LeBron James Opens First 'I Promise' School

[msjprincess]

I really could not care any less...
He is all about the PR.
In the end, yes, he is the one who is, what somebody called 'polarizing'.. and I call 'divisive'.

Just a way to further his agenda.

What is that agenda exactly?

 

[mom2rtk]

What an amazing undertaking by LeBron.

And what a shame that the immense funding we put toward education in this country isn't getting the job done.

 

[dreamer17555]

Kudos to anyone attempting to help. Discussions about agendas or kneeling (different sport) are not needed. I think its a little sad that as a country we have failed to provide equal education opportunities. If LeBron wants to step up and help that's a good thing.

 

[Jdbsfw]

Here I am over here thinking “well done Lebron” but then I’ve also said “well done Koch Bros” when they built a hospital, it’s called not being a hack, more people should try it.....

 

[luvsJack]

Has LeBron been involved in some agenda that I am not aware of? And what the heck does kneeling have to do with a basketball player??

Anyway, kudos to LeBron for giving back and for giving these kids the chance they deserve.

A lot of athletes do a lot of good for their communities. And it’s great that they do. Not all make headlines but that isn’t why they do it anyway. Doesn’t mean LeBron doesn’t deserve praise because his good deed did make headlines. That’s just silly. Maybe he has a better PR person. Maybe the right person got wind of it. But who cares? Making headlines doesn’t take away from this being a good thing.

 

[Dan Murphy]

LeBron's 'agenda' sure looks fine in my book.

 

[SmallWorld71]

“By partnering with the Akron Public Schools—not trying to subvert them or profit off of them with an unaccountable charter—LeBron has demonstrated to the world the power of truly investing in public education.”

A quote from an article I read. I would post the article link, but it’s far too political. I do think this is an important point though, that makes his school different from many others.

 

[Planogirl]

Who cares whether or not LeBron has an agenda of some type. He's helping some kids and maybe that is actually the agenda.

 

[Imzadi]

I really could not care any less...
He is all about the PR.
In the end, yes, he is the one who is, what somebody called 'polarizing'.. and I call 'divisive'.

Just a way to further his agenda.

As I said in a previous post:

What's funny is that the negative, acidic people, who, I suspect, do the least or nothing to help raise up their own community or those directly around them, are the most disparaging. I guess when one does nothing good themselves, they assume others aren't doing anything good either. [Other] People are outward reflections of people's inner world. So they certainly aren't looking to see what good others are doing.

It only took 6 posts for an example of what I mean to appear.


Do, pray tell, Wishing on a star, what "red flags" are you seeing about LeBron James that the majority of us are missing?

 

[runwad]

Here's an article that was just posted on cleveland.com

https://articles.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2018/08/whos_paying_for_lebron_james_n_1.amp

 

[L&Lfan]

So if I read it correctly, the taxpayers are actually footing 75% of the bill.

 

[EveDallas]

I really could not care any less...
He is all about the PR.
In the end, yes, he is the one who is, what somebody called 'polarizing'.. and I call 'divisive'.

Just a way to further his agenda.

How can you possibly find anything negative in wanting to help kids get an education?? There are no words.

 

[Hikergirl]

I'm sure Lebron has done tons of good things for his community that I don't know about but I saw him on Rehab Addict where he was helping re-do a family's home. He even had his sons come and work. It was all done through his foundation but I thought it was such a wonderful thing for him to do, to give back but to also "get his hands dirty" in the process. He could have just written a check but he was there lending a hand.
I don't know what kind of agenda one thinks he has, but he clearly has a history of doing good for the kids and families of Akron. If you can't at least acknowledge that fact because you have some personal issues with King James , how about a nice word for the many kids he's going to end up helping.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

It’s a great idea and a wonderful gesture. I hope these schools are successful. I still believe the greatest challenge facing many students isn’t crumbling schools or underpaid educators, but disengaged parents (and that applies at all income levels). It’s going to take something really creative to overcome that challenge, and hopefully this will at least be part of that.

 

[bananasplitkids]

Lebron has done so much for his hometown and I hope this school is a success. I do admire all of the detail that went into this and how they are trying to address other issues as well i.e. helping parents obtain their GED and giving them access to job placement services, giving each child a bicycle so they can explore like he did as a kid, food pantry for the families, and paid tuition to the local university if they complete the program. Yes taxpayers are footing the bill like any other public school, but his foundation is paying alot as well with all the extras not to mention all the kids his foundation is helping outside of this school.

 

[NHdisneylover]

It’s a great idea and a wonderful gesture. I hope these schools are successful. I still believe the greatest challenge facing many students isn’t crumbling schools or underpaid educators, but disengaged parents (and that applies at all income levels). It’s going to take something really creative to overcome that challenge, and hopefully this will at least be part of that.

While you throw "applies at all income levels" into your comment---the fact remains that children whose families are low income are far less likely to receive a good education in our country than there middle class or above counter parts---which indicates that there are many more factors, or that schools can go a long way towards helping parents be ore involved, or filling the the gaps when parents cannot or will not (and at low incomes, can not is often the case).

