Let us not linger too long wringing our hands and shedding our tears. Be assured, I write this as one who has shed many a tear over the loss of far too many young people shot and killed in North Minneapolis over the last 20 years. But I get deeply angry with every one of these events that brings press coverage, political attention, and many tearful expressions of sorrow--- because this youth violence in North Minneapolis does not have to happen.
We could immediately set about addressing the problems that lead our precious young people to shoot each other by really following through in two ways: 1) connecting with all of the struggling families living in North Minneapolis, listening to them, hearing their concerns, and then communicating to them that we are going to take action;
2) letting these families then know that we will do everything in our power to address their concerns and to provide a vision for a future that holds hope for better lives. In doing the latter we must let our fellow human beings on the Northside know that we will help them access existing services for immediate relief from their day to day difficulties, but that over the long term we will be dedicating ourselves to the improvement of education for their children.
By comparison to the improvement of K-12 education, every other action on our part is just application of the bandaid, the treating of symptom rather than cause. On the Northside, we have to admit to ourselves that for over 30 years, at least since the late 1970s, the public K-12 schools of North Minneapolis have been on a steep decline into failure. From the late 1970s, as great numbers of Jewish and middle class African American people exited North Minneapolis for St. Louis Park and other near suburbs, many of those left behind have been the poorest community members. At the same time, very substantial numbers of in-migrants from gravely challenged communities in Chicago, Gary, and Detroit have moved to access relatively affordable rents and a bit tamer conditions of life in North Minneapolis. These more recent arrivals had little idea of the proud traditions that have abided on the Northside. They would, for example, know very little of the splendid activities of the Phyllis Wheatley Settlement House under the direction of W. Gertrude Brown into the 1930s, the lively community life that once centered on old 6th Avenue (today’s Olson Highway), and the excellent education that one could once get at North High School (which through the 1950s was the best high school in Minnesota). As the older, magnificent institutions of the Northside disappeared or became shadows of their former selves, and as North Minneapolis became more residentially dominated by people of significant poverty, the nature of the community and its needs underwent very sharp alteration.
White, middle class educators were overwhelmed amidst these shifts and hopelessly inadequate to the new challenges. There were virtually no African American teachers in the Minneapolis Public Schools of the 1970s. Too few African American educators were added during the subsequent decades. Even today, which features a greater presence of African American and other people of color at the administrative level, teachers are overwhelmingly white. More important, there is inadequate understanding from people of middle class backgrounds of all races who are employed by the Minneapolis Pubic Schools to feel in the gut the struggles of people from impoverished conditions and to comprehend the stark challenges that so many students face at home and in the community.
Then there is the problem of teacher quality and approaches to education. Teacher preparation programs are inadequate. There are virtually no teachers who have master’s degrees in legitimate disciplines granted, by way of example, in departments of history, math, biology, and English literature--- rather than in departments of education. There abides too much of the notion that those who preside in classrooms are facilitators for the pursuit of teacher and student interests, rather than expert conveyors of solid knowledge and skills. There are too many DVDs watched out of context, too many unfocused field trips, too many distracting assemblies and pep rallies, too many inadequate substitute teachers, too much turning to the back of the book to answer questions without any understanding of what chapters are actually presenting in the way of subject area knowledge.
Imagine school officials and other concerned people walking the streets of North Minneapolis on a consistent basis and telling people right where they live that, “We care.” Then imagine that we back that rhetoric up with action, immediate and long-term. Imagine young people in love with Shakespeare, August Wilson, the science of the natural world, the beauty of mathematics, and the sheer delight of great paintings and sculpture. Imagine young people so productively occupied in their abundant knowledge and interests that they have no time to shoot each other. Imagine that young people then know that knowledge is not only wonderful for its own sake, but that it also paves the way for success in business, law, medicine, and all endeavors in the world of work to which young people would aspire.
Know then as you know that the sun will come up tomorrow, there would also be a new day dawning in North Minneapolis. And know that you would blessedly have little need for all of that hand-wringing and all of those touching but ineffective tears.
Aug 24, 2011
How to Meet the Needs of Inner City Students
From at least the late 1970s, urban public schools have not met the needs of inner city students. In large measure the reasons for this failure have been two-fold: 1) inadequate preparation by college and university teacher training programs; and 2) the particular problems of inner city life, concerning which too few educational professionals have much experience or understanding. To cope with the two abiding reasons for the failure of the public schools to meet the needs of inner city youth, officials in the public schools need to do two logical things: 1) assume that conventional teacher training has been of little use, providing for enhanced training in subject area and pedagogy; and 2) establish services as necessary, and links to existing services, that address the needs of inner city families.
