I don’t know why Oprah doesn’t like me, but she obviously doesn’t want me to sleep soundly this week. Or have normal blood pressure. Because do you know what she did? She followed up the “girls going wild” show with another well-it’s-clear-I’ll-never-rest-again program: “America: Schools In Crisis.”
Truth be told, we only got about three-quarters of the way through the show before we had to turn it off. It was too depressing. I’ll finish watching it today, but between Monday’s Paris Hilton-wannabes and yesterday’s deplorable conditions at an inner-city high school in Chicago, my mind had had all the “WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WRONG?” that it could take.
All three of the kids in my family went to public schools, and I think it’s accurate to say that we each had pros and cons to our school experiences. I probably had the most “pros.” Sister and Stacy were both affected by the growing pains that came with desegregation…but by the time I came along, a lot of those issues had worked themselves out. I was in mostly honors classes with pretty much the same group of students in each class, and in retrospect I realize that we had our own little college prep curriculum within the much larger school-wide curriculum. When I graduated from high school, I was prepared for college. Plain and simple.
But a lot has happened in the last twenty years. What Oprah focused on yesterday was the great and ever-increasing discrepancy between suburban high schools and inner-city high schools. Her producers arranged a student swap, with suburban kids spending the day at Marvin High School in Chicago and Marvin High’s students spending the day at a sprawling multi-million dollar high school in the Chicago suburbs. Both groups were astounded by what they saw. I won’t go into all the details – you can find them here – but what I watched was a wake-up call for me.
Before everybody starts chiming in about public vs. private schools, that’s not what this discussion is about. I know we all have varying perspectives in terms of public schools vs. Christian schools vs. homeschooling. I know we all feel passionately about whatever we’ve chosen for our kids, and I have no doubt that y’all have made decisions that are the very best for your family. So that’s not what this is about…you don’t have to argue or defend your choice.
Because here’s the thing. We, you and I, have had a choice about where we want our kids to go to school. We have options. Most of us live in nice suburban areas with great school systems. David and I have at least five excellent school districts within a 10 mile radius of our house. We’ve chosen for Alex to go to a Christian school when he starts kindergarten, and we are grateful that financially we have that option. But before we all start patting ourselves on the backs that we’ve worked hard and finished college and blah blah blah so that we can make these choices for our children, let me put this thought out into the webosphere: we, as a nation, are failing an entire generation of children.
Specifically, we’re failing poor children, the ones who DON’T have options, the ones who can’t afford to move to suburbia, the ones who have virtually no tax base in their area and therefore no money to hire good teachers. I hope that I’m not going to step on toes as I talk about this. But in case I do, I’ll just go ahead and say the following: “’scuse me…beg your pardon…I’m so sorry…are you okay?”
I know that none of us are capable of single-handedly taking on the educational system and revolutionizing it. I don’t know that any of us would know how to do that. I do know that several of you have been vocal supporters of city school systems (I’m not talking about suburban systems…that’s a different discussion) but eventually became frustrated because you wanted more for your children. And who can blame you for that? Many inner-city schools are a mess…teachers receive tenure because they’re affiliated with unions and the school boards are terrified to fight back, basic repairs aren’t made because there’s no money (you can’t get blood from a turnip, after all) and kids sit in classrooms with ceilings falling in and mold growing up the walls. Kids aren’t encouraged or motivated at home, and honestly, who among us at 15 or 16 would have been self-sufficient enough to get up and get to school without the consistent encouragement of our parents? Or without the discipline that resulted from NOT going to school?
But there are kids, how many I don’t know, who have to attend schools in poverty-stricken areas and who want to do better, who want to succeed, who have the full and unconditional support of their parents…and there’s nothing. there. for. them. educationally. Nothing.
There was a clip yesterday of the inner-city kids walking through a computer lab at the suburban high school, and their mouths were hanging open at the sight of so much technology. One of the sweet young girls looked at the brand-new computers and said, “If this was at our school, the keyboard would be missing, or someone would’ve stolen the ball out of the mouse.” Her comment reminded me that in so many ways, this crisis has nothing to do with a school building and everything to do with the decline of the family. Schools are in crisis in large part because families are in crisis, and until parents decide to deal with those “heart issues” (I know I say that all the time, and I’m sure it’s annoying, but it’s TRUE), I don’t see how anything will change.