I think things like helping parents get GEDs is meant to address this a bit.

You know, I have seen many low income parents who love their kids and want only the very best for them and want to be engaged more, but they have to work 2 jobs just to keep their kids housed and fed so, yeah, they are not around as much to be engaged because their income level makes that virtually impossible. I've seen parents who want to read with their kids every night but the only library within walking/public transit distance (if there is one at all) is not open outside of their work hours.
Heck, I have BEEN the immigrant parent who so very much wants to help their kid with their homework but cannot understand it because my language skills were not there, and I didn't knw what was expected from homework/projects in this culture to guide my child, and even the math symbols were not totally the same. It is a horribly demoralizing feeling to not be bale to do the basic parenting thing of helping your child figure out their homework when they need it. We were lucky to have the funds for tutors who could help (which, schools could also provide so kids whose parents lack those funds and similarly lack that ability to engage with their kids about their school work still get help),

So, yeah, sure, to whatever extent possible getting parents in and involved is great---so long as it is not used as an excuse to do less for other kids, or a reason to disrespect the ways that parents contribute to their children and families even when it does not directly correlate with schools.

 

[GreatLakes]

I had some professional interactions with Lebron during his first tour with the Cavs and he was an arrogant <redacted> so I don't like him personally. Despite my personal dislike of him I still think this is a great accomplishment that will help a lot of kids and something I wish more celebrities would undertake. People can be jerks as people and still do good for society. Look at Carnegie and Rockefeller.

 

[soccerdad72]

It’s a great idea and a wonderful gesture. I hope these schools are successful. I still believe the greatest challenge facing many students isn’t crumbling schools or underpaid educators, but disengaged parents (and that applies at all income levels). It’s going to take something really creative to overcome that challenge, and hopefully this will at least be part of that.

One of the thing that LeBron has said many times is that parents need to be involved with their kids' education - I believe he's set some sort of parental responsibility into the requirements to remain in the school long term.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

While you throw "applies at all income levels" into your comment---the fact remains that children whose families are low income are far less likely to receive a good education in our country than there middle class or above counter parts---which indicates that there are many more factors, or that schools can go a long way towards helping parents be ore involved, or filling the the gaps when parents cannot or will not (and at low incomes, can not is often the case).

I think things like helping parents get GEDs is meant to address this a bit.

You know, I have seen many low income parents who love their kids and want only the very best for them and want to be engaged more, but they have to work 2 jobs just to keep their kids housed and fed so, yeah, they are not around as much to be engaged because their income level makes that virtually impossible. I've seen parents who want to read with their kids every night but the only library within walking/public transit distance (if there is one at all) is not open outside of their work hours.
Heck, I have BEEN the immigrant parent who so very much wants to help their kid with their homework but cannot understand it because my language skills were not there, and I didn't knw what was expected from homework/projects in this culture to guide my child, and even the math symbols were not totally the same. It is a horribly demoralizing feeling to not be bale to do the basic parenting thing of helping your child figure out their homework when they need it. We were lucky to have the funds for tutors who could help (which, schools could also provide so kids whose parents lack those funds and similarly lack that ability to engage with their kids about their school work still get help),

So, yeah, sure, to whatever extent possible getting parents in and involved is great---so long as it is not used as an excuse to do less for other kids, or a reason to disrespect the ways that parents contribute to their children and families even when it does not directly correlate with schools.

You’re reading way more into my statement than what’s there, but yes all these other factors you mention are huge and they tie in to what I was saying.

My sister was just telling me about the valedictorian from my nephew’s graduating class. She was one of many kids bussed into sister’s very wealthy district from the inner city. Her mother was right there for everything & the girl was at the top of her class. None of the other parents from the bussing program were involved with the school at all. And all of those kids did just as poorly as they had done at their previous school.

And yes, there are a myriad of factors why that is the case, many of which you mentioned. And that’s why I said it would take a really creative solution to overcome these obstacles and why I said I hope this school (which appears to be trying to address some of those issues) is part of the that.

 

[sunshinehighway]

You’re reading way more into my statement than what’s there, but yes all these other factors you mention are huge and they tie in to what I was saying.

My sister was just telling me about the valedictorian from my nephew’s graduating class. She was one of many kids bussed into sister’s very wealthy district from the inner city. Her mother was right there for everything & the girl was at the top of her class. None of the other parents from the bussing program were involved with the school at all. And all of those kids did just as poorly as they had done at their previous school.

And yes, there are a myriad of factors why that is the case, many of which you mentioned. And that’s why I said it would take a really creative solution to overcome these obstacles and why I said I hope this school (which appears to be trying to address some of those issues) is part of the that.

So at some wealthy school you have no direct affiliation with, you know all the bused in inner city kids did "just as poorly" as they did at their previous school except for 1 who did better than everyone. You also know that none of the parents were involved with the school at all expect for the one girl. What about the wealthy parents? Do you know how involved they all were. How did every one of their kids do?