“A-B-C”
Maybe
it was because I was the new kid on the block or it could’ve been my coke
bottle glasses, but it probably was because my mother and I stuck out like sore
thumbs in low income housing. When I attended the school in my district of
Louisiana, the children were disobedient and acted out, teasing me mercilessly.
I was the only white kid in an all African American school, which wouldn’t have
been a problem, if I hadn’t been taunted for it. So, when I transferred to an
‘A’ school an hour and a half away that lay within an upper class neighborhood,
I noticed the children stood taller, used manners and the teacher’s seemed to
enjoy their jobs. We caught two city
buses just so I wouldn’t have to be a minority; I even learned how to tie my
shoe laces on that bus. So I began to wonder, why was my poor yet beloved
neighborhood home to a ‘D’ school, and the wealthier neighborhood an ‘A’? Could
there have been any correlation; and was it a bad neighborhood that made a bad
school, or a bad school that made a bad neighborhood?
At
that age I didn’t notice a difference between skin tones; my collection of
ethnically blended barbies all possessed a beauty of their own in my eyes. That
was until the teachers and students of my ‘D’ school made it a point to shave
back my eyelids, showing me the difference between black and white. Wodtke, a
Ph.D. student states “Black children were about seven times more likely than
white children to experience long-term residence in the most disadvantaged 20
percent of neighborhoods in the country ”(Swanbro). It’s upsetting to hear that
African American’s are more inept to live in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and
even more difficult knowing that these areas have poor schools, too. If
anything, the ‘D’ school I had attended deserved better than the ‘A’ I
transferred to, because the children worked harder for everything. Wodtke then
states “Our results indicate that sustained exposure to disadvantaged
neighborhoods has a much greater negative impact on the chances a child will
graduate from high school than earlier research has suggested”. The ‘A’ school
I attended was predominately white, but was the letter grade influenced by
race, or was it the neighborhood? Did tumultuous home lives reap bad grades,
and why were so many schools around me closing down?
With
the United States education system currently improving, but still at a letter
grade of a ‘C’, there’s plenty of room for improvement. So, what about
violence? Did violence in neighborhoods have an effect on its public schools? It’s
widely known that low income families are more inept to practice maltreatment.
In our neighborhood of Baton Rouge, there was a child who threw rocks at our
windows, would graffiti our front door and stole our beloved bicycles. When my
mother went to the boys house to explain to his parent’s what he had done, his
mom started beating him with a long stick in front of her, leaving the boy with
large bruises on his body. My mom started crying, screaming at her to stop.
After that she was afraid to speak up. Just over 3 million children were
reported to child welfare in 2005, and 54 percent of students who report seeing
violence at home end up having a violent history at school before the 8th
grade (American Humane Association). This research implies that a poor
neighborhood does make a bad school, because students bring their personal
problems to their desk each time the bell rings. But isn’t a school supposed to
have the tools in place to help students? A poor neighborhood doesn’t make a
bad school; careless and unmotivated teachers are the root of the problem. With
states like Idaho that lack any kind of incentive for teachers whom earn
national certification, it’s not surprising when they rank bottom for teaching
profession with a grade of a ‘D’ minus (Wiegley & Sauter). So what can a
good school do for a bad neighborhood?
For
me, school was a place where I could change cliques like I changed socks, make
up a new accent and beg to be teacher’s pet. I wasn’t guaranteed attention at
home, or a hot meal; but school made up for all the short comings that assisted
me at my not so humble abode. Charter, public or private, school is supposed to
give you the pedals to ride until you find a purpose, whether or not you walk
the halls of an ‘A’ or a ‘C’ school. Just because a school is tucked within a
poor neighborhood doesn’t mean it will fall prey to the looming statistics.
When you peel back the layers and pry into a violent or low income
neighborhood, you can still find those who stick out like gold stars; trying to
make a difference. Maybe these schools have sports teams that offer a sense of
community pride. Or maybe these schools serve as a community hub for social
activities, or it could be a major employer for people in the area. But no
matter where you go, and no matter how dysfunctional a school may be, in every
city lays at least a few educated adults who want to mentor and make a
difference.
Usually
when bad schools are placed within bad cities, they shut the schools down and
pluck the kids up, dropping them into unfamiliar classes that are jammed pack,
with too few teachers. The perpetual cycle of tossing children around from low
income housing or bad neighborhoods will continue until our desire to help is
stronger than our silence. With so many different factors such as violence,
teachers, home life and neighborhoods contributing to our schools letter
grades, it’s impossible to pin point one thing and eliminate any one problem.
Instead of focusing on an intangible letter we should start adapting our
schools to the needs of all walks of life, and making sure that everyone gets
the same opportunity and education as everyone else.
Works
Cited
American Humane Association “Child Abuse & Neglect
Statistics” Accessed 22 April 2013, Retrieved from <http://www.americanhumane.org/children/stop-child-abuse/fact-sheets/child-abuse-and-neglect-statistics.html>
Renwick, Trudy. “Geographic Adjustments of Supplemental Poverty Measure
Thresholds: Using the American
Community Survey Five-Year Data on Housing Costs”, July 2011. Accessed 22 April
2013.
Sauter, Micheal. Weigley, Samuel. “The
States with the Best and Worst Schools”, January 2013. Accessed 22 April 2013,
Retrieved from < http://homes.yahoo.com/news/where-the-best-and-worst-schools-are-021737613.html>
Swanbro, Diane. “Growing up in bad neighborhoods has a ‘devastating’
impact: U-M Study”, October 2011. Accessed 22 April 2013, Retrieved from <http://www.sampler.isr.umich.edu/2011/research/growing-up-in-bad-neighborhoods-has-a-devastating-impact-u-m-study/>
I loved your title and the stories of your experiences. It truly is shocking to hear about the families of these "d" school children. i wouldve been scared to voice up if I were your mother as well. :/
ReplyDeleteYour essay was very engaging, and your use of experiences was very well. The analysis you made were very interesting, and the points you spoke on were great.
ReplyDelete