Gates invests in Newark

From the Star Ledger:

Bill Gates just chose 10 cities to invest in and one of them is in N.J.

Newark’s newest initiative to provide free legal help for low-income tenants facing evictions is getting a major boost from three of the largest philanthropic organizations in the world.

Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Ballmer Group announced Tuesday they were investing $12 million in 10 cities — including Newark — to promote economic mobility. Newark, the only city picked in New Jersey, will focus on affordable housing and reducing evictions.

“We’re honored to be part of this, they are highly selective,” said Natasha Rogers, Newark’s Chief Operating Officer and Interim Deputy Mayor.

Newark will not get a direct share of the $12 million initiative but a group of five consultants (who started June 3) from Results for America and the Behavioral Insights Team are providing consulting services and technical assistance for 18 months. The city launched its new Office of Tenant Legal Services earlier this month so a bulk of the resources will be directed toward ensuring the program is successful and efficient.

“While we’re focused on hiring the legal providers and getting funding sources for that, they’re focused on the intake process: is that what it needs to be, and your database, your compliance,” Rogers said.

“We can make better decisions based on information and data. Because we’re all from here or most of us are, we have this very kinetic, familial relationship that affects our decision making and I’m not saying that’s bad but what I am saying … sometimes when you look at the data, it directs you a different way than what your heart says.”

About 38,000 evictions are filed in Essex County every year with Newark accounting for 20,000 of those. About 78 percent of Newarkers are renters. And when faced with eviction, nine out of 10 don’t have an attorney, city officials said.

The other cities picked for the initiative include: Albuquerque, New Mexico; Cincinnati, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Lansing, Michigan; New Orleans, Louisiana; Racine, Wisconsin; Rochester, New York and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This entry was posted in Demographics, Economics, New Jersey Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

70 Responses to Gates invests in Newark

  1. grim says:

    Looks like Gates is smarter than Suck, err. Zuck.

  2. Bruiser says:

    One sure way of hammering the existing housing stock in Newark is to provide the existing renter base with free lawyers. Spend a day in Landlord-Tenant Court, and see a slice of life you’ve been missing (but not really “missing”). 98% of cases are…tenant is being evicted because they are late on rent. Why? “Hummina hummina…”

    Ras Baraka may as well be Mayor-For-Life now.

  3. crushednjmillenial says:

    Speaking of renters, NY State just passed a blockbuster rent stabilization update which industry participants are describing as shockingly pro-rent stabilized tenant. I note that the 937,000 rent stabilized apartments of NYC encompass something like 14% of all the housing units in the NYC metropolitan area (and, there are additional stabilized units in LI and the other parts of downstate NY outside of NYC). So, we have a sizeable portion of our metro area’s housing supply subject to the literal economics textbook price control and its corresponding market distortions (e.g., people who would move away to PA, NC or FL if they were required to choose among market rate apartments).

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/17/nyregion/rent-regulation-nyc.html

    https://therealdeal.com/2019/06/18/analysis-heres-what-the-new-rent-law-will-do-to-the-average-stabilized-apartment/

  4. grim says:

    The typical beneficiary of NY’s new rent stabilization law is a rich white person.

    Nice job guys.

  5. Wednesday Housing says:

    Bloomberg, Ballmer & Gates should get a few forensic psychiatrist and psychologist, sociologist and developers togethers to figure out their target demographics for housing and then develop it and pick the residents accordingly.

    There is going to be a batch (responsible multigenerational families) that can be given the keys and deeds to a 4 or 5 bedrooms apartments built in a tough 4-5 stories, well design and landscape development of alike buildings with a small shopping and recreation area in the commons. The property is given to the recipient, but can not sell it. It can be passed down to family or revert back to Co-op Trust. Best structure is an independent co-op with an endowment that reports to donors with certain overide powers.

    There is going to be a batch (irresponsible families and single people) that will get apartments, just as above but with tougher rules and regulations. The development has to be made more alike to the behavior of the future residents. A tough material and designs that are less likely to be damaged by vandalism, in short a Panopticon Prison design will likely be the best here.

    Once you fit the psych profile of the resident into a properly designed housing. A lot of things will go way better. Forget about making a profit of it. What matter is providing the housing (with utilities included), the cost of building it with the toughest lasting material and the upkeep and maintenance is borne by the housing development endowment.

    Is about accepting the fact that no matter what Ayn Rand said. Some people are never going to get their sh!t together no matter what, and you need to keep them safe somewhere before they become unsafe to you.