I don’t know if y’all saw this report on 20/20 – and granted, I take a lot of what I see on the news with a grain of salt – but it does point out some of the problems with America’s schools, chief among them that very few schools – public or private – can compete internationally. In about 20 years, we’re going to see huge ramifications from this shortfall, because business-wise, industry-wise, we’re just not going to be able to hang with India and China and other nations that have their education ducks in a row.
I wish I had an inspiring conclusion, or some sharp insight, or a magic wand to wave and make everything all better. But I do think we’re seeing a direct effect of what happens when families fall apart, and kids aren’t held accountable, and adults – whether parents or teachers or both – don’t try to hold them accountable because they’re not accountable, either. Like Atticus said after the trial in To Kill A Mockingbird, “Don’t fool yourselves – it’s all adding up and one of these days we’re going to pay the bill for it. I hope it’s not in you children’s time.”
And I promise that tomorrow – maybe even later today – I’ll try to return to our normally light-hearted BooMama content. But y’all – think about what life will be like when, a generation down the road, almost half of our working population HASN’T FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL. We can’t stay in our suburban bubbles indefinitely, you know?
Many of our schools are asleep at the wheel. So the question remains: what will it take to wake them – and us – up? Are we past the point of no return? Because there’s a big concrete wall about 1/2 mile down the educational road, and we’re headed straight toward it.
I saw parts of that last night, when it was being re-run. It WAS alarming. I do think you are right about the family issues. People just don’t get how much the condition of the family affects everything. I also think it is a political issue. The conditions of the school that they showed in the DC area were deplorable. And for the most part, it was not caused by the students, but a complete lack of maintenance. How can a kid learn in that facility without possesing a unique personality type that will help them to rise above the circumstances?
Time Magazine has just arrived in the mailbox and the cover says, “Special Report: Dropout Nation”. The story is focused on Shelbyville, Indiana and the high school there that has a high rate of drop outs. I was reading along about this one and that one and why they dropped out and then I got to the honor student who sold $300 ads for the yearbook but could not get along with the cheerleader on the yearbook staff so HER MOTHER LET HER DROP OUT OF SCHOOL! Her mother dropped out herself when she was 16, but Susan had it better, she was “getting it”. You can drop a gazillion dollars into these school systems but until parents and guardians step up to the plate and become pro active in their children’s lives nothing is going to change. When I was a field ex for the Girl Scouts, I was visiting with the principal at the public school here in my hometown. He told me that he wished that he could have the students everyday because, “maybe then they could learn something. When they go home for the summer it’s just undone and we have to start all over.” Parents have to wake up! They can not blame their socio economic level on why or why not they are involved in their children’s education. I live in one of the poorest parts of the country and it breaks my heart to see it. Just like yesterday a mama in Wal Mart yelled at her child to “SHUT UP”. It just so happened that I was hugging on my son while we were in the check out lime and the mama said to her, “You don’t deserve a hug!” I wanted to cry and I said to the little girl, “Honey, I’ll give you a hug.” I degress…I guess because it hurt my heart so and it has been on my mind all day. I just wonder if that little girl will ever find her way and be encouraged to be all that she can be. As a society we do have a responsibility to these children but parents, a parent, a guardian has to accountable.
See? Doesn’t your heart just break for those kids? It DOES take encouragement for most children to do better. Some have, like Addie mentioned, a “unique personality type” that will enable them to overcome anything…but most of them are like most of us and need a pat on the back, a HUG every now and again. But if teachers show up just to collect a check, or if administrators are just riding out the wave until retirement, or if parents see education as the sole responsibility of the school, or if kids aren’t taught the value of an education, then I don’t see how it’ll ever get better. I do think two things would help, though: 1) no teacher unions (fat chance on that one) and 2) merit pay (fat chance on that one, too). But neither of those will make a bit of difference until top-heavy adminstrative positions get weeded out and additional teachers are hired in their places.
