My high school was called "the school of second chances" because it was a special school for kids with special learning needs (though not quite to the extent I'd call it special ed). Everyone I...
My high school was called "the school of second chances" because it was a special school for kids with special learning needs (though not quite to the extent I'd call it special ed). Everyone I knew was on the spectrum, had ADHD, or some other needs that didn't work out at regular schools because we needed more one-on-one attention. Everyone had some horror story about how they were failed by other schools. Multiple people were past 18 at graduation (one friend graduated on her 22nd birthday!!), and some families had moved from other states just to attend it.
I myself probably got off "lighter" than some of my peers since my struggles mainly kicked in around 6th and 7th grade. Before that, my parents were proactive and made sure I got a formal ADHD diagnosis around when I was six, which I now realize is really incredible since I'm a girl. I've seen many women my age discuss how many professionals in the late 90's and early 2000's just failed to diagnose girls with ADHD for various reasons. They also made sure to put me in a private school starting in Kindergarten, and were very active in ensuring I had a good education there before transferring me out in 8th grade.
The thing is, all of that stuff costs money. I think my mom once said my high school cost more than my college tuition, and that's just shocking to me. I know some of my friends were there on scholarships, and I'm so glad they got to go there. It's also made me highly aware of just how damn lucky I am to have been born to parents who not only cared enough to ensure I had the best shot at education possible, but also had the means to do so.
So this article? It's heartbreaking, and a prime example of how messed up our education system is. I thought it was bad a friend couldn't read until second grade. This woman was failed so horrifically if they didn't even test for dyslexia until her senior year. And what's more, the fact she got on the honor roll anyway is a testament to how bright she is. She figured out how to use adaptive technology to make up for her inability to read, and spent hours reviewing her classes every night.
If she'd gotten the necessary assistance earlier, what would her life be like? Would she breezing through school? What could she have done with those 4-5 hours she spent on studying and homework each night?
That school truly failed her, and sadly I know she's not an isolated story. Too many children are being failed by the education system at this moment. However, I don't think it can really be properly handled on a wide-scale basis with new far-reaching policies, it's a problem that needs to be tackled at each individual school by people who genuinely care. Every kid's needs are different, and I expect schools will similarly have different needs due to differing demographics. I have no idea how to even begin with addressing it beyond ensuring that only people who actually care are given positions of authority in schools, and the funds to back it up.
Hopefully though, this girl can get a victory that can help some other struggling kids.
This particular case is somewhat focused on the discrepancy in quality of education between white students and students of color. But I just saw another news article, like, two days ago,...
This particular case is somewhat focused on the discrepancy in quality of education between white students and students of color.
But I just saw another news article, like, two days ago, that--particularly since Covid--all colleges are seeing really bad "can't read, can't write, can't do basic math" issues with a lot of freshmen, of all ethnicities, all backgrounds.
I certainly hope the "sue your school for failing you" thing catches on, cuz nothing else seems to be working.
Two of my friends are post-doc/doctoral uni students in computer science and they both attested that the students that graduated high school during covid were a desaster when they came into...
Two of my friends are post-doc/doctoral uni students in computer science and they both attested that the students that graduated high school during covid were a desaster when they came into college. It got a little better afterwards, so it seems to have been the isolation and long-distance learning that really fucked those kids over.
But then AI got really big and now university is a hellscape of weekly short pen & paper tests with all homework being optional, which is terrifying to me as a programmer because you never learn with the tests, you learn with the homework, because that is what mimicks the work of a programmer the best: sitting at home, in a relaxed state, focused on solving a problem with the internet at hand.
My friend that is in college says most of the people that are just in it for the money are cheating and are doomed. Most of the smaller group that’s genuinely interested in the subject are doing fine.
My friend that is in college says most of the people that are just in it for the money are cheating and are doomed. Most of the smaller group that’s genuinely interested in the subject are doing fine.
