I went to a catholic school in the 60' s, where we had over 60 kids in the class for many years. We had NO tutoring, one teacher per year for all subjects, no fans (let alone air conditioning), no TV's (or TV station, lol), no gym, no science, no "class trips", etc. In the eighth grade, some of us took the entrance exam for Brooklyn Technical High School - a public institution that was, and still is, considered among the best in the country, and itâ??s counterparts are Bronx Science, and Stuyvesant H.S. in Manhattan. I did get accepted, but didn't attend.

The whole key is that the parents have to be involved - including WORKING parents. If the parents do not think that school is important, the kids fail.

When she in High School, my wife was employed, by the Dept. of Ed., City of NY, as a math tutor in her Coney Island (Brooklyn) high school, and privately to kids in Jr. High. If a kid cannot "catch on", they are not going to risk being ridiculed in class. Itâ??s important to have tutoring. These students of my wife, her own age, were more comfortable with her after school and during summer school. If you just cannot â??getâ?ť something, such as multiplication and fractions, this is a tremendous help.

Somehow my cell phone number is mistakenly listed in the NY Board of Ed., for many kids. I get calls that are recordings telling me that "my" child was absent - and I have no kids. Iâ??ve tried to have it corrected, and the people at the Bd. Of Education are not able to help. Parents used to send notes home, and the parents had to sign it. This is over - now a machine automatically dials, and the kids erase the message(s).

It's the parents, and the people that run the schools that are the problem - not the amount of money that is thrown at the schools.