Yes We Can
Since I am working in a school composed of entirely minority students, this article was very pertinent to my current situation. The school I am working in has nearly every problem mentioned in the article. There are low graduation rates, an incredible achievement gap, and low standards. The section of the article "Losing Our Children" was particularly powerful to me, especially the section comparing the number of students reaching grade 12 and the number of students receiving their high school diploma. During my student teaching year I had one of my students drop out during his senior year. To think that the educational system managed to get the student that far only to fail a few months short of its cumulation, is tremendously disheartening. It is an experience I don't want to go through again.
Luckily this article focused on solutions to these problems. I was surprised to learn that on average black students are better readers at the start of kindergarden. This is tremendously encouraging. This shows that with equivalent teaching there should be no reason why minorities should perform any different from white students. The idea that my skills as a teacher are the biggest factor in the success of my students is incredibly motivating. From my experience in minority schools there seems to be a unwritten belief that their school will not be among the top performing schools. To a certain degree I think that this is a healthy attitude. There are certainly more obstacles to overcome and identifying them is the first step in avoiding them. However resigning the this belief only perpetuates the problem.
One of my biggest goals as a teacher is to remain in the zone where I am optimistic about the ability of minorities without resigning to mediocrity and pessimism. Going either way causes disaster. Putting on the rose colored glasses will result in ineffective teaching. it is obvious that ignoring the problem is not the solution, without action nothing will change. However resigning to the belief that minority students will not preform as high as white students is potentially worse. It permanently places the expectations of minority students below their potential stifling their growth? If I ever find myself shifted too far in either direction it is time for me to rethink my beliefs or resign as a teacher.
3 comments:
I love what you said about being a teacher who is optimistic (not resigned), but also realistic. I agree! I student taught in Hartford and I felt like so many teachers were just resigned to the fact that there students were going to fail. There were just too many obstacles. This definitely has an impact on your teaching. At the same time, you can't sit there and pretend that everything is perfect. Urban districts face real challenges. It's almost like teachers and students in these districts have to take on "fighter stances".
I agree with your desire to keep your optimism...I, too, feel that way yet I am always finding people who try to bring me down. I think that if black students are coming in to Kindergarten reading at the same or a better level than other students than the school system and the teachers are the ones that are letting them fall through the cracks. If they are not disadvantaged coming in then something is going on during school that is adversely affecting them. I think if all teachers held the highest standards for all kids irregardless of culture or race than that is a huge step in keeping kids achieving highly. This sounds so simple, but unfortunately I do not see it as often as I should in the schools I am in.
I really liked the things you had to say in this post. I agree, as a teacher it is absolutely vital to remain optimistic. It is also my belief that when you can no longer remain optimisitic and start despising the children, it is time to leave the profession.
Minority students, in some cases, are faced with greater obstacles. Well,I would reword that to say poor students of any color, especially urban students, are faced with greater obstacles then middle class students of all color. Unfortunately, most poor students tend to be minorities.
I agree with you, there is no reason why poor and minority students can not achieve as much as middle class white students. Poor stdents just need more help and support in the teacher, especially when it comes to supply them with experiences and background knowledge that they otherwise have not been exposed to.
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