There Goes the Neighborhood
http://cnn.mlogic.mobi/cnn/ne/us/detail/160278;jsessionid=300CA1A9CEDFEF350092AFBD7A93C4D7
CNN headline news reports: Clayton County Loses Accreditation. To be perfectly honest, I never thought this would actually happen. Clayton County is not a great place to be right now, but even the most ghetto ass places in America, despite their lack-luster educational performances, can at least maintain the standards required to be considered an accredited institution. Clayco is one of only three school districts in the entire history of the United States to lose its accreditation. The school district that lost accreditation prior to Clayton happened around 40 years ago, and was due primarily (I believe) to the school's refusal to desegregate. I suppose that can only mean that the primary cause for things to have gone so awry in my home county is simply due to the ignorance of the people in charge. Even as board officials were being relieved of their duties, which was obviously brought on by their inept abilities as officials, cries of discrimination and violation of rights were being heard from said relieved officials. Now I am in no way an expert on policy or education or things of that nature, but I'm pretty sure that when the county that you officiate over loses its accreditation because it failed to meet nine mandates set upon it by the SACS committee, then I think that's grounds to be fired. Yet, they still persist.
Clayton will appeal, which will most likely do nothing. They have a chance to regain accreditation, so long as they meet the nine mandates by september of next year. Personally, I don't think this will happen. Accreditation status has been an issue in Clayton County since I was in high school, so if they weren't able to have the problem fixed by now, even when the school was semi-decent, I highly doubt they'll be able to recover from this type of blow. Its so disheartening to see something like this happen to the place where I grew up. I tried so hard to become involved in politics down there, but now it doesn't even matter. Without an accredited school system real estate will be essentially dead, spilling over into the commercial market. Business won't want to touch the area, and eventually the whole county will probably become a cesspool. Nearby counties will have a massive influx of students, which it will not be able to accommodate and will essentially suffer the same way Clayton did. There was a time when the school system was admirable, but because of corrupt officials and its inability to accommodate its number of students it declined heavily in quality.
From being in the class rooms at Clayton I can say that its not only the fault of corrupt officials, but also that of the student body. Completely ignorant people, who had no business being in certain classes were still being passed through grade levels. This was brought on by a stipulation in the No Child Left Behind Act, which allowed students who didn't meet requirements of lower level classes to excel to higher level classes and eventually make-up the failed lower class at another time. Basically, if somebody received an F in Algebra I, they could still be in Algebra II and make up the credit for Algebra I in "7th Period." What resulted was the dumbing down of performance requirements so A) the kids wouldn't be held back in the first place and be able to graduate (which W. would be able to brag about as an increase in graduation rate) and B) the dumbing down of higher level classes so that the people who failed prior requirements wouldn't be too confused. I know this issue is debatable. I'm not trying to particularly point fingers and blame one party over another, because the system as a whole failed to perform. Students who simply don't care and didn't choose to apply themselves are just as much at fault as the misguided good intentions of No Child Left Behind. All I am saying is that this is what I observed and is where I think things went wrong.
I'm in college now, so as far as my education is concerned I'm in the clear. However, my family and many of my friends still live in Clayton County, and this will most definitely effect them. It will actually effect the entire state. Statistically speaking, we already have the second lowest performing school system in the country. The current reputation of the south as a bunch slack-jawed-know-nothings will be heavily exacerbated. And, since the school is so close to the state capital, most headlines will read "Atlanta Area School Loses Accreditation," which looks poorly onto a city that is developing rapidly and is considered to be the most important city in the south.
Yesterday was the anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. Yes, we have evolved as a nation. Yes, we have a our first black presidential candidate. But take a closer look. All this because some people wanted to keep their paycheck. And now they cry discrimination.