll tell you this kind gentle and very good looking readers...HS was easy.

I wanted to take the G.E.D. and get out a couple of months early but a counselor encouraged me to "tuff it out" and I did. I came late to the skepticism game but I was never stupid. I was never a great student but I did have the stuffs that I liked to read and I always considered my self a writer and an artist. I fear that the current generation is a-gonna make the comedy Idiocracy...a documentary.

All to often the school districts and the teachers get the blame, but I think this is totally unfair. I'm sure that they are trying the best that they can do with what little they have. They certainly are not doing it for the money. My wonderful "ex" graduated and got her teaching credential a couple of years back and with that she also gets a pink slip every year. She is dedicated and loving and I know, I know, that she wants nothing more than to teach those little germ factories and give them skills for the future.

Howz about that Pheobe Cates pool seen...right.

I look at it like this...If you go to the worst of the worst school with the highest dropout rate (that is you Oakland) there are still kids that graduate at the top of there class and go to college (or at least are competent in life, right). So why do some succeed and most do not (in these schools). I think that blame goes to the families. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, there are families where generations and generations are, I'll just say it, stupid. Why?

Generations and generations of having children at a young age and then relying of the government (and I'm certainly not a conservative republican, I'm just calling it like it is). Doing God's work has enslaved young women and decreased their chances to have their own economic power, freedom. But what if they didn't have children at a young age, did they grow up in an environment where education is cherished. I think not.

Look man, I'm a minority and in fact I was very surprised to see Filipino's on the high dropout rate list. This is a problem all across the board, but unfortunately it plagues minorities at a higher rate. 1 in 5 kids is a lot and I'm frackin' pissed. This is just not right. you don't have to go to college right outta HS (I'm still in college at 42), but you have to have some degree of capability.

The cuts to budgets run soooo deep. Classroom sizes are increasing and good dedicated teachers are getting laid off. Students are deficient in the maths and sciences and religion is attempting to infiltrate the science and history classrooms. How can we compete with China and Japan and India. their students whomp all over our students.

I'm totally emotional, so I'm gonna stop. We are in a recession that, as far as the commoner is concerned, is a depression. The rich are getting richer and the poor are fighting over crumbs. C'mon California, this is about the future. I do not want to live in a world where the comedy Idiocracy is a documentary. Sheez.

* Article SF Chron