That makes sense to me. I think Comp Sci was held up for a very long time as the thing to take if you want a good job, so the share of people in it for the money and as an extension of their...
That makes sense to me. I think Comp Sci was held up for a very long time as the thing to take if you want a good job, so the share of people in it for the money and as an extension of their school rather than looking at it as its own thing is gonna be higher.
I expect it is a bias of mine (I mean, I know it is, to some degree ... the question in my mind is always, "just how much is bias, and how much is truth?") ... but I have the impression that the...
I expect it is a bias of mine (I mean, I know it is, to some degree ... the question in my mind is always, "just how much is bias, and how much is truth?") ... but I have the impression that the (vast?) majority of students in college are "just in it for the money" ... and also, that the (vast?) majority of colleges these days are much more interested in profit, than in quality education.
Edit to add: I forget the actual movie, but that scene where the entire lecture hall is empty, except for the professor's taped lecture being broadcast, and a 100+ student tape recorders recording it ... in a nutshell, that's kinda my impression of the state of higher education in the US these days.
FWIW, this service did not work for me after I gave it JavaScript permissions -- kept throwing an error ... but then I turned off the js, and it gives you the option of viewing the content w/o js...
FWIW, this service did not work for me after I gave it JavaScript permissions -- kept throwing an error ... but then I turned off the js, and it gives you the option of viewing the content w/o js ... and that, ironically, worked.
The Bypass Paywalls Clean extension got DMCA'd off github and gitlab, but it still exists if you're willing to deal with a downloading it off a Russian git host:...
This one's for firefox, a Chrome variant exists. It just circumvents paywalls entirely. Mind you, the extension is in English. It's just the host that is Russian.
Yeah, that one’s terrific, I’ve recommended it a few times on Tildes. The sketchy looking Russian site and exclusion from official add-on stores probably scare off a lot of people, but it’s really...
Yeah, that one’s terrific, I’ve recommended it a few times on Tildes. The sketchy looking Russian site and exclusion from official add-on stores probably scare off a lot of people, but it’s really very good.
It’s a shame the alternatives to archive.today aren’t as good at evading paywalls as it is, and that its code for doing so is closed-source. I hope that whatever new services arise in its place will consider integrating BPC’s approach because it’s quite effective (and frequently updated to stay current).
Agreed. It doesn’t let me see the entire article. I had to go back to archive.ph to read it even though I didn’t want to. :( Since I had the link up anyway, here it is if the alternative did not work.
Agreed. It doesn’t let me see the entire article. I had to go back to archive.ph to read it even though I didn’t want to. :(
Since I had the link up anyway, here it is if the alternative did not work.
The Ghost Archive link somehow worked for me after refreshing the page and quickly scrolling down while it was still loading. Not sure if the refresh or quick scrolling triggered it, the article...
The Ghost Archive link somehow worked for me after refreshing the page and quickly scrolling down while it was still loading. Not sure if the refresh or quick scrolling triggered it, the article now seems to work consistently so I can't repeat it. But worth a shot to anyone else!
I want to point out that this is flippant, but where she actually graduated and got into college it seems like it was because she used adaptive technology. And did it herself while English is...
I want to point out that this is flippant, but where she actually graduated and got into college it seems like it was because she used adaptive technology. And did it herself while English is probably her second language.
The school failed her but if she had to file in small claims, she seems very capable. If she's in special education the fact they didn't consider her dyslexia or really evaluate her until her senior year is absolutely on them. This is why kids from families whose parents don't know how or don't have the capacity to advocate for them do so much more poorly than those who can afford tutors, have the time and capacity to press uncooperative schools for legally mandated care plans, etc.
Thank you for this comment. I identify with the girl. I didn’t graduate, but even though I was very behind they still pushed me along to the next grade until ultimately I was so lost I didn’t want...
Exemplary
Thank you for this comment.