  6. D-FENS says:

    Gates may just save the world with his vision on clean energy and Nuclear Power’s role.

    I wish more people and politicians would listen to him and start building new generation nuclear power plants.

    They want cheap housing, food etc.? Provide plentiful dirt cheap energy. It will drastically lower the cost of living for an average family and everything else will fall into place.

  7. homeboken says:

    Wednesday – That is an interesting thesis and I can see some merit in your methods. The first issue that I see with such a plan is the “FHA” and Fair Housing advocacy lawyers will have non-lottery tenants lined up to see for discriminatory practices by a computer. They will argue that the design of the “lottery” was anti-“you name it” and they will probably win.

    My compliments for the thought triggering post though – It’s nice to see compared to yesterday’s circle-jerk of old-white men and their suppressed sexuality issues on display.

  8. No One says:

    I don’t quite understand what Gates et al are planning to do for Newark. They are going to provide some databases and consultants to the existing bureaucrats of Newark that they hope will help them do their jobs better? 18 months of free expert data and consultants, that probably gives Newark an excuse to hire more bureaucrats and create new projects/departments, and then in 18 months those bureaucrats will want to continue to have access to the experts and data that will no longer be free?
    Does anyone think that the underlying problems of Newark and Newark’s problem populations can be cured by doing the same kind of things with 125% more data? More subsidized housing = less crime? Does historical data support that hypothesis?

  9. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    The only thing that has ever lifted a community out of poverty is jobs.

  10. Bruiser says:

    A community cannot be collectively lifted out of poverty without a significant amount of gentrification. The community gets redefined by the new skilled residents coming in and displacing many of the unskilled long-time residents out. Newark’s approach of lifting the entire boat using only people currently in the boat is…novel.

  11. D-FENS says:

    No legal weed for NY state either…they don’t have the votes yet.

  12. The Great Pumpkin says:

    How many communities turned into ghettos after their jobs were shipped away? Direct evidence that in order to enrich the top, the bottom is thrown into poverty. It’s all over America to see…

    Blue Ribbon Teacher says:
    June 19, 2019 at 9:48 am
    The only thing that has ever lifted a community out of poverty is jobs.

  13. The Great Pumpkin says:
  14. JCer says:

    My dad was working on redevelopment in Newark. A big problem was doing anything with a Newark jobs requirement. In general it was exceedingly hard to get people to show up to work and then on top of that the vast majority were functionally illiterate. The Ironbound typically supplied all of the workers as in general the immigrants show up, work hard and were typically literate in Portuguese or Spanish if not English. Newark politicians don’t like the fact that all the jobs are going to people from the eastern ward of Newark and a certain group was not represented in large numbers. I hate to say it but you can’t fix stupid and lazy, maybe one but not both.

    Fighting evictions isn’t the answer. Most evictions are warranted, keeping non-paying or disruptive tenants in buildings just deteriorates the experience for other residents. Disruptive tenants need to be removed quickly. Non-paying tenants hit a lot of small time landlords and running in the red will cause them to need to cut back on maintenance and may even trigger foreclosures, missed property tax payments, etc. Landlords generally need the cash flow to cover the buildings expenses, evictions for non payment need to be quick.

    Disastrous housing subsidies keep people locked in poverty. The best course of action is to leave, many of the people living in Newark are incapable of participating in the local economy (due to lack of skill/intelligence) other than as manual labor which many are unwilling to do(hence the aliens). Living in Newark is not good, bad housing, high crime, bad schools, bad/corrupt government, why stay, most do not own their homes?

  15. Mächïne says:

    11:01

    15 will get you 20.

    “Survivors guilt” is a helluva drug

  16. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Grim’s call based on the lowering of the American standard of living is dead on. That’s all I see. Obsession with now providing “affordable housing” for a bunch of people who are falling further and further behind. So our answer is to provide “affordable” housing…

    “Is housing policy having a libertarian moment? One could be mistaken for believing so after scanning the mainstream media’s coverage of the issue over the past couple of days.

    Today, The New York Times published an exhaustive analysis of zoning in 10 U.S. cities, showing how these locales are making housing artificially expensive by restricting the construction of apartments within city limits and suburban homes at their urban fringes.”

