Poverty In Madison Public Schools and Adults Who Cannot Read

My post from Tuesday asserted that 48% of the children in the Madison Metropolitan Public Schools (MMSD) came from households in poverty. In fact, when data is gathered after the count is completed for this fall's enrollment, the figure may be over 50%.

Last year it was over 50% for the kindergarten class.

There are some very logical reasons why the poverty levels are so much higher than for the city as a whole:

• Wealthier households in the district are far more likely to send their children to private or parochial schools than are their poorer neighbors.
• Since the mid 1980's, new areas of the city were annexed into Madison but not the MMSD. Consequently the only areas of the city that has grown in population with middle income or higher wealth sends their kids to neighboring school districts. Example: Blackhawk.
• The largest population growth within the city has been among low income households.
• Households without children have higher incomes than households without children.
• There are significant areas surrounding Madison that send their children to the MMSD. While that includes the suburbs of Shorewood and Maple Bluff, their declining enrollments are more than offset with the significant low income households from the Town of Madison and portions of southern Fitchburg.

On another somewhat related subject, a blogger, who I will spare the embarrassment of identifying, took me to task.  The critic alleges that I think like Esenberg in that that children cannot be educated unless 'the parents were fixed.'

I admit I am guilty of believing that public programs can help improve parental involvement, which, in turn, improves student performance.

Parenthetically, Esenberg believes the parents are the problem but does not believe that public programming can improve parenting skills.

The critic says:

Ironically, Paul Soglin of Waxing America, in a way actually agrees with Rick Esenberg. The social programs he mentions are parent fixer not parent extender programs...

..While the family is an important determiner of a child’s success, schools, after school programs, and community centers also play central roles. 

While I do not expect the critic to read everything written on the subject here at Waxing America, let me provide the last sentence from the berated post:

It means spending money on education, health, and even some of the most effective social programs available - simple and logical - after school and summer recreation.*

Snark of the week: This business of commenting on the posts of others without reading the subject matter gives considerable weight to those who claim that our schools are failing, at least in the reading department.

*In numerous previous posts, I have argued that one of the ways that government can most effectively spend pubic money is on after-school and summer recreation programs and the arts, and I provided documentation of studies demonstrating the effectiveness of the programs. It is too late at night to look up the references.

Comments

[antpoppa]

Is the idea of 'No Poverty' or a guaranteed income even compatible with capitalism?

We tried a policy during President Johnson's term. Called the 'War On Poverty' back in the Sixties. (As an aside, I believe this week in August is considered it's birth date.) The Office of Economic Opportunity was created and immediately attacked by every politician able to draw a breath. ( Great Straight line!)
Some vestige still remains, Project Head Start comes to mind.
Anyway, the idea of a healthy, educated, financially competent lower class doesn't uphold the slave mentality we have always strived for here in the U.S.A. To paraphrase Mark Twain, Ignorance combined with God given self righteousness has always been the key to success.

[antpoppa]

Is the idea of 'No Poverty' or a guaranteed income even compatible with capitalism?

We tried a policy during President Johnson's term. Called the 'War On Poverty' back in the Sixties. (As an aside, I believe this week in August is considered it's birth date.) The Office of Economic Opportunity was created and immediately attacked by every politician able to draw a breath. ( Great Straight line!)
Some vestige still remains, Project Head Start comes to mind.
Anyway, the idea of a healthy, educated, financially competent lower class doesn't uphold the slave mentality we have always strived for here in the U.S.A. To paraphrase Mark Twain, Ignorance combined with God given self righteousness has always been the key to success.