**This is solely my opinion and BooMama may use her “editing skills” on me, but I realize that it’s her call.**
Side note: Reading all of your comments reminds me of the movie, “Lean On Me”, where Morgan Freeman played a principal determined to improve the inner-city school that he had been appointed. Good flick, by the way.
Now, for the “real life issue” at hand, I contend that it all starts at home, so once again, I blame the parents. I realize that not all students have a supportive family unit, and if that’s the case, then hopefully that mentoring role would be filled by a teacher, close family friend or a member of the clergy.
But I realize that by putting it in a nice little “blame the parents” package, I’m making it all sound too easy.
However, if anybody cared enough to read/hear what I really thought was the demise of our public school system, I could fill a BooMama page in a heartbeat. Instead, I’ll give you the “Cliffs Notes”.
BooMama mentioned that my brother and I were affected by the “growing pains” that came from desegregation. One thing she didn’t mention was that our school system was the last one in the nation to desegregate. We’d always had “Freedom of Choice” until my 9th grade year (BooMama was just a couple of months old), when a Federal Court Order said, “Do It Or Else.” Let me add that our schools were integrated (by the Freedom of Choice Act), but not enough to satisfy the Federal Government. Let me also add that we “did it” (mid-term, no less), with Federal Marshals present, all without incident. I, along with others, rode past my old school to get to my new one across town. We all blended beautifully together. As a result, I became friends with some people who I might not have ever met.
In the meantime, they made a mess out of our public schools. A big ol’ mess…while I sadly watched firsthand.
Please excuse me if I’m off track or missing the point, but as a “before and after” witness, I see a direct correlation between all of this. In my opinion, it’s been a downward, downward, spinning-out-of-control-spiral, which unfortunately, many of today’s parents are products of themselves.
So, is it really fair that I blame the parents?
You know that Beck and Houston’s school was written up in the NY times because they opened an inner city campus for minority kids. When the kids get into 6th grade they will join the others (Beck and Houston) at the Collierville Campus. Everything is going well and I have both boys playing soccer with the inner city St. George’s kids. We play in the Church leauge and they are fitting in very well. They were scared to death of me and the other coach when we first started in basketball but now everybody fits in great. Most of these kids did not stand a chance but the Head of the School screens the parents as hard as he screens the kids and it works. Christ Methodist up here started giving out scholarships to minority kids and a bunch of the white parents threw a fit. St. George’s is working great.
What I think about that, Stacy, is that it’s so interesting that a Christian school is doing the hard work in terms of giving underprivileged kids a chance. I love that those kids aren’t completely taken out of their comfort zone early on (they’re not being bused hither there and yon)…they get the chance to increase confidence and abilities in a familiar environment when they’re young, and by the time they get to the high school in C’ville, they’ll know everyone, fit right in, etc.
It’s proof that it CAN BE DONE – it’s just disappointing to me that oftentimes when the federal govt. tries to get involved (No Child Left Behind – I’m sorry, it’s a joke), they mess it up. If schools like St. George’s can step up to the plate, I don’t know why suburban public schools can’t, too. BUT, this is coming from a person who’s a fan of school choice. Period. Vouchers? I’m fine with them, provided that the powers-that-be at a school – like your Head of School – have a fair and rigorous screening process to make sure that the parents and the students are serious about the opportunity.
But what that doesn’t solve is that there’s an increasingly growing segment of the population that’s apathetic about education – and like Sister said, THAT goes back to parents. It’s like that high school that LM mentioned – a THIRTY PERCENT drop out rate. 1 out of 3 kids, essentially. Aside from our nation’s health care fiasco, I think this is the biggest problem we’ve got going domestically. In my HUMBLE opinion, of course. :-)
Also, I think Sister and I are in total agreement about how the federal govt. overlegislates education. Please listen to me. I’m not saying that integration ruined the schools in our hometown. OF COURSE schools should be integrated. Duh. Like Sister said, the kids got along beautifully. But the 49,000 things on the govt.’s checklist crippled administrators in terms of really being able to lead (save my former hs principal, who led effectively in spite of the govt., not because of it).