    The American landscape is about to change significantly. Get used to backward planning with single-family homes up against monster affordable apartments. Just have to laugh, we live a comedy.

    https://reason.com/2019/06/18/is-america-finally-waking-up-to-its-government-created-housing-crisis/

  17. chicagofinance says:

    LAWRENCE – If you want to truly know who has the best cheesesteak around, talk to the guy who managed to consume more than 275 of them over the past year. That gastronomical accomplishment goes to a Uber driver from Wilmington, Del., determined to be the most knowledgeable expert, worldwide, of the cheesesteak, reports the Bucks County Local News. And his favorite cheesesteak ever? Not in NY. Not in Philly. But at Meatheadz on Route 1 in Lawrence, where he is madly in love with a sandwich called the “Drippin’ Steak,” in which the sauce seeps to the bottom of the roll, yet magically holds up for the munching.
    https://www.meatheadzcheesesteaks.com/

  18. Yo! says:

    New York’s new rent control law impacts a minority of New York City’s apartments. The majority weren’t rent controlled and won’t be rent controlled. The media has botched this one.

    The state with the most municipalities having rent control is New Jersey. Doesn’t matter because it isn’t enforced. Best was Frank Raia Hoboken landlord paying illiterate public housing residents to wear VOTE NO T-shirts and seeing them run around town unwittingly promoting the pro-landlord vote.

  19. The Great Pumpkin says:

    This is sickening to me that they think zoning is to blame for the affordability of housing. It’s a reflection of the market. When you have extreme income inequality, housing becomes expensive for the people on the latter side of the income spectrum. They are competing with people that make much more than them. It’s only natural that the capitalist market goes to work and pushes them out. It’s not rocket science. These same people advocating getting rid of zoning in the name of “affordable housing” are the ones that are against min wage. So you won’t let them make enough to purchase housing, but you want their homes to be affordable? WTF?

  20. crushednjmillenial says:

    Yo! – NY’s new rent STABILIZATION (“rent control” in NY is very small at approx. 30k units) laws effect 937,000 rent stabilized apartments, which is approximately 30% of NYC’s total approximately 3.3 million housing units. A further approximate 1/3rd of NYC’s housing supply is unregulated (free market) housing units. The final approximately 1/3rd is owner-occupied.

    While the stabilized apartment base is technically a “minority” of either the total NYC housing supply or the total NYC rental housing supply, it is still a tremendous percentage of the housing supply which is subject to a severe and obvious market distortion.

    That market distortion harms people like me (someone who is not a homeowner), but it helps make more valuable the market rate housing of others in this metropolitan area. I once worked with a woman who moved to Queens from the Midwest – she had Manhattan sensibilities and was as liberal as possible. I tried to explain to her that if the people in those 937k housing units were faced with market rents, many would move out of the NYC area to other cities, that housing supply would open up and, in my opinion, she would likely be paying less in rent to live in south-of-96th street Manhattan than she was paying to live in Jackson Heights, Queens. She was quiet for a few moments while she processed the possibility that I might be right about that.

  21. chicagofinance says:

    Rent Regulation comes in two forms. Rent Control…. govt says you can charge $$$…. Rent Stabilization…. landlord charges market rate, then govt says you can only raise %%% per year.

    Rent control is a price fixing….. rent stabilization promotes people staying in place for decades; beyond what is rational or convenient.

    When I moved to Chicago, I was stunned how well the rental market functioned in 1995-1997 (I can’t vouch for today). Completely different than NYC. NYC punishes the newbies, distorts free market rent, and ruins the rental housing stock.

    grim says:
    June 19, 2019 at 5:18 am
    https://ny.curbed.com/2019/6/12/18662844/rent-regulation-study-manhattan

  22. No One says:

    What kind of moron blames zoning regulations on capitalism?
    It is the same moron who is against affordable housing being built on his street.
    As the moron likes to say “can’t make this up”.

  23. chicagofinance says:

    Look……. what happened is wrong and against the law….. lock her up….

    that said…… what a lucky kid! WTF is he doing telling his mom? I would have killed to be this kid…
    https://nypost.com/2019/06/19/substitute-teacher-allegedly-had-sex-with-teen-student-at-her-grandparents-home/

  24. chicagofinance says:

    joyce says:
    June 18, 2019 at 12:25 pm
    grim,
    Time to shut it down.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w69GTkO8LfQ

  25. Yo! says:

    Fulop headed to clink. Illegal foreign donors did his home renos.

  26. Fast Eddie says:

    RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel announced Wednesday that Trump raised a “record breaking $24.8M in less than 24 hours for his re-election.”

    “The enthusiasm across the country for this President is unmatched and unlike anything we’ve ever seen!” she tweeted.

    I’m hoping the dems begin impeachment proceedings. That will pretty much cement the landslide win for Trump.

