"There was really a deep belief that there’s only so much you can do, particularly for high-poverty kids. That poverty is, if not destiny, a significant hindrance to effective education. And changing ideas, changing hearts, changing minds — those things are difficult. And not surprisingly, people are going to push back. It’s a lot easier for the school system to say we graduated 45 percent of our kids because our kids had lots of problems and there’s only so much education you can do. It’s a lot harder to say we graduated 45 percent of our kids because we blew it; we didn’t do the job that we needed to do. That kind of ownership is a major kind of transformation."
Now that another Harlem's Children Zone will be also constructed on West 129th Street, it would seem that charter attendance might even go up higher in the new year: LINK. There are definitely major changes happening in Harlem these days and education is also included in the mix.
Thank you for highlighting these developments.
ReplyDeleteThese are the kinds of investments in education that I, for one, certainly hope to see more of in the near term -- as it will take a number of years for the societal returns to be fully realized.
Cool Blue I agree, the funny thing is in the Caribbean we spend much less per student but somehow we have a very decent education level. This always puzzles me, wonder if anyone can shed some light.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I don't know enough about the way education is structured in the Caribbean to offer any particular insights... but I'll throw out some speculative questions to get the ball rolling anyway:
ReplyDelete1. Is there more centralized government control over the school systems?
2. Do teachers' unions wield a lot of clout in setting the agenda for educational institutions (or in shooting down proposed changes)?
3. Is the funding for schools derived through property taxation, and thus differentiated by locale?
4. Do the socioeconomic elites put their kids into the same system?
5. Are there major racial or ethnic rifts along which resources might be effectively segregated, or along which students themselves might diverge in terms of their adherence to a culture of educational entertainment?
6. How is "success" defined in the culture? To what do youth aspire, and what do they perceive as their best means to such ends?
Isn't the Caribbean system based on the British model of education? That may have something to do with it.
ReplyDeleteCool to answer your questions and comments:
ReplyDelete1. Is there more centralized government control over the school systems?
Yes in fact due to the size of the countries it is easy for government to control the school system.
2. Do teachers' unions wield a lot of clout in setting the agenda for educational institutions (or in shooting down proposed changes)?
No, there is a teachers union but they work very closely with the government to plan and adjust curriculum annually.
3. Is the funding for schools derived through property taxation, and thus differentiated by locale?
I honestly do not know this but that would be interesting to find out.
4. Do the socioeconomic elites put their kids into the same system?
Absolutely, I never understood the separation in the USA. There are nationwide exams that determine which schools students will go to so there is some separation but it is strictly on ability.
5. Are there major racial or ethnic rifts along which resources might be effectively segregated, or along which students themselves might diverge in terms of their adherence to a culture of educational entertainment?
There is a bit of residual stuff left from the days of slavery but it is very slight, if I am honest I never knew I was "black" until I came to the USA as this was never an issue in my country; rich/poor yes black/white no.
6. How is "success" defined in the culture? To what do youth aspire, and what do they perceive as their best means to such ends?
Making money is a big deal like most places in the world but much of the population aspire to be doctors, lawyers, accountants etc.
MarkM: Yes it is based on the British system and there is corporal punishment as well as no one skips school because they would be home alone because everyone else is in school. So the social pressure is to do well in school not to hang out on the corner. Parents are also highly involved, my mom never missed a PTA meeting and she worked full time. Different people I guess.
HBBC: Thanks for your responses -- they suggest a great deal to think about.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I doubt there is any simple or easy path to get from here to there, so to speak. But I'm glad there are a number of people working on innovative solutions nonetheless.
Just to go a bit further into #6: Do the poor in these societies believe that they have a realistic shot at becoming doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. -- such that they also aspire to these things? I think perhaps this belief is one of the things that is missing (or lost) among the poor in the U.S. (both urban and rural).
For sure they do because it is about brain power, I went to school with people whose family was poor and they are now lawyers and doctors, simply because they were given the chance and their parents pushed them.
ReplyDeleteFor me the issues in the USA are many but the main issue lies with the Black community. education is free so that is no excuse. I hear kids on the street chastise other kids for being or acting "white" because they are smart and want to learn...that to me is a huge problem as I take that to mean that they value something other than being smart.
Another issue is kids having kids, what does a 18 year old have to teach? Not much in truth, I remember when I was 18 I did not know crap; but yet we have these kids raising babies.
So many issues to work on, but the black community needs to stop blaming outside forces and look within because education goes a long long way.
HBBC -- that fits together with my perception as well. Poverty is one thing and school dysfunction another, but if the culture itself promotes the idea that the only means of higher attainment are success in basketball, rap music, hustling, etc. -- then most any effort to turn things around is going to be cut off at the knees.
ReplyDeleteI should also be clear that this pattern is not confined to urban centers or black culture. I grew up in a very white and very rural area, there were many analogous pressures. There was little in the way of an "achievement" culture, and plenty of pressure in the other directions. These days with meth and such, things may well be worse.
Somewhere at the root of this I think we're losing faith that most people can work hard to achieve something more in life -- that there is real opportunity, and that they'll get a fair shake on the other side. Such cynicism may quite often be well-justified, but it is 100% self-defeating. When it comes to represent and strongly define a wider culture, we're in real trouble...
And I also agree 100% on the issue of family planning. We've got to find a way to push past the stigmas that surround these matters -- not only to teach kids the practical means to control their reproductive destinies, but also to show them why they *should.* To convey early on what it means to be responsible and truly prepared to raise the next generation of human beings in society, and to do so without denigrating those who are already facing (or have themselves grown up in) circumstances outside that ideal.
ReplyDeleteAnd if we're ever going to get there, we can't continue to ignore the public measures that may constitute an economic incentive for people to have kids when they're not even able to provide for themselves -- and somehow do this without punishing children who had no say in the matter. Even if it weren't politically radioactive, that would be a very tough public policy nut to crack.
For sure...food for thought in this new year.
ReplyDelete