I may get crushed for coming on here and saying this, because there are people in the world that do not want to hear the truth. But for those of you who do really care, here it goes. I am from Robeson County so I feel like I can speak my mind about this. I'm not some outsider trying to stir the pot and talk trash about people. The problems that exist at Purnell Swett are no different than the problems that plague this entire county. These problems, which are social and economic in nature, I'm sad to say, cannot be fixed and are only going to get worse in the future.
First of all, we all know that academics are the key to success in life, whether you're dealing with students or student athletes. The problems here start at the central office and board of education. Has anyone ever heard of the L.A.P Program? The L.A.P program is used in Robeson County as an attempt to increase graduation rates and essentially "spit shine a terd". The program was designed and approved by the state for rare instances in which a student, because of pregnancy or illness is allowed to "make up" up to a semester's work of credits to help them stay on track for graduation if they miss too many days of school. The PSRC has abused this program and its hard to believe the state hasn't found out and laid the hammer down on us yet. Basically, now it should stand for Losers All Pass! Now, we take all the thugs, criminals, gang members, and those who fight, sell drugs, disrespect teachers and administrators, and refuse to do anything in school and fail every class, even PE, and we enroll them in the LAP program. In this program, a student gets to work independently on the computer and only has to show up for school 2 days per week. I've witnessed students that are enrolled in this program come in, put some periods at the end of some sentences, do some 3rd grade level work, and somehow "make up" as many as 8 credits (that's 2 years of high school credits) in 6 weeks!!! Then they get to march in graduation with the kids who worked hard and actually graduated. How is that possible. How can you make up an entire year of English, when you failed it already multiple times, in a total of 6 weeks? Its a joke. What we are doing is showing higher graduation rates than we should so that we don't show our ignorance to the rest of the state. Please explain how, when examining statistics, the PSRC can be ranked in the lower 10% in the state in test scores, but rank in the upper 10% in graduation rates? It just doesn't add up. Its called moving kids through the system whether they earn it or not and just letting anyone and everyone graduate.
Another problem is the refusal of the PSRC to create an alternative school in Robeson County for the frequent discipline problems in the schools. Cumberland and other counties have it, and it removes the worst discipline problems from the school environment. The reason we don't have one is becauee of the race problems in the county. No one wants to face the political nightmore of 90% of an alternative school being filled with only one race. That won't look politically correct. So, we just keep them in school, babysit them, and let them run wild. If we try to suspend them or long term suspend them, the central office sends them right back to us. So the problems keep happening with the same kids over and over every day polluting the schools with ignorance and violence. The kids know the deal. As long as they don't murder someone and go to prison, they will be allowed to stay in high school until they are 21 years of age.
Another problem is known in Economics as the "Brain Drain". Most kids with higher level thinking skills leave and go off to college or the military after high school. Then, because of the lack of jobs and opportunities in Robeson County, most of these kids do not come back after college. So in the future their kids will never walk the halls of the PSRC. They grow up in another school system. So therefore the intelligence level overall in the county continues to decline with each generation. Ignorance breeding ignorance. You can research the term "Brain Drain" on google. It's a fact. Its in Economics. Those with lower level thinking skills never go anywhere. They always stay here. They have no choice. So lets pretend you have 100 kids with higher level thinking skills, and 100 kids who are low level intelligence. The 100 kids who have higher level thinking skills go off to college but only about 20% come back to Robeson County because they have a better future with higher pay in other places. So, If they have 2 children each, that means in 15 years when the next generation starts high school, that higher intelligence group has dwindled down to 40 kids. However, out of the group of 100 kids with lower thinking skills who NEVER leave, their group has now grown to 200 if they have 2 children each. In 15 years when all those kids start 9th grade, there will be 40 kids in the school system with higher level thinking skills and 200 who are low-level. So over time, ignorance takes over and the people with higher intelligence are outnumbered. Think about it. It's scary but true. That's why the crime rate is so bad here. Here is a link that will open your eyes. Check this out.....http://www.movoto.com/blog/top-ten/most-dangerous-counties/
So as you can see. it will be very difficult for ANY school in Robeson County to be a consistent winner in sports OR academics. There are a few years every now and then where a certain team will have a good year but it is impossible to expect a consistent winner each and every year with what the teachers and coaches are working with. I applaud all the teachers and coaches in Robeson County. They all deserve $100,000 per year to put up and deal with the problems and ignorance they face every day. If a coach tells a kid with low intelligence what to do on a certain play on the field and the kid forgets that information immediately because he is low level mentally, the fans blame the coaches.....LOL! And they fire the coach......Thats life in RobCo....Ignorance.......But its just the way it is. After all, we're living in a county where half the county resembles scenes from the movie "Boys In The Hood", and the other half of the county resembles scenes from the movie "Deliverance". We have a lot bigger problems around here than worrying about who wins a particular basketball game.......I don't know what the answer is.......