  27. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Okay.

    Blaming zoning regulations on capitalism? Huh?

    I simply was making the point that you can take away all the zoning and regulations and you will still have an affordable housing crisis because that’s how capitalism works. If you don’t have money, you get pushed out of desirable areas by people that do. Isn’t this the essence of capitalism? Resources are finite…aka only so much desirable land to go around. Wtf does zoning have to do with this? That’s my point. Blame zoning all you want, but it’s a bs scape goat. I can show you plenty of affordable locations around the area and guess what, no one wants to live there.

    Oh that’s right, we want affordable housing in safe desirable locations, but sorry, this is not how capitalism works.

    Don’t come at me calling me dumb when you clearly don’t understand the issue.

    No One says:
    June 19, 2019 at 12:28 pm
    What kind of moron blames zoning regulations on capitalism?
    It is the same moron who is against affordable housing being built on his street.
    As the moron likes to say “can’t make this up”.

  28. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    That’s why I always say, “If you want to have sex as an adult with a teenage girl, you’re much better off doing it as a broke 18 or 19 year old in a parked 10 year old Chevy or Buick that doesn’t leave New Jersey.” Ok, maybe I didn’t actually say that, but…

    A lot of bad people out there hiding behind a front. How many people respected this guy?

    https://www.nj.com/somerset/2019/06/nj-millionaire-ceo-who-put-his-plane-on-autopilot-to-have-sex-with-teen-girl-sentenced-to-7-years.html

  29. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Everybody ready for Fed dove/rate cut talk? Talk today, rate cut next month.

  30. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I said this for a long time on this blog, but no one wanted to listen. Instead, people wanted to believe they had a magic cure called charter schools for minorities stuck in a culture that has no respect for education and hard work.

    Mächïne says:
    June 19, 2019 at 12:59 pm
    Education related:

    https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-charter-schools/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app

  31. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Yeah, you are the slowest motherfu.cker out there when it comes to taking a hint. Maybe try saying it in the mirror 10 times every day?

    I said this for a long time on this blog, but no one wanted to listen.

  32. Bystander says:

    Hey Chi.

    Sorry I have not been in my email this week. I got a PM role in MO Bond settlements at Prudential Newark. Not sure if buddy is interested.

  33. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Some people are quick thinkers, and others are deep thinkers… everyone has a value they bring to this world whether you realize it or not.

    The Original NJ ExPat says:
    June 19, 2019 at 2:17 pm
    Yeah, you are the slowest motherfu.cker out there when it comes to taking a hint. Maybe try saying it in the mirror 10 times every day?

    I said this for a long time on this blog, but no one wanted to listen.

  34. JCer says:

    Pumps, go move to the hood and tell me you support public schools. Truth be told in a failing district I support vouchers. In Newark feeding the machine doesn’t help anyone, except the political bosses.

  35. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Vouchers are not the answer. Jobs are.

    We can blame whatever and whoever, but at the end of the day, no denying the impact of parents having two decent jobs. That provides for a stable home as opposed to the alternative, which destroys the child’s chance at anything in life. If your parents are off their rocker because they have given up and succumbed to the pressure, you have no chance even if you are gifted.

    JCer says:
    June 19, 2019 at 2:33 pm
    Pumps, go move to the hood and tell me you support public schools. Truth be told in a failing district I support vouchers. In Newark feeding the machine doesn’t help anyone, except the political bosses.

  36. chicagofinance says:

    Yes….. forward to chicagofinance@yahoo.com

    Bystander says:
    June 19, 2019 at 2:24 pm
    Hey Chi.

    Sorry I have not been in my email this week. I got a PM role in MO Bond settlements at Prudential Newark. Not sure if buddy is interested.

  37. The Great Pumpkin says:

    So let’s blame public schools. Let’s come up with bs ideas like charter schools. Yet at the same time, crusade like hell against the minimum wage and unions… must be purposeful, they really can’t believe this naive or ignorant.

    They must know blaming public schools is an out from the real truth…those schools are failing because they are occupied by the poor. So let’s keep blaming schools instead of the real problem.

    Yes, the rich should pay higher taxes to help these people because it’s the decent thing to do since you won’t give them a decent job.

  38. chicagofinance says:

    ping pong?

    The Great Pumpkin says:
    June 19, 2019 at 2:57 pm
    So let’s blame public schools. Let’s come up with bs ideas like charter schools. Yet at the same time, crusade like hell against the minimum wage and unions… must be purposeful, they really can’t believe this naive or ignorant.

