Public School Conditions

I don't have children in school, so my answer is general and heresay. What I hear is that elementary school is ok, but most people who can afford it send their kids to private school for middle school and high school. Also, if your child is anglo white, he/she will be a part of a very small minority in public school.

The schools are deplorable, dirty, not well funded and violence is prevalent. Stabbings and shootings are common on campus in the high school and middle school. The government does not care much about education here, although the parents do care. Since there are not many activities for children in the islands violence and drugs are the norm.

Teachers who come in from of island are not recieved well by local staff. The locals want their culture maintained and feel that those from the outside dont promote the culture. Its sad because the children suffer when they dont receive a proper education that will help them progress on to a career. This is why many local children grow up to enter the military, its their only option.

Most parents who care send their children to one of the private schools.

Tammy

ogimos3

I think i got your handle correct, anyhow the conditions of the public schools here are just like inner city schools voilence and all. i work with many public schools on a voluntary level helping them improve their schools through landscaping them and teaching them how to grow and care for plants.
on my first visit to central high school as i approached the parking lot with a truck full of plants five police cruisers came flyimng in behind me. evidently a yhoung man had a gun and was caught just before using it on a rival group of young men. somehow the boys mother was there ranting and raving aboujt how a young man needs to have firearms to be safe at school. quite bizarre but i did not let this turn me off because i saw that somehow maybe insome little way i could make some kind of difference threw horticulture. alot needs to be done for our public schools and i know i am not qualified to do much, but the more people that would stop talking about how bad it is and do something, anything about the situation, we could make some progress.
I know that alot of the problems with our schools start at the top(administration) and only persons with authority over these people can change them,but i will continue to do what i can in my little way.

The very sad part of the story. STT and STX are both like small cities in the states (about 50000 people each). Small cities in the states DO NOT for the most part have the violence and disrespect that are found in public high schools on the US Virgin Islands. That kind of violence is usually only found in the large urban (read... Ghetto) cities.

I do not know the answer. While most of the island lives a peaceful, happy and cooperative life, the public high schools are more like "mini war zones". Do you blame tv and the media? Do you blame young girls being mothers? Do you blame the government and corruption? Probably all of these problems contribute to the sad state of the island's young people.

If enough of us care to DO SOMETHING then maybe we can make a change.

I wouldn't say the islands "live a peaceful, happy and cooperative life" with 42 murders last year and 39 this year, with a 25% rate of solving them. This is (by per-capita) near the worst crime rate cities in the US, and far from the over 60% average rate of solvency across the US.