I identify with the girl. I didn’t graduate, but even though I was very behind they still pushed me along to the next grade until ultimately I was so lost I didn’t want to try anymore. Even if I did want to learn, I didn’t have the foundational knowledge to grasp what was being taught to me.
They could have caught that I had a learning disability in elementary school- when they thought I was having absence seizures and made me get a CT of my brain. When they didn’t find any abnormalities, they gave up trying to figure out what was wrong with me and put me in a class for the developmentally delayed to which I also did not learn.
Then the next year came the standardized testing they do for every state, and they found out my reading comprehension was the highest in the district and well above my grade level. So they shifted me straight out of the delayed class to the gifted and talented program where I proceeded to fail out of. The cycle repeated where I would score high, get put back into gifted and talented- just to fail again year after year. We were also dirt poor, so there wasn’t much my family could do to help with external resources. My family had little education and did not understand how to do the things I was learning either.
I am relieved she got into college, just as I am for myself. College doesn’t let you move on if you don’t understand for the foundational subjects. That is where I actually was able to get the help I needed and I was able to start exactly at my skill level and they were able to work with my learning disability.
It took me about 5 years to get my associates since I needed to start at elementary level math and had to go to a high enough level to take college statistics and to satisfy all the pre-requisites for science classes. I now understand math better than any of my peers.
The comment that OP made at the girls expense ruffled me because you get treated like you are stupid, or that it was a moral failing on your part if you fall through the cracks of the educational system. She is not stupid, and she had to use up so much time and dedication that could have been spent elsewhere if she had the proper resources to begin with.
I’m sure OP didn’t mean to be hurtful- but my lived experience was painful and surely she has a lot of pain herself.
I'm so glad for how things turned out for you and so sorry for the system failing you by never looking at anything other than the tests and just placing you with no additional help. Families don't...
I'm so glad for how things turned out for you and so sorry for the system failing you by never looking at anything other than the tests and just placing you with no additional help. Families don't know how to help their kids they just trust the school officials (or don't at all, but that tends to the same outcome ironically.)
Also, just like, the idea that anyone but a lawyer is writing a (non-small claims) lawsuit... Those who do, the outliers, are on the whole not exemplars of educational or legal success. Like I said, it's flippant but ignores shes incredibly determined and not unteachable. She just needed different help.
I mean. Yes? It's a huge source of inequality in outcomes that those who are least able to advocate for themselves (or are unaware of their legal options) are often unable to access the legal help...
I mean. Yes? It's a huge source of inequality in outcomes that those who are least able to advocate for themselves (or are unaware of their legal options) are often unable to access the legal help needed to file lawsuits. Richer, savvier parties will often take advantage of this to violate people's legal rights under the assumption that their victims won't have the means or awareness to fight back legally (this is a huge issue in tenancy law, for instance). And even highly literate laypeople generally require a lawyer to file a lawsuit, with the exceptions not seeming super relevant here.
My high school was called "the school of second chances" because it was a special school for kids with special learning needs (though not quite to the extent I'd call it special ed). Everyone I knew was on the spectrum, had ADHD, or some other needs that didn't work out at regular schools because we needed more one-on-one attention. Everyone had some horror story about how they were failed by other schools. Multiple people were past 18 at graduation (one friend graduated on her 22nd birthday!!), and some families had moved from other states just to attend it.
I myself probably got off "lighter" than some of my peers since my struggles mainly kicked in around 6th and 7th grade. Before that, my parents were proactive and made sure I got a formal ADHD diagnosis around when I was six, which I now realize is really incredible since I'm a girl. I've seen many women my age discuss how many professionals in the late 90's and early 2000's just failed to diagnose girls with ADHD for various reasons. They also made sure to put me in a private school starting in Kindergarten, and were very active in ensuring I had a good education there before transferring me out in 8th grade.