    They must know blaming public schools is an out from the real truth…those schools are failing because they are occupied by the poor. So let’s keep blaming schools instead of the real problem.

    Yes, the rich should pay higher taxes to help these people because it’s the decent thing to do since you won’t give them a decent job.

  39. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Chi,

    I know nothing will be done and nothing will change. You don’t have to be a di!k.

  40. No One says:

    Chifi
    On reporting teachers to the police
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7SpXGz-XOc

  41. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Pumpkin, the public schools occupied by the rich are failing as well…it’s just not reflect in the stats anymore. Kids today do not possess the same background and ability to work through problems.

  42. Mächïne says:

    It’s all good. Friskies?

  43. Mächïne says:

    “….I love the cut of his jib…”

    ExPat’s first thought when he saw p@nïs pong yesterday.

  44. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    And then there are parrots with tiny, tiny bird brains that just spout words.

    Some people are quick thinkers, and others are deep thinkers… everyone has a value they bring to this world whether you realize it or not.

  45. Bystander says:

    The psychotic break finally happened. Was wondering when. “Good natured” Michael can’t be mean so had to create Machine to deal. Sad.

  46. JCer says:

    BRT, that’s interesting, I heard the same comment from someone else today at work. Is the problem curriculum, educators, or administration?

    The issues of urban school districts are different and even more severe, there is no point spending finite resources on those uninterested in learning, but the mandate is to teach everyone. I view vouchers as an out, people in failing districts who are willing to contribute their own money to send their kids to private school should receive help, meanwhile reducing enrollment and giving less money in vouchers than the cost of educating in district should reduce overall burden. I see middle class people in Jersey City with this problem. Public schools are no good, there are a few charter schools that seem to get good outcomes, if kids don’t get selected in lottery it’s catholic(15k per year), private(30k or more) or move. If these people could get a voucher it would ease the pain, we know people with 3 kids and it’s 50k per year for private school and that’s heavily discounted because the kids mom is an educator at the private school and they still pay 11k for property tax.

    Only a twisted person thinks spending 22-30k per student for a failing education is money well spent and the answer is providing more funding.

    Your schools are functioning, kids are passing tests, leave them alone. In Newark the kids in school can’t read so the prospect of getting a good job in today’s economy isn’t good.

    Minimum wages and unions kill jobs, it’s a race to the bottom. You increase the wages and strengthen the unions you might as well just send a notice alerting all manufactures to move to Vietnam, where labor is cheap and pollution regs are light.

    The problem with liberals is they want to feel good about things. Perfect example recycling….we separate out plastic rather than landfilling it or incinerating it. It then gets shitted to the developing world who “recycles” it, i.e dumps it in the ocean. End result is so some liberal can feel good about recycling the plastic winds up in the ocean forming an island in the pacific.

    Go ahead force a higher minimum and unions and watch the factories go to where they have no unions and labor is cheaper. Manufacturing jobs allow moderately skilled people to do high value add work, producing something of value.

  47. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Essex is very impressionable. Shock him out of his current state and he’ll stay stuck in his new state. It’s almost as if I drew a c0ck on his forehead with a sharpie and then handed him a mirror. 24 hours later and he’s still staring.

  48. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Of course, when greed is the driver. It doesn’t have to be this way.

    “Go ahead force a higher minimum and unions and watch the factories go to where they have no unions and labor is cheaper. Manufacturing jobs allow moderately skilled people to do high value add work, producing something of value.”

  49. Mächïne says:

    4:39 the way he returned that ball while you filmed. Great camera work!

  50. The Great Pumpkin says:

    The 50’s middle class was not the result of WWII. The 50’s middle class was created out of policies put in place by FDR to get the country out of a depression. Policies to help regular people. Unfortunately, all the policies that created a strong middle class were eliminated and the mighty shareholder became the focus of our society. Reagonmics aka unleash the wolf of wall st became the focus. No wonder economy is currently booming, yet poverty rate is increasing and the majority of the population is going nowhere, or worse off, backwards. In a booming economy we are crying about affordable housing…

  51. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I think that’s the ultimate sign of the American consumer crying for a union or some type of help….they can’t even send the housing market into a bubble during a boom. Only bubble is in high end. They can only buy so much. The rest of the housing market is begging for a place to live, if only they could afford it.

