Stand Back and Look at the World

I was raised in a traditional middle class family where my needs were met
by hard working parents, one a pharmacist, the other a part-time music teacher.
My frugal parents were avid savers who didnt understand my middle school
mindset and continual arguing for the need of more than one pair of jeans. They
clipped the unday papers, shopped e!clusively in the sale section, and family
outings were always free "bike rides, picnics, church gatherings#. My familys
conservative protocol was also influenced their religious beliefs. This led me to
see the world and its issues through a black and white lens. $s a
daughter%granddaughter of teachers there was a high priority placed on
education& the emphasis was never placed on grades but rather on work ethic.
My primary education was at a high achieving, affluent, homogeneous
school. 'earning was arduous and I often felt stupid because it took me a long
time to understand what other students seem to pick up instantly. I didnt thrive
academically but I surely survived with the ability to go to school an hour early to
work with unlimited amounts of art supplies. My secondary education
e!perience was in many ways a continuation of my primary& little diversity, highly
affluent, but I continued to have an inspiring art teacher who I would grow up to
replace.
(ound Middle chool has changed greatly since my years of attending
and is continuing to rapidly evolve. The (ound population is diverse in social
classes, economic circumstances, and varying levels of education. $lthough
these groupings may not be e!clusive, these are the types of students I see on a
daily basis.
The first demographic is made up of students who, in many cases, live on
government help in one form or another. (overty is a growing issue for (ound
families, within the last five years the number of students eligible for free and
reduced lunches has nearly doubled from )* to +* ,. These students also do
not have Internet access outside of school and re-uire open labs after school to
have the opportunity to complete the assignments.
The second demographic I see that makes up the majority of my students
are lower middle class. These are students whose parents still have their job but
are live frugally and modestly. They have parents who are very supportive of the
teacher and push their children to work hard. These students are typically very
well adjusted students.
The third demographic consists up a small number of students who come
from prominent families of the community. Their parents own large companies
like .un/a, they go on e!travagant vacations, and are later sent to elite boarding
schools. These students have an array of e!periences to connect their learning
to and they are never in financial need.
0espite the varying socioeconomic status at (ound Middle chool, there
seems to be no friction between the different groups. tudents have no -ualms
about interacting or befriending someone from a dissimilar situation. 1owever, I
see a division in learning based on these socioeconomic realities. tudents of
wealthy parents discuss their stocks that were given to them for 2hristmas and
have many more 3real world4 e!periences to enrich their learning. 5hile
students of a humble background have limited e!periences. This becomes -uite
obvious when the opportunity to go to 5ashington 02 in the 6
th
grade. 5hile
students from wealth have their parents pay for the trip out of pocket, there are
many students unable to go because they are not able to raise the money.
The demographic make-up of (ound will continue to change as our
numbers from this year, which were 7+8 students, are projected to increase to
6*+ students. This rapid growth will mean change in class si/e, which is already
a problem. (ound has the largest class si/es out of the entire district, with an
average of +9 students per class. It will also mean a change on student
statistics as we see the poverty rates grow in correlation with student enrollment.
The 3world4 of my students might look fairly similar to 'isas, a first grade
teacher in 5ahoo and Thomas, a seventh grade science teacher at choo
Middle chool. :ur race percentage charts in the ;ebraska 0epartment of
<ducation have similar proportions& in fact choo looks almost identical to my
own. :ur percentage of students with special needs vary minimally between the
three schools and we could find little discrepancy "or are unaware# in gender
ine-ualities.
The most blatant difference we found between the three schools was
socioeconomic status percentages. The three schools poverty percentages
were= (ound with +*,, 5ahoo with >>,, and choo with 87,. This means
that although racially (ound and choo have almost mirrored, the poverty at
choo is almost doubled the poverty at (ound. 1ow these statistics are fleshed
out at each of our schools for students and teachers varies.
5hen looking at the poverty statistics, a discussion arose on homework
and our policy for when students lack not only Internet resources but also lack
parental help with their homework. Thomas said he simply did not assign as
much homework because his principal did not see it as fair to re-uire students
lacking in resources to stay more time in school while others can do the work at
home. I assign e-ual amounts of work but re-uire anyone that does not have the
supplies to stay to complete the homework. 'isa does not assign much
homework but does recogni/e that there are students who have different
technology access dependant upon socioeconomic status.