First of all, we all know that academics are the key to success in life, whether you're dealing with students or student athletes. The problems here start at the central office and board of education. Has anyone ever heard of the L.A.P Program? The L.A.P program is used in Robeson County as an attempt to increase graduation rates and essentially "spit shine a terd". The program was designed and approved by the state for rare instances in which a student, because of pregnancy or illness is allowed to "make up" up to a semester's work of credits to help them stay on track for graduation if they miss too many days of school. The PSRC has abused this program and its hard to believe the state hasn't found out and laid the hammer down on us yet. Basically, now it should stand for Losers All Pass! Now, we take all the thugs, criminals, gang members, and those who fight, sell drugs, disrespect teachers and administrators, and refuse to do anything in school and fail every class, even PE, and we enroll them in the LAP program. In this program, a student gets to work independently on the computer and only has to show up for school 2 days per week. I've witnessed students that are enrolled in this program come in, put some periods at the end of some sentences, do some 3rd grade level work, and somehow "make up" as many as 8 credits (that's 2 years of high school credits) in 6 weeks!!! Then they get to march in graduation with the kids who worked hard and actually graduated. How is that possible. How can you make up an entire year of English, when you failed it already multiple times, in a total of 6 weeks? Its a joke. What we are doing is showing higher graduation rates than we should so that we don't show our ignorance to the rest of the state. Please explain how, when examining statistics, the PSRC can be ranked in the lower 10% in the state in test scores, but rank in the upper 10% in graduation rates? It just doesn't add up. Its called moving kids through the system whether they earn it or not and just letting anyone and everyone graduate.
Another problem is the refusal of the PSRC to create an alternative school in Robeson County for the frequent discipline problems in the schools. Cumberland and other counties have it, and it removes the worst discipline problems from the school environment. The reason we don't have one is becauee of the race problems in the county. No one wants to face the political nightmore of 90% of an alternative school being filled with only one race. That won't look politically correct. So, we just keep them in school, babysit them, and let them run wild. If we try to suspend them or long term suspend them, the central office sends them right back to us. So the problems keep happening with the same kids over and over every day polluting the schools with ignorance and violence. The kids know the deal. As long as they don't murder someone and go to prison, they will be allowed to stay in high school until they are 21 years of age.
Another problem is known in Economics as the "Brain Drain". Most kids with higher level thinking skills leave and go off to college or the military after high school. Then, because of the lack of jobs and opportunities in Robeson County, most of these kids do not come back after college. So in the future their kids will never walk the halls of the PSRC. They grow up in another school system. So therefore the intelligence level overall in the county continues to decline with each generation. Ignorance breeding ignorance. You can research the term "Brain Drain" on google. It's a fact. Its in Economics. Those with lower level thinking skills never go anywhere. They always stay here. They have no choice. So lets pretend you have 100 kids with higher level thinking skills, and 100 kids who are low level intelligence. The 100 kids who have higher level thinking skills go off to college but only about 20% come back to Robeson County because they have a better future with higher pay in other places. So, If they have 2 children each, that means in 15 years when the next generation starts high school, that higher intelligence group has dwindled down to 40 kids. However, out of the group of 100 kids with lower thinking skills who NEVER leave, their group has now grown to 200 if they have 2 children each. In 15 years when all those kids start 9th grade, there will be 40 kids in the school system with higher level thinking skills and 200 who are low-level. So over time, ignorance takes over and the people with higher intelligence are outnumbered. Think about it. It's scary but true. That's why the crime rate is so bad here. Here is a link that will open your eyes. Check this out.....http://www.movoto.com/blog/top-ten/most-dangerous-counties/
So as you can see. it will be very difficult for ANY school in Robeson County to be a consistent winner in sports OR academics. There are a few years every now and then where a certain team will have a good year but it is impossible to expect a consistent winner each and every year with what the teachers and coaches are working with. I applaud all the teachers and coaches in Robeson County. They all deserve $100,000 per year to put up and deal with the problems and ignorance they face every day. If a coach tells a kid with low intelligence what to do on a certain play on the field and the kid forgets that information immediately because he is low level mentally, the fans blame the coaches.....LOL! And they fire the coach......Thats life in RobCo....Ignorance.......But its just the way it is. After all, we're living in a county where half the county resembles scenes from the movie "Boys In The Hood", and the other half of the county resembles scenes from the movie "Deliverance". We have a lot bigger problems around here than worrying about who wins a particular basketball game.......I don't know what the answer is.......
