Image via Wikipedia
I hope that this is wrong:
A recent news article caught my eye. It said that students in Detroit's Public school system were recently tested for lead. The study concluded that overall, 58% of roughly 39,000 students tested -- 22,755 children -- had a history of lead poisoning. Worse yet, of the 39,199 students tested as young children, only 23 had no lead in their bodies.
The article mentioned that special education students had even higher levels of lead in their bodies. So this is a special education issue although it is much broader that just that. Here is a link to the Detroit free Press article.
Really, ... we still haven't figured this out yet? I have often wondered whether poverty doesn't have a big impact upon school performance. I guess that in addition to inadequate nutrition, an inadequate exposure to words, poor kids inhale or eat too much lead. In 2010, kids are going to school with toxic levels of lead!
Maybe Johnny can't read because he has too much lead in his system. This just makes my blood boil.
Am I overreacting? Isn't this a big deal?
The article mentioned that special education students had even higher levels of lead in their bodies. So this is a special education issue although it is much broader that just that. Here is a link to the Detroit free Press article.
Really, ... we still haven't figured this out yet? I have often wondered whether poverty doesn't have a big impact upon school performance. I guess that in addition to inadequate nutrition, an inadequate exposure to words, poor kids inhale or eat too much lead. In 2010, kids are going to school with toxic levels of lead!
Maybe Johnny can't read because he has too much lead in his system. This just makes my blood boil.
Am I overreacting? Isn't this a big deal?
Try this one on for size: many symptoms of lead poisening mirror symptoms of Autism . . . the label du jour, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard that.
Jim
It's been rumored for years that my district's pipes are pumping lead into the kids. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that this is an all-too-common facet of urban education.
ReplyDeleteAnother reader has sent me a study supporting your claim. I hope to have more a a post soon.
ReplyDeleteJim