Whose Children are They?

[Ken]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-high ... -graduate/

A high school in Marlin, Texas, postponed its graduation ceremony until June to allow students more time to reach graduation requirements.

According to CBS affiliate KWTX, 28 of 33 seniors at Marlin High School did not meet graduation requirements, and their attendance records and grades are to blame.

"The district has affirmed its commitment to providing necessary resources and support to students, and the new graduation date is seen as a testament to this commitment," The Marlin Independent School District said in a press release.

The district said research has shown "regular school attendance is a powerful predictor of student success." They recently moved to a four-day week in an effort to increase instruction and student engagement on the days when school is in session, while decreasing absences, according to the district's Chief Academic Officer Nikisha Edwards.

On Wednesday, there was a mandatory meeting for parents of seniors.

Meanwhile, Superintendent Darryl Henson said in a statement that the school's "commitment to excellence remains unshaken."

"We hold firm to our belief that every student in Marlin ISD can and will achieve their potential," he said. "Students will be held to the same high standard as any other student in Texas."

Doesn't surprise me. Marlin is a dysfunctional disaster of a community that has all but been abandoned. It was once a thriving place but now the whole town is in its death throes. This is downtown Marlin today: https://goo.gl/maps/B9ajnxhkXjSmkZ8KA

I looked up the demographic stats and the school district is 98% students who qualify for free/reduced lunch so qualify as poor. So it is basically a community that has been abandoned by everyone expect the poor families who have nowhere else to go and are stuck there. I know about that school and they can't even hardly find teachers who want to work there for mediocre pay and miserable conditions/facilities.

When you read this sort of thing I think the appropriate response is to step back and look at the whole picture. In this case I would consider the schools to be a symptom of the complete abandonment of this community at every level. Maybe some communities like this one in rural Texas just deserved to die and become ghost towns if they no longer serve an economic function and propping them up doesn't really serve a purpose. I don't know. But what you are seeing is what that process looks like.

[Josh]

Ken,

My mother grew up poor in a poor community - yet she managed to graduate and meet graduation requirements.

In fact she did so well that she then went to the nearest college and after that to grad school at Purdue.

Her parents also got no free lunches for her. Had to pack a lunch for her.

[Robert]

Marlin, TX is 1.5 hours from us. It is Southeast of Waco about 30 minutes.

It is a small school. I am sure they struggle with funds and teachers, yet one room schools seemed to educate much better than schools today.

I am sure they worked to socialize the children attending. I would hope they put as much into education. I have not dug in to find out how that school system is run, so do not want to pile on without better knowledge.

I am quite surprised that they were not forced into a larger school system since it is close to Waco. There is plenty of money in that area.

[Ken]

Ken,

My mother grew up poor in a poor community - yet she managed to graduate and meet graduation requirements.

In fact she did so well that she then went to the nearest college and after that to grad school at Purdue.

Her parents also got no free lunches for her. Had to pack a lunch for her.

Yes, and it sounds like she didn't go back.

What you have in these situations is that everyone like your mother with enough initiative to do something productive with their lives ends up leaving for better opportunities elsewhere since there are none locally. Basically no jobs other than at the local gas station on the highway filling up cars that are passing through.

And so who is left (in terms of adults) are those who lack the initiative to put their beer down, change out of their pajamas, get off their front porch, and do something with their lives instead of just exist on SSI in a crumbled down shack. And, of course, those are the kind of adults who provide the worst role models (or no role models) for their children. Which is why you see things like horrible attendance rates for school as mentioned in the article and which is 100-percent on the parents not the children.

In these communities you always have a few who are swimming against the tide, trying to open businesses and revitalize things. But unless you actually have a critical mass which we can call a "community" it is usually doomed to fail.

[Josh]

And so who is left (in terms of adults) are those who lack the initiative to put their beer down, change out of their pajamas, get off their front porch, and do something with their lives instead of just exist on SSI in a crumbled down shack.

Ah, but that’s not poverty. Many people living that way actually work less and receive more government benefits than I make.

Stop blaming “poverty”. If you want to call our laziness, then do so.

[Ken]

Marlin, TX is 1.5 hours from us. It is Southeast of Waco about 30 minutes.

It is a small school. I am sure they struggle with funds and teachers, yet one room schools seemed to educate much better than schools today.

I am sure they worked to socialize the children attending. I would hope they put as much into education. I have not dug in to find out how that school system is run, so do not want to pile on without better knowledge.

I am quite surprised that they were not forced into a larger school system since it is close to Waco. There is plenty of money in that area.

I knew a teacher who taught there for a year. The problem is mostly the parents. Pretty much most of the adults in the community with any initiative have left to find jobs elsewhere. A few might commute to Waco and there are poor elderly retirees around too. But kids basically lack positive adult role models and the result is predictable. Many of the kids are basically on their own with dysfunctional and potentially unsafe home lives. So that is why you see things like such poor attendance. No one is home with enough initiative to even make sure the kids are getting to school.

Consolidation of school systems is controversial for a variety of reasons. First off, it basically means the death knell of the community. That might already be inevitable with Marlin. But closing the schools and consolidating would ensure it. The next two closest districts would be Bruceville/Eddy along I-35 to the west, or Riesel to the north. Robinson in suburban Waco is the closest larger district which is about the same distance as the crow flies, but it is diagonal to the NW and you have to pass through one of those other two communities first to get there because there are no direct roads between Marlin and Waco so that probably doesn't make sense.

Consolidation of schools within a district is easy because that is just a district decision. Consolidation of districts themselves is more difficult because that has to be mandated by the State Board of Education and I doubt any of the surrounding districts would really want to take on having all the Marlin kids bussed into their districts.

[Ken]

And so who is left (in terms of adults) are those who lack the initiative to put their beer down, change out of their pajamas, get off their front porch, and do something with their lives instead of just exist on SSI in a crumbled down shack.

Ah, but that’s not poverty. Many people living that way actually work less and receive more government benefits than I make.

Stop blaming “poverty”. If you want to call our laziness, then do so.

It is part of the culture of poverty. Texas is not Haiti or the Congo. There is economic opportunity. So poverty in the US is as much a culture as it is economics. And breaking that cycle is difficult. You have to start early. By the time kids are in HS their paths are largely already set and it is difficult to change course. Not impossible, but difficult.

And yes, it is poverty. There are more forms of poverty than the purely economic. And a reminder here. We are talking about children. Even if their parents are lazy, that isn't the child's fault. The adult generation can be largely beyond meaningful course correction. But the kids are not. Especially if you can reach them when they are young.

[Robert]

I knew a teacher who taught there for a year
[/qurote]

I suspect it has changed a lot since you knew anyone there.

[Josh]

No, it’s not “poverty”. It’s outright laziness. We can say that people have poor character, are slothful, and lazy.

The solution is to stop giving them government benefits and force them to work for a living. Hunger is a powerful motivator.

[Ken]

I knew a teacher who taught there for a year

I suspect it has changed a lot since you knew anyone there.

2014? I doubt very much has changed. Communities don't change that fast. And poverty is generational.