Bloomberg’s big pitch when running for office was that he was going to be the education mayor. After three terms, he seems to be spending more time intervening in congressional races in other states than dealing with petty matters like hurricanes and snowstorms at home. And while Bloomy is fighting for gun control in the Midwest, Johnny Brooklyn can’t read.
The problem isn’t a lack of money. New York State is No. 1 in per pupil spending in the country blowing $18,126 per student and New York City tops that by spending $19,000 per student. And it can’t compete in literacy with much lower per pupil spending states like Utah. It can’t compete at all despite going deep into debt to pay for this public mess.
New York City may dump fortunes into its public schools, but it’s family values that make it possible for students to learn, not more teachers.
Nearly 80 percent of New York City high school graduates need to relearn basic skills before they can enter the City University’s community college system.
Officials told CBS 2′s Kramer that nearly 80 percent of those who graduate from city high schools arrived at City University’s community college system without having mastered the skills to do college-level work.
In sheer numbers it means that nearly 11,000 kids who got diplomas from city high schools needed remedial courses to re-learn the basics.
In its defense, the NYC Department of Education said it has raised high school graduation rates by 40 percent over the last seven years. And that the number of students needing remedial courses to do college work has declined slightly — by half a percentage point overall.
And there’s your problem. Promotion results in graduating students who don’t know anything. High school grad rates increase, but the high school graduates don’t know anything. And their college becomes an extension of high school. Eventually a PhD becomes the equivalent of a college degree and then a high school degree. And then we’re Russia or Cuba, boasting about our education rates despite the fact that the diplomas we hand out are mostly worthless.
But I’m sure Bloomberg will just blame his failure on Global Warming or the NRA.