A Tale of Two Countries
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
We can capture the state of United States education system with this classic Dickens quote. Cities are posting staggering dropout rates while there is an upward trend of over-accomplished, over-booked kids.
Shouts ring across America – in successive waves — that our school system is falling to shambles. Detroit tops the list, graduating less than 25% of high school students. While these national statistics are also categorized by individual cities they are still blanket numbers. The national dropout rate is 16% and most of these students are predominantly Black or Latino.
What’s going on here? Why are most of the failing students minority students?
All these statistics fail to take into account the factors that lead to such high dropout rates in individual schools. Many high schools in urban areas remain racially segregated, and this segregation is accompanied by an unequal distribution on resources. Having worked in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) for the past 3 years it has become obvious (to me) that something very essential is missing in CPS’ and urban schools across the country: mentorship.
Mentorship helps remedy the many wrongs of our school system, and also the lack of support children receive from home.
Many children in CPS’ — and inner city schools across the country — desperately lack guidance and support at home that is vital for academic success. Imagine growing up in an environment where you know several people who have died from violence. Perhaps an uncle, a neighbor, maybe even a close friend (or several). Imagine never knowing anything outside of neighborhood blocks stratified by violence . Picture the children who have to pass block upon block where these people were killed, merely to get to school. Would you want to go? Then, imagine getting to school and being too tired to participate —too tired from staying up too late— because you don’t have a curfews, and your classroom is in chaos because the teacher cannot control a room of forty rowdy kids.
The importance of garnering good grades has not hit you. Why does it matter anyway? Everyone you’ve ever known as stayed in the neighborhood.
This doesn’t mean that some kids do not strive to succeed. Some graduate from college. But if the imperative to excel in school is lacking in a home and school environment then children are set up to fail. It is a Dystopia.
“Everybody is mad at each other. The high school teachers are mad at the grammar school teachers because the kids don’t know the difference between that and which.”
The high school children that I work with have experienced unimaginable trauma. The school was riddled by high pregnancy rates of about 36%. Many of those girls never returned, and in the last couple months before their due dates, little was expected from them. Would you prefer a student to complete her trigonometry homework or learn to care for her baby?
But there are programs gaining traction, helping to reverse these problems. One mentorship program, Gear Up, has lead to an increase in high school graduation rates. Most of the kids just need someone to relate to. Many of them expect to be talked down to, but are surprisingly receptive and entertaining. These kids quickly establish bonds with their mentor, and the effects that the mentorship has quickly shows in the easygoing and comfortable nature in which they begin to interact with you.
Another problem plaguing the education system is misdirected blame. There is a wholesale focus on the need for better teachers. John McCain’s comments during the presidential elections “to get the rotten teachers out of the classroom” added fuel to this misdirected fire. Teachers are pushed by administrators to “get kids out” by passing them— even if they do not meet the standards— so that the school does not produce failing kids.
So how do we fix this mountain of problems? Bill Ayers, also known as the “Weather Underground Terrorist”, is a seasoned and knowledgeable teacher in the Chicago Public School system. He recently gave a talk in which he said there needs to horizontal instead of vertical communication in schools. In other words, teachers of all grades need to communicate with each other about what children are learning from year to year instead of the instruction solely coming from principals.
“Everybody is mad at each other,” says Ayers. “The high school teachers are mad at the grammar school teachers because the kids don’t know the difference between that and which.”
Schools also need to be disengaged from the static rules that prevent gains in learning.
Ayers recounted a time in which he tried to bring bananas to the classroom— “because the kids were just eating pizza and other junk for lunch, and they are more alert after eating fruits and other healthy foods”— he was halted at the cafeteria exit. It is a federal offense to remove food from a cafeteria.
“They were just going be tossed at the end of the day, but if I removed them, I would be arrested.”
In addition to seeming misdemeanor of removing cafeteria food, there is a set curriculum, which teachers must follow. Blanket curriculums do not work and, ultimately, do a disservice to students. Students across the country arrive to school with different levels of preparation and support. It creates an uneven playing field for students who have had an academic and social support network their entire lives and those who have not.
The Obama administration has sought to reverse these negative trends plaguing schools by instituting promise neighborhoods across the country. Twelve neighborhoods will be selected through an application process and they will receive $20 million dollars (although they must match that sum through fundraising). The money will be used to provide academic and emotional support, shadowing children in the neighborhood from a young age to their high school graduation.
However, these plans must lay out how exactly this mentorship will take place, in order to be effective. They also must be replicable in other neighborhoods. A similar plan in Harlem, NY called Harlem’s Children Zone, founded in the 1990’s has garnered immense success.
If these promise neighborhoods are successful, they would be a boon to neighborhoods across the country. But even without them we must collectively work to aid the children who have been born into situations out of their control, to realize our collective futures.
Bravo well written Candice and a very important topic. It’s difficult to get folks to see the growing disparity and what it means for the country’s future. It’s overwhelming and frigtening. I’ve worked in NYC public schools and can attest to your observations as well. Unfortunately the political climate at present is heading in another direction a la the ever growing Tea baggers, Texas’ textbook revisions and Arizona possibly Florida as well, immigration ‘reforms’.
P.S. kudos on having the chutzpah to use Ayers as a positive example.