You might have seen the movie, or at least the promos for it, Waiting for Superman. It's a movie about school reform. It "stars" one of my favorite educators and one of my least favorite educators. The documentary exposes all the horrible things that are going on in public schools and how they are failing kids, leaving them "waiting for Superman" to get them out of there.
This movie drives me right up a wall (full disclosure, I couldn't bring myself to see the whole movie because the promo itself gave me a stomach ache), along with a Newsweek cover story from last spring that also was all about the horrible public schools. This article was also a big fan of KIP schools and Teach for America. Their star witness was that same least favorite educator that I mentioned a moment ago.
You might also have seen an ABC story, I don't remember the exact show that ran the segment, about SEED schools. It's a story about a boarding school for poor kids. They don't have to pay and they get all the great education that rich kids get at their boarding schools. At the SEED schools children aren't just taught a demanding curriculum, they are also taught how to study, how to behave, and what the rules of society are if you're going to make it.
What finally struck me was what all of these schools have in common. It's something that none of them have explicitly acknowledged. The SEED school does it the most obviously, and they are the ones who opened my eyes to it. Each of these schools change the community the child lives in. The SEED school takes them right out of it from Sunday night to Friday night. The KIP schools have longer school days and Saturday school; kids are in school more and in their communities less. The Harlem Children's Zone starts teaching kids' parents before the kid is even born. Those children are going to grow up in a fundamentally different community than they would have if their parents had not been touched by the HCZ.
I finally decided that, unwittingly, each of these school reformers have really just illustrated what my gut has told me all along is true: A school is part of a child's community and the rest of the community impacts that child's education too.
That's what was making me sick when I read Newsweek: How could it all be on me? I'm one person in a child's life. I get such a short time with them and I can't MAKE them do anything. I can engage, invite and entice, but ultimately each child and his or her parents have their own choice in whether or not they're going to succeed.
I'm not saying there are no bad teachers. Of course there are, and they don't have any business staying in education. Go ahead, find them and root them out. You might find when you get there though, that more than a few of them once were good teachers that got left behind in a community that was falling apart while people with the opportunity ran off to chase the newest and the best.
When we're looking at the big picture, we're going to have to do more than run down teachers to solve the problem. Somebody is going to have to get serious about building up communities. Actually there are a few Somebodies already, so I guess I should say that a lot of Somebodies are going to have to get busy building up new communities. It's going to take some sacrifice and discomfort, and frankly, we're not actually all that big on that here in America.
3 comments:
I swear you should write for the newspaper. Preach it Sister!
At the risk of making you sicker - check out the movie trailer racetonowhere.com. I felt this could lead to some interesting conversation.
I loved the SEED school segment. What a great observation about the changing community connection.
I never heard of HCZ, we could change it to Holland Children Zone because it does have to begin with the parents. I'm going to check out their website.
I do adore Geoffrey Canada (HCZ) (the book Whatever It Takes, is an amazing read), the KIPP schools, and the SEED schools and am excited to see the movie--if it ever comes to W. Michigan. You make excellent points. The community to school piece is huge. The other common piece all of these schools have is that the kids and the families have to live up to the school's expectations or they are out. This was a tough decision in the HCZ when they realised that they would have to lose some of the kids not holding up their end of the bargain in order to make room for those eager kids and families on the waiting list. I was surprised when I also read that this is the policy of KIPP schools as well.
Having said that, I do think that it is possible, if a child has excellent, excellent teachers EVERY single year (like yourself), that kids can be changed and have a far better shot than a child who moves from excellent to mediocre to poor and back to excellent.
What if--and I posed this question in the summer--we started with one HPS school and said to families, "here are our expectations if you want your child to attend school here. We will work with you, around your schedule and do whatever we can to support you and your child, but this is what YOU must do....1. read with your child/have them read to you for at least 10 min/20 min/45 min/1 hour every single day--if you can't do this at home, you can come to school and hang out in our library.
2...(I could go on and on)
So what, if we lost families. Seriously. So what. They can get an education elsewhere at a school that best fits their needs.
My approach this year for parent workshops is going to be way more demanding. Sorry. If I am giving tons of time that I would normally spend with my family and passions, I want a return that will really benefit the kids. Or else, I have just filled an hour time slot in someone's life and given them a bag of groceries. Nothing though, has really changed. I want to be able to teach, prompt and reinforce over time.
I agree with Ginger. I do love Michelle Rhee. She is harsh, but having seen so much slackage over the past year (and in my 18 years), I get where she is coming from. But, districts don't get rid of the dead wood....sometimes they don't even know who that DW is.....Wendy seems cool too...
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