In the educational world with pressures to increase test
scores and prove that our schools are indeed making an impact on students,
there are significantly more mirages developing in schools to give the
appearance of educating our youth without actually doing so. We have let the demands of high test
scores cause us to neglect child development, problem solving and critical
thinking skills, social studies, science, the arts and so much more that are
non-negotiable in more affluent neighborhoods, for the sake of the children; or
so we say.
In my brief but meaningful time in education (and it
continues) I can’t help but notice the number of teachers teaching to the test
in the name of not teaching to the test.
Math and Reading have become of primary focus as they are tested areas
and ultimately determine the effectiveness of the teachers and schools
according to the government. These
measures dictate whether schools are considered high performing and can keep
their doors open, which ultimately determines jobs for the people currently
working in them. So it’s no
surprise that we are focusing most, if not all, of our attention on math and
reading. In many schools, we are
beginning to abandon all else for the sake of the numbers. But is that really what’s best for
children? With the number of
schools selling the idea of college readiness, are the children actually in any
better shape because of these initiatives? My guess is no. I attended,
graduated, and was fairly successful in college, not because I could answer a
series of multiple-choice questions about a passage that I read, or because I
could choose the correct mathematical equation for a word problem, not even
because I could write three sentences about how I arrived at my answer. I was successful in college because I
was afforded the opportunity to attend a school where the skills and life
experiences I needed to be successful were readily available. This isn’t the case for our children.
If you attended college, I am sure that you will find it
difficult to count the number of essays that you wrote for one class let alone
for all of the classes throughout your college career, yet students in the
inner city are receiving minimal and often watered-down writing lessons. And because writing is not tested to
the same degree as reading and math, writing is often the first thing cut from
a jam-packed ELA block, but it was arguably one of the most important and
useful skills I learned in school.
So how will our children be prepared to successfully write those
innumerable essays? And how often
were you asked to simply regurgitate facts from assigned readings in your
class? Yes, it’s something I did,
but more often I was asked to take a position and defend it based on what I’ve
read, a level of thinking that “inner-city kids” are rarely pushed to. At the end of the day, even with good intentions,
teachers are becoming more overwhelmed with the pressures to get the scores on
state testing in order to keep their jobs, that they just can’t afford to focus
on things that will actually make students more successful. So how are the children, really?
People that do not understand or care to understand the
experiences of the students and families that are served by them are leading
classrooms in our schools. They
are disconnected from what makes students unique and the rich history that children
bring into the classroom. They are
often oblivious to their own privilege and the plight of students and their
families. They are not aware of the external factors that may pose challenges
for students even if they are “smart enough” to be accepted into college. And because they are unaware, they are
leaving our students unarmed to fight against the racism that indeed exists and
will work to their detriment as they strive to be successful and productive
citizens without the tools and skills they need. So how are the children really?
In a society where careers in sciences of all sorts are
growing in demand, we are depriving students of the ability to learn and love
science. Our children cannot be
doctors if their first exposure to science comes in middle school or even high
school and if that exposure is so diluted because it’s “won’t help our test
scores”. We are giving our
children the opportunity to attend and graduate from college at best, but
doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc. will be reserved for students from affluence
because we fail to expose children in urban communities to the skills and
subjects that will ensure their ability to succeed in these practices. So how are the children, really?
With charter schools gaining momentum and popularity, and
with investment public schools and reformed schools being the new trend in many
major cities, you would think that our students are being afforded more
opportunities and are increasingly able to succeed in college and beyond. The numbers and the realities in
schools both public and charter say otherwise. Despite the rise of
organizations seeking and claiming to address educational inequity, students in
low-income communities are still at a disadvantage when compared to their
suburban and more affluent peers.
So again I ask, how are the children, really? All of the facts say, the
children are still not ok.
