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How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

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Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#121

I am excited about this approach and I think LeBron's organization has put a lot of though and work with experts on this project. - This school is a true public school and not a charter school. In Ohio a lot of charter schools can have some degree of selection in their students and kick out families which don't meet the requirements which leads to more at-risk students left to the public schools. This school is makin…

> a longer school year helps students stay focused My kids (4th and 7th) attend a school with a year-round schedule, and we (kids and parents) love it: * They are less stressed because there is more breaks throughout the year. Teachers seem less stressed, too, because they don't have to pack so much in. * They retain more in the summer. * Outside of academics: it's really nice to have the option to take longer vacati…

Wait, is this like common in the US? I thought our 6 week summer break in German schools was on the long side :)

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#122

I am excited about this approach and I think LeBron's organization has put a lot of though and work with experts on this project. - This school is a true public school and not a charter school. In Ohio a lot of charter schools can have some degree of selection in their students and kick out families which don't meet the requirements which leads to more at-risk students left to the public schools. This school is makin…

> a longer school year helps students stay focused My kids (4th and 7th) attend a school with a year-round schedule, and we (kids and parents) love it: * They are less stressed because there is more breaks throughout the year. Teachers seem less stressed, too, because they don't have to pack so much in. * They retain more in the summer. * Outside of academics: it's really nice to have the option to take longer vacati…

One nice thing about 3 month summer is the ability to get a temporary job. When I was in high school I worked every summer as a landscaper/food service/lifeguard/etc. and gained lots of experience/money I otherwise wouldn't have gotten. With year round school that doesn't seem possible.

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#123
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The free bikes will surely continue as long as Lebron James maintains interest. I guess maybe they would stop it if the bikes were just ending up at a scrap yard?

The cynic in me was thinking the same thing. There's going to have to be a change of thinking with a lot of folks as well - that bike may represent $20 worth of scrap metal, $20 in a pocket now that might pay for food, necessities, habits. And that program could quickly turn dark. Anecdotally, a close friend of mine operated a pawn shop in a downtrodden area of Detroit and would frequently comment on how many brand n…

That is were it is useful to have LeBron as the face of the program. To the kids, and families these aren't nebulously owned government bikes, these are LeBron's bikes.

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#124
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Warren is academic expert bankruptcy and commercial law. She is third most cited academic in her specialty. She is pretty good at economics especially when it comes to consumer behavior and one of the best politicians overall. "The Vanishing Middle Class" (2007) is a good book.

She is also a consummate politician, who has been known to say misleading and inflammatory things for political gain. She has also been busy steaming leftwards, a move that may endear her to young hyper-liberal voters, but does very little to help my country move past the political chasm that has opened up, and is crippling our government. I don't think that she is a bad person, but I do believe that she is bad for A…

This. I liked her when she primarily concerned herself with consumer advocacy.

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#126

I am excited about this approach and I think LeBron's organization has put a lot of though and work with experts on this project. - This school is a true public school and not a charter school. In Ohio a lot of charter schools can have some degree of selection in their students and kick out families which don't meet the requirements which leads to more at-risk students left to the public schools. This school is makin…

> Longer school days, 3 meals, and a longer school year helps students stay focused. The middle one is absolutely true, the other two I really doubt e.g. in Finland or Germany, schoolday starts around 9AM and ends around 2PM, yielding 3h30 to 4h studies a day accounting for breaks, 5 days/week, with little homework (maybe 5h/week total). Afternoon is usually dedicated to clubs.

My working theory is, it is context dependent if longer school days, and terms are better or worse.

For example: With Children that have a rich home environment, plenty of interactions that stimulate them, keeping them at school longer may hamper development.

On the flip side you have an environment where this is not the case. Examples include socio-economic factors like parents/care givers working long hours.

I recently did research into this exact problem in South Africa. What are the factors that impact on education in communities that have socio-economic challenges?

The challenges are numerous and as this article says. The environment around the children just makes it extremely difficult for them to break out of the cycle of poverty.

These factors include:

being hungry,

crime,

lack of sanitation-this is a problem in South Africa they get sick more often then their counterparts in other areas.This results in them missing more school which puts them behind.,

Parents working long hours, travelling distances to get to work

Lack of resources in schools or support

There really is a multitude of problems each impacting the other creating a self perpetuating cycle of poverty.

Out of the research into the problems I developed a concept for a social enterprise that could solve some of these problems.

Trying to identify some funding sources as traditional vc will not be suitable. Maybe impact investors?

If the above sounds interesting, you are keen to explore leveraging education for social change or exploring alternative educational models mail me. Email is in profile

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#127
post #96

I am excited about this approach and I think LeBron's organization has put a lot of though and work with experts on this project. - This school is a true public school and not a charter school. In Ohio a lot of charter schools can have some degree of selection in their students and kick out families which don't meet the requirements which leads to more at-risk students left to the public schools. This school is makin…

Others fall asleep immediately at school since they live with 5+ siblings and there are literally no available beds at home. I am not trying to blame the parents in all the cases either At some point, though, personal responsibility has to come into play. Having 5+ children when you have no resources... this is the true elephant in the room. It seems talking about it gets labels thrown around. I guess it's a conversa…

Who's responsibility? Not the child's. This school is about helping the children who weren't given a say in the matter of their upbringing and existence.

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#128
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And research consistently shows that teenagers perform better if you start school later in the day than 7am. E.g., http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0192636502086633... "shifted the school start timefrom 7:15 a. m. to 8:40 a. m. This article examines that change, finding significant benefits such as improved attendance and enrollment rates, less sleeping in class, and less student-reported depression." http…

I don’t imagine most working adults would be willing to work starting so early. Why do we force children who need even more sleep to do so?

School starts are staggered so the district can use fewer buses (at least they are around here). Middle school at 7:55, High school at 8:35, Elementary at 9:20.

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#129

I wish Jeff Bezos can get his head out of his rocket and do something like this with his 100s of billions.

A friend of mine was ranting about how evil Bezos and Musk are. I generally don’t see those two as the worst of the worst, so I spent some time listening to her thoughts.

Her basic assertion was that the simple accumulation of that much wealth is itself evil. They could do many things like build schools and since they choose not to they are evil.

I mentioned to her that they can’t sell their stock without ceding control, so it might make sense to wait to spend the money. But mostly I was just interested in absorbing her point.

There was also a secondary claim about an imperative to use one’s social media platform to correct abuses. But I believe that was a secondary point.

Anyway, I’ve just been tossing that over in my head. Does it say something about someone’s heart if they aren’t building schools and hospitals the moment they obtain enough wealth to do so comfortably?

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#130

I am excited about this approach and I think LeBron's organization has put a lot of though and work with experts on this project. - This school is a true public school and not a charter school. In Ohio a lot of charter schools can have some degree of selection in their students and kick out families which don't meet the requirements which leads to more at-risk students left to the public schools. This school is makin…

> a longer school year helps students stay focused My kids (4th and 7th) attend a school with a year-round schedule, and we (kids and parents) love it: * They are less stressed because there is more breaks throughout the year. Teachers seem less stressed, too, because they don't have to pack so much in. * They retain more in the summer. * Outside of academics: it's really nice to have the option to take longer vacati…

>I'd love to see more schools move to it... 3 months off in summer seems very antiquated in hindsight.

But what about those of us who need the extra hands to help with the harvest!?

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