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Here, here!

The fact is that we can all reduce our carbon footprints.  And if we don't give birth to a kid then we reduce THEIR carbon footprint to zero.  Along with the impact of all THEIR kids.  And it doesn't hurt them a bit, because they don't exist.

For good HISTORICAL reasons, there is a world-wide cultural notion that children are a blessing.  The fact is that we now have an excess of children.  Getting American couples to adopt foster kids rather than giving birth to more babies would be a major positive step.

I've decided to not have kids of my own.  I'm a great guy and all, but there's nothing uniquely special about my DNA that means it needs to be perpetuated.  There are millions of kids as great as mine might be who I could pick up and raise or help support if the parenting urge strikes.  In the mean time, I have a hundred kids to help educate.  And education reduces unwanted babies (among the myriad other good things about it).

posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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The fact is that as a well-dressed white guy with glasses, I have virtually nothing to fear from U.S. police.  (Aside from multiple traffic tickets--and experience just with those makes me nervous about police cars behind me.)

Many of my non-white students are in a totally different boat:  I have property that the police protect--they don't.  They get watched and followed by police and other authorities all the time (for whatever reason)--I don't.

I've seen a student reporting a dangerous incident to Portland police treated with suspicion rather than as the victim that she was.  When a student's mother gets arrested (for good reason or not) what does this do for the girl's perception of police?

Perception of police is based on personal history.  What to do the police offer (that's positive) to people who are at the bottom ranks of our society?  Are they focusing on providing that SERVICE?

posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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7th grade is WAY TOO LATE for serious Sex Ed.  I've had several 8th grade girl students who I've learned (a year or so later) were sexual with multiple high school boys while in middle school.

Esquire magazine recently had an article about the implication of pervasive internet porn on youth culture.  It was ... sobering.  The fact is that hard-core porn is MUCH more accessible (and viewed) by both genders of kids during the past ten years than it was in the pre-Internet era.

The impact on kids' psyches is still largely unclear.  :-|

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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As a teacher of 6th-8th graders, honestly I see kids who are "on track" to drop out before they even get to high school.

Unlike in other US states, I'm not aware of any serious enforcement in Portland of the law requiring that kids consistently attend school.  At the same time, it's common for kids with poor attendance to also be disruptions of the learning atmosphere when they DO attend.  This gives teachers a perverse incentive to ignore their absences.

If a student is often absent, s/he is nearly guaranteed to be behind the rest of the class.  If they're behind, that makes classes harder and it's more tempting to flake off or clown around instead of struggling to catch up.  The 13 year old who will seek out a chance to stay after school for extra help or wants to attend classes in the summer or on Saturday is a rare individual.  The abstract promise of getting caught up and graduating is just too far off to keep kids focused.

Kids who get into this situation are very likely to have unstable lives outside school so they don't get the support or follow-up from parents that typical middle-class kids are virtually guaranteed to receive from someone.

"At risk" kids need massive support which must be coordinated.  I don't see this happening consistently, so the 40+% drop out rate doesn't surprise me too much.  But for many kids who drop out, it becomes a tragedy.

I've met high school drop outs who were eventually successful, like some who have commented here.  But I think they're a minority, and most had to struggle for years to "recover" from dropping out.  If you count high school diplomas among (very expensive) prison inmates, you don't find many--and this isn't a coincidence either.  So in this and many other ways, taxpayers lose too.

posted 4 years ago
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