Re: Is this OT?

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

At 11:52 -0500 9/6/02, Rick Tarara wrote:
> I can tell you from first hand experience that the first three in your list
> might not work.  A school that my wife worked in, inner-city, was completely
> remodeled, classrooms are huge, class sizes are small, the school constantly
> reaches out to the community with events and activities, and yet this school
> has the worst performance in the system.  You need only talk to the teachers
> to know why--parents.

If the parents are not involved in the education of their children,
and no one bothers to ask why, then the problem is not with the
parents, it is with the school and the local government. Parents who
have been ignored for generations, may well have just given up. If
the services provided by the school and the city have been neglected
for so long that they don't think that anything meaningful will ever
be done, it is not surprising that they don't get involved. If they
are all working long and hard, just to make ends meet, or conversely,
have long since given up hope of getting any decent jobs, why should
they think that the schools that failed them won't fail their
children? Has the school administration carried out any outreach to
these supposedly non-involved parents? Has the local police
department made any meaningful effort to provide effective law
enforcement in the area (community outreach, foot patrols, officers
who are sympathetic to the situations the adults and children find
themselves in, enforcement that is more than just rousting teenagers
because they are black, or whatever). Is garbage in the neighborhood
routinely collected? Are streets swept regularly and kept in good
repair? Are street lights replaced when they burn out? Are landlords'
feet held to the fire to keep their buildings maintained at least up
to code (including the federal government)? Are there local medical
clinics where the residents and their children can obtain quality
medical care, even though most of them do not have medical insurance
(surely a national scandal)? Are there playgrounds for the children
that are supervised well enough to keep them from becoming drug
marts? Are crack-houses shut down, and the property-owners who permit
such activity to go on held accountable (including the federal
government)? Is there adequate public transportation in the area so
that residents can get in and out? Are there stores that carry the
necessary items for living in the area, and are their prices
reasonable? Do they offer any employment opportunities for local
residents? Are there opportunities for local residents to obtain
financing for starting their own businesses, or buying their own
homes?

This list is long, but by no means exhaustive. One cannot expect to
get good schools unless the neighborhood in which the schools exist
meets some minimum standards of livability. It is the responsibility
of the local government to provide that minimum standard. It can and
should, where feasible, include the local residents. For example,
local residents can be offered jobs maintaining the facilities and
services. Other things can also be done to involve the local
residents.

> Perhaps this situation will be changing some since
> the neighborhood is experiencing an influx of Hispanic families who tend to
> take a more active role in their children's education.

And black or Asian parents don't want to be just as involved in their
children's education? This statement smacks of racism. I can
understand why there may be perceived differences in interest. I have
pointed out above the neighborhood climates that can cause potential
interest to erode. Hispanic families have often just come from lands
where the situation they were in was even worse, and so they may see
this as a step up. Since they often left to enable their children to
have a better life, their interest in education, at least initially,
is likely to be high--there hasn't been a several-generation time
lapse to beat it down (but is suspect that in the longer-established
Hispanic neighborhoods, where most of the residents are second or
third-generation Americans, the situation may well be similar to that
in the black neighborhoods). But, given the conditions most blacks
find themselves in in this country, where do they escape to? To write
the neighborhood off because the parents have lost interest and
nobody has bothered to ask why is unconscionable,

>   The pretty building
> thing impresses adults--maybe teenagers, but not younger children.

I think this is nonsense. All children can be impressed by cheerful,
inviting surroundings, and if that is backed up by cheerful, inviting
adults who are more worried about the children enjoying themselves
than they are about what the kids will do to the place (within
limits, of course--making a mess is OK, doing damage isn't), they
will be impressed.

> Certainly there should be no 'discrimination' in terms of the physical
> plants within any system based on location, but at least at the elementary
> level--perhaps the most important level--it might not make much
> difference--other than to the morale of the faculty.

I don't believe this for a minute, but even if it is true, it seems
to me that the morale of the faculty is a key link in this whole
problem. I repeatedly hear of inner city schools in which the faculty
is just as demoralized as the students and their parents. So if all
the sprucing up does is improve the faculty morale, it may well be
worth it.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

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