    Now you see how inequality hurts the economy. It’s sapping demand in the economy, not because the person doesn’t want or need it, but because they can’t afford it. If that’s not a sign that salaries need to be inflated in the working class, I don’t know what is. Their work can no longer buy a home and I’m sorry, that’s a problem. Send in the unions to fix this mess in the labor market..

  52. The Great Pumpkin says:

    You guys claim a 100,000 is a lot. Wtf are you going to buy with that? 300k home?

  53. Mächïne says:

    A new report from WalletHub confirms what we already suspected: The states that depend the most on “big gubmin”t are also the states that are are always whining the most about… “big gubmint.”

    And, wouldn’t you know it, one of the worst offenders is Kentucky — the state represented in the Senate by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican.

    How about that? Do you think he’s going to mention it any time soon?

    Kentucky ranks fifth in terms of overall dependence on government, WalletHub determined using data on federal spending in each state, the share of households on welfare, the number of government workers and the total tax burden as a share of income.. No. 1 was Mississippi — no surprises there — followed by Alaska.

    Conservative “red” states of the south and west make up eight of the 10 states with the highest dependency on government, and 19 of the top 25.

    Oops.

    Yes, isn’t it time to roll back government spending? You show us the way, West Virginia (the fourth-most dependent). And you, Arizona (No. 8) and South Carolina (No. 9).

    Let’s crack down on all those “Cadillac queens.” Except it turns out the real offenders are the “Pickup princes” in the South and West.

    Sure, there are some prominent blue states with high rates of government dependence: Vermont is No. 11, New York No. 19. But they’re not near the top… and in any case, their citizens, in general, aren’t always complaining and complaining and complaining about big government.

  54. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Can you buy a 300k home that is desirable in any part of our country?

    Something has to give…the picture becomes more distorted by the day.

    You work hard, make a 100k, but can’t raise a family on it. Something has to give..

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  56. 3b says:

    I don’t think machine is pumps.

  57. Mächïne says:

    This is Mächïne:

    https://youtu.be/r9kpT66K8CY

  58. Yo! says:

    Learned today American Dream developer needs more $$$ to complete project.

  59. 3b says:

    Ironic housing prices get re inflated old feckers love it. That in turn pushes rents up and now it’s a crisis so get rid of single family zoning and pack these areas with multi family housing and watch prices decline.

  60. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    BRT, that’s interesting, I heard the same comment from someone else today at work. Is the problem curriculum, educators, or administration?

    yes. Curriculum is a constant attempt to reinvent the wheel from the colleges. They put forth BS studies claiming their methods are the best-. Admin go to workshops and then start pushing the BS on their teachers. Older teachers know better and ignore the admin and do what they know works. Younger teachers will drink the kool aid. Part of the problem is, they came from the inferior system we currently speak of.

    Rich public schools are in a huge bind. Christie killed their budgets when he eliminated state aid and the 2% cap is hamstringing them because their initial budgets weren’t large enough. Also, the BS laws of accountability enabled districts to hire an army of admin for useless observations. Now they are all resorting to the worst of cost cutting. Eliminating copy machines and desktop computers. Packing classes. Eliminating classes. Letting building roofs leak. The richest towns have the crappiest buildings while the abbott districts get brand spanking new buildings.

    A good teacher just figures out what works on their own and ignores all the BS that’s pushed on them. But each year, my job gets harder as my students can no longer solve for x, figure out whether they need to multiply or divide…or even differentiate between a numerator and a denominator.

    Student centered learning, discovery based learning….all of these are snake oil. A healthy mix of teacher instruction followed by student’s doing work on their own under proper guidance is what works. Admin view direct instruction as evil. The past 10 years, with the onset of chromebooks and allowing students to have their phone on them, a lot of teachers just resort to sticking their kids in front of chromebooks. It’s easy and effortless…but yields shitty results. Too many of my students are obsessed with the dumbest things on the internet and it consumes their lives. If you watch all the kids in school tomorrow, they’ll be placing their phones on tables, dancing to the camera and some stupid music, and they’ll upload it to snapchat. They’ll do this for 8 hours straight if you let them.

    Math has completely jumped the shark and we need to go back to how it was taught in the 70s and 80s. And calculators should be completely banned until algebra. Spelling and grammar don’t exist anymore. There’s no fix at this point…it’s only getting worse.

    The kids are not fo

  61. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    5:05 Locked, loaded, and single-threaded.
    Q.E.D.

  62. The Original NJ ExPat says:
  63. chicagofinance says:

    Tru dat….

    The richest towns have the crappiest buildings while the abbott districts get brand spanking new buildings.

Comments are closed.