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LeBron James Opens STEM-Based School For At-Risk Students In Ohio (sbnation.com)
NBA superstar LeBron James is opening a new school that many are calling a "game changer." It extends the length of a traditional school day and focuses on teaching a STEM curriculum to students who have a higher probability of failing academically or dropping out of school. An anonymous Slashdot reader shares a report from SB Nation: LeBron James' I Promise School opened Monday to serve low-income and at-risk students in his hometown, and the public school could be an agent of change in the eastern Ohio city. The institution is the intersection of James' philanthropic Family Foundation and the I Promise Network he helped kickstart. I Promise began as an Akron-based non-profit aimed at boosting achievement for younger students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Now the movement has the means to educate these students year-round. I Promise will feature longer school days, a non-traditional school year, and greater access to the school, its facilities, and its teachers during down time for students. That's a formula aimed at replicating some of the at-home support children may be missing when it comes to schoolwork. The school has also anchored its curriculum in math and science-based teaching, dipping into the STEM -- science, technology, engineering, and math -- curriculum that prepares students for the jobs of the future.
When the rich move out of the city, it is called "White flight", which is bad.
When the rich move into the city, it is called "Gentrification", which is bad.
STEM in high school means nothing without the college degree to back it up and if LeBron isn't going to fund these kids THROUGH college its a fruitless endeavor.
That's a fair point. Or, it would be if not for the fact that "If [students at the school] successfully complete the school program and graduate from high school, James will cover their full tuition at the local public college, University of Akron." But given that fact, it's actually a pretty piss poor point that seems more aimed at shitting on someone doing something good than at contributing to a solution.