The Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce Education Committee conducted a mini-summit at the Chamber’s Office on February 9, 2009. About 20 members of the committee attended the mini-summit.
“¢ Dropout problem has resulted in increased crime in our neighborhoods
“¢ Students’ attention span is short; this results in impatience
“¢ We need to provide more alternative schools
“¢ The social fabric of our society is disintegrating; this results in lack of direction for students
“¢ We are testing too much in the schools
“¢ Middle school students cannot see beyond themselves; difficult to get them focused.
“¢ Students learn differently, and this challenges teachers to teach differently.
“¢ Students do not see relevance in the curricula.
“¢ Bring business representatives to the classroom.
“¢ Information technology is not being used enough in the classrooms.
“¢ We need more career preparation classes.
“¢ Parents do not come to the schools to help the teachers.
“¢ We should require two years of national service from each student; we coddle our students too much.
“¢ The social norms have shifted; respect and responsibility seem to be lost.
“¢ We live in an entitlement society; students are not motivated.
“¢ There is quite a bit of apathy among our young people.
“¢ The parents are leaving too much of the responsibility of bringing up our youngsters to the schools.
“¢ Place financial resources into promoting parental responsibility.
“¢ Schools should market their services to the students; treat students as customers/clients.