:ur teaching styles, specifically on homework, demonstrates not only our
different approach to e-uality vs. e-uity but also more importantly our
administrations differences. Thomas does not re-uire much homework because
of lack of materials, specifically technology. 1e says his principal views the
homework as unfair since some students to not have Internet access. I however
assign homework and hold after school hours for students who do not have the
materials, specifically technology, and I do this with the support of my
administration. Thomas principals definition of fair, as far as I can tell, is that
since not all students have the technology, it is not fair to re-uire them to stay,
since we cannot re-uire some students to stay and do the homework therefore
we should not assign the homework. $s a result no one benefits from the
assignment because it was not given and therefore all students lose out on an
opportunity in the name of being 3fair4.
$lthough I know this is one small e!ample, this reveals a scary value
system within education. This e!ample shows if one only worries about the
value of fairness, the e-uality of education can be stifled. 5hether this is a
purposeful manifestation or an accidental latent conse-uence it is affecting the
-uality of education of our students.
In looking at socioeconomic status and students of our schools, my group
also agreed that as a result of poverty students are often tracked, and this greatly
affects their self-efficacy. In (roven/o, it discusses the idea of a hidden
curriculum being taught based on social class. ?ean $nyon argues the point that
3public schools in comple! industrial societies like our own make available
different types of educational e!perience and curriculum knowledge to students
in different social classes.4 "(roven/o, +@@9, p. +*8#
$lthough I think this may not be as obvious at choo, (ound, and 5ahoo,
I believe it happens. I know this because I hear colleagues claims that they
would not teach in specific schools around 'incoln. This can be seen in statistics
of average years of e!perience for teachers. (ounds average is +).+7 years,
5ahoos is )).A years, and choos is 6.7 years. I find it interesting that with
lower percentages of poverty come higher percentages of teachers with
e!perience. $lthough this could be a coincidence, I think this is a deliberate
choice of teachers to flock to low poverty percentage schools.
If teachers are unwilling to go to these poorer schools but perhaps are
placed there because they need a job, this will definitely change the way they
teach, interact, and believe in these students. This will undoubtedly change the
way our students believe in themselves if their teachers do not want to be there
in the first place. Thomas admits that this is the reason why he says 35hen you
go to collegeB.4 as opposed to 3if you go to college.4 1e wants his students to
know that he believes in them and their ability to continue their education.
<ven when teachers believe and push their students to cross socio-
economic boundaries, as Thomas does, there is still the obstacle of fear for our
students. Cear of how they might become a different person. Dell 1ooks was
raised in a working class home and wanted to attend a prestigious school and
recalls how her community 3were weary of new ideasB.they could see no
practical use for the learning one would get in a fancy school.4 "(roven/o, +@@9,
p. +7># ometimes students do not cross class boundaries because they are
scared of how it will affect relationships with their families, friends, and peers.
This is shown in parents support at choo, 5ahoo, and (ound. ome parents
of students in poverty will completely support you, while others might never pick
up the phone when you call home with school concerns.
$lthough choo, (ound, and 5ahoo might appear to have very different
schools within this conte!t= different problems, successes, statistics, we believe
we have three different perspectives rather than three different worlds. $lthough
it might be easy, especially at my school and even 5ahoo where poverty
numbers are down, to think it is not our problem would be a to!ic mindset.
If I say choo and 5ahoo are just different worlds, it allows me to believe
that it is not my problem. It also allows my school only to be concerned for its
own gain. 5alter (arker writes about the term idiot in the original meaning used
to e!plain the problem with this thinking. To (arker, 3an idiot is one whose self-
centeredness undermines his or her citi/en identityBis suicidal in a certain way,
definitely self defeating, for the idiot does not know that privacy and individual
autonomy are entirely dependant on the community.4 "(arker, +@@*, p. )# 1is
e!ample is of a mother who decides to take care of only her children by keeping
a clean home. 1owever, since she has not cared for the cleanliness of the
community its sickness has crept into her own home causing her children to
become ill.
My group believes the same is true of our education system. If we ignore
the well being of students in other schools and only focus on our gain, their
problems will eventually come back demanding our future attention. Cor
e!ample, our poorly educated students will one day be our future educators,
politicians, health care providers, if they are not well educated now it will forever
affect our children, our health, and our system as we known it. :r, in the worst-
case scenario, these students might end up in jail. This would cost society much
more for an inmate as we pay for their meals, a roof over their head, and health
care. These are all of the services that were not provided to them during their
education.
o we agree that although our schools are different and our perspectives
may vary, we live in one world that is deeply connected and dependant on one
another.
Dibliography
(arker, 5alter 2. ETeaching $gainst Idiocy.E Phi Delta Kappa International
"+@@*#= )-)). (rint.
(roven/o, <ugene C., ?r., ed. Critical Issues in Education: An Anthology of
Readings. Thousand :aks= age (ublications, +@@9. (rint.