The thing is, all of that stuff costs money. I think my mom once said my high school cost more than my college tuition, and that's just shocking to me. I know some of my friends were there on scholarships, and I'm so glad they got to go there. It's also made me highly aware of just how damn lucky I am to have been born to parents who not only cared enough to ensure I had the best shot at education possible, but also had the means to do so.
So this article? It's heartbreaking, and a prime example of how messed up our education system is. I thought it was bad a friend couldn't read until second grade. This woman was failed so horrifically if they didn't even test for dyslexia until her senior year. And what's more, the fact she got on the honor roll anyway is a testament to how bright she is. She figured out how to use adaptive technology to make up for her inability to read, and spent hours reviewing her classes every night.
If she'd gotten the necessary assistance earlier, what would her life be like? Would she breezing through school? What could she have done with those 4-5 hours she spent on studying and homework each night?
That school truly failed her, and sadly I know she's not an isolated story. Too many children are being failed by the education system at this moment. However, I don't think it can really be properly handled on a wide-scale basis with new far-reaching policies, it's a problem that needs to be tackled at each individual school by people who genuinely care. Every kid's needs are different, and I expect schools will similarly have different needs due to differing demographics. I have no idea how to even begin with addressing it beyond ensuring that only people who actually care are given positions of authority in schools, and the funds to back it up.
Hopefully though, this girl can get a victory that can help some other struggling kids.
This particular case is somewhat focused on the discrepancy in quality of education between white students and students of color.
But I just saw another news article, like, two days ago, that--particularly since Covid--all colleges are seeing really bad "can't read, can't write, can't do basic math" issues with a lot of freshmen, of all ethnicities, all backgrounds.
I certainly hope the "sue your school for failing you" thing catches on, cuz nothing else seems to be working.
Two of my friends are post-doc/doctoral uni students in computer science and they both attested that the students that graduated high school during covid were a desaster when they came into college. It got a little better afterwards, so it seems to have been the isolation and long-distance learning that really fucked those kids over.
But then AI got really big and now university is a hellscape of weekly short pen & paper tests with all homework being optional, which is terrifying to me as a programmer because you never learn with the tests, you learn with the homework, because that is what mimicks the work of a programmer the best: sitting at home, in a relaxed state, focused on solving a problem with the internet at hand.
My friend that is in college says most of the people that are just in it for the money are cheating and are doomed. Most of the smaller group that’s genuinely interested in the subject are doing fine.
That makes sense to me. I think Comp Sci was held up for a very long time as the thing to take if you want a good job, so the share of people in it for the money and as an extension of their school rather than looking at it as its own thing is gonna be higher.
I expect it is a bias of mine (I mean, I know it is, to some degree ... the question in my mind is always, "just how much is bias, and how much is truth?") ... but I have the impression that the (vast?) majority of students in college are "just in it for the money" ... and also, that the (vast?) majority of colleges these days are much more interested in profit, than in quality education.
Edit to add: I forget the actual movie, but that scene where the entire lecture hall is empty, except for the professor's taped lecture being broadcast, and a 100+ student tape recorders recording it ... in a nutshell, that's kinda my impression of the state of higher education in the US these days.
Ghostarchive link
FWIW, this service did not work for me after I gave it JavaScript permissions -- kept throwing an error ... but then I turned off the js, and it gives you the option of viewing the content w/o js ... and that, ironically, worked.
Great intentions… but it’s just not the same 😢
The Bypass Paywalls Clean extension got DMCA'd off github and gitlab, but it still exists if you're willing to deal with a downloading it off a Russian git host: https://gitflic.ru/project/magnolia1234/bpc_uploads/blob/?file=bypass_paywalls_clean-latest.xpi&branch=main
This one's for firefox, a Chrome variant exists. It just circumvents paywalls entirely. Mind you, the extension is in English. It's just the host that is Russian.
Yeah, that one’s terrific, I’ve recommended it a few times on Tildes. The sketchy looking Russian site and exclusion from official add-on stores probably scare off a lot of people, but it’s really very good.