Ironically, what’s happened is that the govt. has unintentionally created a whole new segregated educational system (haves segregated from have-nots in the place of blacks segregated from whites) as a result of all their badly bungled interventions…because people who can afford to get out of districts that are hogtied by governmental red tape and top-heavy administrations have either moved to suburban systems, transferred to private schools, or decided to homeschool their kids.
Y’all can probably tell that I am passionate about this subject, but I was a witness to it all, so please let me vent…
As I’ve read more and more about what was really going on behind the scenes during those first years of forced integration in our city school system, it shows me a classic example of short sightedness by the Federal Government. It was a political quick fix. The End. There was no consideration of the ultimate fallout of what they did. They had one goal to achieve, and in my opinion, no consideration of how it affected the students, teachers and their families. In the end, it has not only eaten away, year after year, at what was a fabulous school system that people were proud of, it has also destroyed neighborhoods and their beautiful surroundings. I see it each time I return to our hometown. It is heartbreaking.
I so admire Dr. Todd (Superintendent of Schools during that time) for standing his ground. I believe his not bowing to their (Fed Govt) initial demands was not because he didn’t want blacks and whites in school together, but he truly believed it would be the beginning of the end. He fought hard for all of us, but finally had to step aside and let it happen.
They should have listened to the Dr. Todd’s of the world.
Ok. I’ve been thinking and thinking about this topic (really for most of my adult life but especially for the last two days). I do think the demise of the family is to blame often, but I guess I always go back to the notion that the child can’t help what family he’s born into. He can’t help it if he has a bad role model; we can just hope that he has good role models in teachers and other adults (like Sister said).
It is heartbreaking to me (even two years later) to love, love, love the private school I am able to afford for my kids while I work daily at inner-city poor, poor public schools. There is such a disparity, and, really, things are being segregated again. I love the program Stacy mentioned, and I would love to see my kids’ school reach out like that.
This subject more than any keeps me up at night and makes me so sad, but as my former EFM (Education for Ministry – a program of the Episcopal church) mentor used to say, “EFM helps us learn to live in the tension.” She made me realize that I cannot solve all the problems of the world (which I would LOVE to do), but I have to learn to live in the tension of the world and do my best to be a light of God’s love to the world (whew, enough from me tonight. I better go back and read your post about Martha before I get all depressed again!)
Liz – that’s where I struggle…with the “tension of the world.” It is so hard for me. I was emailing with Jon today, and we were talking about how so many of us who are products of public schools are now putting our kids in private schools or Christian schools. I know most of us still have that idealism that public schools SHOULD BE our best bet…but like I told JH…you can’t make your kids be martyrs for a lost cause, can’t make them bear the burden of your idealism. That is hard for me, because in my perfect world, I’d love for A. to have the public school experience that I did. My life is richer because of it.
I’m with you – I have thought about this almost nonstop for two days. It has literally kept me awake at night. But I can’t solve it. I just wish there were some way to make it fair.
Stacy is going to send me an article about the program at St. George’s…I’ll forward it to you. Maybe that can be my mission field 10 or so years down the road, to do something like that here…maybe you could do the same where you are. I think it would have to be incredibly rewarding, and it encourages me to know that programs like that are out there.
This subject is VERY dear to me, because we have chosen public education for our four children. When my parents saw the episode of 20/20 they called and tried to encourage us to send our children elsewhere- even to the point of footing the bill! Our family is very fortunate to live in a community with great public schools, so I wouldn’t agree to leave and I was offended that they even suggested it! I do, however, see a huge lack of parental guidance. I am a room mom for each child, so I see first hand that many children are out there fending for themselves. I know we can’t change the demise of public education, but we can help by offering love and hope to one child at a time. Your blog has just given me a great idea-thanks!
WENDO – I MISS YOU!
I want to hear about your great idea.
And you are definitely the exception to the 20/20 story – such incredible public schools where you are.