After 20 years of teaching, I think we should call our high schools "Adolescent Social Camps". Perhaps, this isn't true for affluent communities. However, in my low socioeconomic community, we have extended our lunch program to include free breakfast and after-school dinner. We have a "Clothes Closet" for our students as well. All of these programs are of noble quality...

However, I believe we have all become desensitized similar to a "Frog in slow heat/boil" analogy. The initial purpose of school was to be education. Nevertheless, our community/parents are uninvolved and primarily view us as a baby-sitting service. I have stopped giving homework 10 yrs ago because I know it will never be done or the parents will not support their child.

The last few years, students give me strange looks when I expect learning and their assignments to be complete. At times, when a student complains about an assignment, I jokingly say, "What do you think this is? An Adolescent Social camp?" Normally, I would get a few chuckles. However, this year my students responded with a genuine... Yes!

[MissAgnes]

We have to address students' basic needs before we can address their educational needs. I work in a very low income school. While parents tend to be uninvolved, it's generally not because they don't care. Most parents are working 2-3 jobs, and families are dealing with drug and alcohol abuse, violence, food and home insecurity, and many other factors.

I'm not saying that we should completely disregard academics. But we need to understand that students who are hungry, or tired, or experiencing trauma aren't going to make academics a priority.

[Clarity]

must eat three meals a day of that horrible institutionalized, over-salted, high-carb, high-fat, tasteless goop served by school food mills, which only sets them up for vitamin deficiencies and obesity.

Ten years ago, I began to notice that schools had become the new social welfare agencies, where students received food, clothing, school supplies, medical screenings, visits from case workers, probation officers, psychologists, counselors, etc. Ideally, these would be interim programs until families can get on their feet. Unfortunately, even in this "wonderful economy" (insert sarcasm emoji), people do not seem to be able to manage the basic economics of providing for their children. If I say any more, this thread will be moved to the I&P board, but you get my drift.