It’s a shame the alternatives to archive.today aren’t as good at evading paywalls as it is, and that its code for doing so is closed-source. I hope that whatever new services arise in its place will consider integrating BPC’s approach because it’s quite effective (and frequently updated to stay current).
Agreed. It doesn’t let me see the entire article. I had to go back to archive.ph to read it even though I didn’t want to. :(
Since I had the link up anyway, here it is if the alternative did not work.
The Ghost Archive link somehow worked for me after refreshing the page and quickly scrolling down while it was still loading. Not sure if the refresh or quick scrolling triggered it, the article now seems to work consistently so I can't repeat it. But worth a shot to anyone else!
This worked for me, thanks
Good thing she can hire a lawyer to draft the lawsuit.
I want to point out that this is flippant, but where she actually graduated and got into college it seems like it was because she used adaptive technology. And did it herself while English is probably her second language.
The school failed her but if she had to file in small claims, she seems very capable. If she's in special education the fact they didn't consider her dyslexia or really evaluate her until her senior year is absolutely on them. This is why kids from families whose parents don't know how or don't have the capacity to advocate for them do so much more poorly than those who can afford tutors, have the time and capacity to press uncooperative schools for legally mandated care plans, etc.
Thank you for this comment.
I identify with the girl. I didn’t graduate, but even though I was very behind they still pushed me along to the next grade until ultimately I was so lost I didn’t want to try anymore. Even if I did want to learn, I didn’t have the foundational knowledge to grasp what was being taught to me.
They could have caught that I had a learning disability in elementary school- when they thought I was having absence seizures and made me get a CT of my brain. When they didn’t find any abnormalities, they gave up trying to figure out what was wrong with me and put me in a class for the developmentally delayed to which I also did not learn.
Then the next year came the standardized testing they do for every state, and they found out my reading comprehension was the highest in the district and well above my grade level. So they shifted me straight out of the delayed class to the gifted and talented program where I proceeded to fail out of. The cycle repeated where I would score high, get put back into gifted and talented- just to fail again year after year. We were also dirt poor, so there wasn’t much my family could do to help with external resources. My family had little education and did not understand how to do the things I was learning either.
I am relieved she got into college, just as I am for myself. College doesn’t let you move on if you don’t understand for the foundational subjects. That is where I actually was able to get the help I needed and I was able to start exactly at my skill level and they were able to work with my learning disability.
It took me about 5 years to get my associates since I needed to start at elementary level math and had to go to a high enough level to take college statistics and to satisfy all the pre-requisites for science classes. I now understand math better than any of my peers.
The comment that OP made at the girls expense ruffled me because you get treated like you are stupid, or that it was a moral failing on your part if you fall through the cracks of the educational system. She is not stupid, and she had to use up so much time and dedication that could have been spent elsewhere if she had the proper resources to begin with.
I’m sure OP didn’t mean to be hurtful- but my lived experience was painful and surely she has a lot of pain herself.
I'm so glad for how things turned out for you and so sorry for the system failing you by never looking at anything other than the tests and just placing you with no additional help. Families don't know how to help their kids they just trust the school officials (or don't at all, but that tends to the same outcome ironically.)
Also, just like, the idea that anyone but a lawyer is writing a (non-small claims) lawsuit... Those who do, the outliers, are on the whole not exemplars of educational or legal success. Like I said, it's flippant but ignores shes incredibly determined and not unteachable. She just needed different help.
I mean. Yes? It's a huge source of inequality in outcomes that those who are least able to advocate for themselves (or are unaware of their legal options) are often unable to access the legal help needed to file lawsuits. Richer, savvier parties will often take advantage of this to violate people's legal rights under the assumption that their victims won't have the means or awareness to fight back legally (this is a huge issue in tenancy law, for instance). And even highly literate laypeople generally require a lawyer to file a lawsuit, with the exceptions not seeming super relevant here.