Teachers emerge from college and university programs of teacher preparation filled with harmful notions about the nature of education. Professors of education convey the idea that education is not primarily the transmission of knowledge from an expert to the student, but rather an investigation that should follow the particular interests of a classroom facilitator and students. This approach has led to the devaluation of inherited knowledge and thus a dearth of information abiding in the brains of high school seniors as they collect a diploma that signifies very little.
For retraining, teachers should be given sabbaticals and scholarships to return to the university to pursue a master’s degree in a legitimate discipline in departments of natural science, math, social science, and the humanities--- not in departments of education. If they previously have been deemed to be effective as to matters of classroom management and relationship with students, they can then to return to the classroom; if not, they should serve a full year under the guidance of a teacher of deep knowledge and pedagogical excellence.
With a knowledgeable and pedagogically adept teacher in every classroom, school officials should then reach out to students and families in ways that address their greatest needs, in school and right where they live. The high percentage of unnecessary employees in public school central offices should be retrained for useful positions that actually meet the needs of students. Many of these employees should be put to use as professional tutors, who join volunteer tutors in a massive effort to pull students who are struggling out of class for intense one on one instruction in areas of math and reading. Effectively implemented, such tutorial efforts would assure grade level performance by all students in both of these key skill areas.
Other central office employees should be retrained and sent out into the community to connect with families of students with attendance issues, or who manifest any of many problems that could stem from home, neighborhood, or community. There should be school representatives who have a presence on the streets of inner city neighborhoods, talking to students and the people who inhabit their social universe about the importance of education, listening and learning about the concerns of inner city people, inquiring into the life circumstances of students, and serving as links to city and state departments of health and social services.
School representatives who go directly onto the streets and into the homes of students in this way would have to be highly adroit in their approach. It would be important that they not come off as arrogant; rather, they would have to manifest solid knowledge in dealing with life concerns of inner city people while demonstrating genuine empathy in addressing their needs. Over time, strong relationships should be formed, so that each student and her or his family have one person employed by or associated with the school district to whom they know they can turn, in full faith and trust, for help with a problem.
If inner city school districts were to offer these sorts of links to the families of students, right where they live, student attendance in cases of extended absence or truancy would greatly improve. If students knew that they had a teacher of excellence in each classroom, where something of subject area substance is learned every day, she or he would have enhanced motivation for attendance and academic diligence. As with the solution to so many problems, the key initiatives for addressing the needs of inner city students can be easily stated, in this case summarized as 1) excellent teaching and 2) effective family outreach. To achieve the necessary level of teaching excellence and family outreach services, economic and human capital will have to undergo major shifts so as to invest in the necessary training of people who interact face to face with each precious young life.
Such a shift will require great courage in the face of pressures from many people heavily invested in maintaining the status quo. But if the shift were made, we could at last meet our imperative to provide excellent education to all people, regardless of their economic standing or life circumstances. In effectively addressing the needs of inner city youth, we would have taken giant steps toward the attainment of democracy.
Teachers emerge from college and university programs of teacher preparation filled with harmful notions about the nature of education. Professors of education convey the idea that education is not primarily the transmission of knowledge from an expert to the student, but rather an investigation that should follow the particular interests of a classroom facilitator and students. This approach has led to the devaluation of inherited knowledge and thus a dearth of information abiding in the brains of high school seniors as they collect a diploma that signifies very little.
For retraining, teachers should be given sabbaticals and scholarships to return to the university to pursue a master’s degree in a legitimate discipline in departments of natural science, math, social science, and the humanities--- not in departments of education. If they previously have been deemed to be effective as to matters of classroom management and relationship with students, they can then to return to the classroom; if not, they should serve a full year under the guidance of a teacher of deep knowledge and pedagogical excellence.
With a knowledgeable and pedagogically adept teacher in every classroom, school officials should then reach out to students and families in ways that address their greatest needs, in school and right where they live. The high percentage of unnecessary employees in public school central offices should be retrained for useful positions that actually meet the needs of students. Many of these employees should be put to use as professional tutors, who join volunteer tutors in a massive effort to pull students who are struggling out of class for intense one on one instruction in areas of math and reading. Effectively implemented, such tutorial efforts would assure grade level performance by all students in both of these key skill areas.
Other central office employees should be retrained and sent out into the community to connect with families of students with attendance issues, or who manifest any of many problems that could stem from home, neighborhood, or community. There should be school representatives who have a presence on the streets of inner city neighborhoods, talking to students and the people who inhabit their social universe about the importance of education, listening and learning about the concerns of inner city people, inquiring into the life circumstances of students, and serving as links to city and state departments of health and social services.
School representatives who go directly onto the streets and into the homes of students in this way would have to be highly adroit in their approach. It would be important that they not come off as arrogant; rather, they would have to manifest solid knowledge in dealing with life concerns of inner city people while demonstrating genuine empathy in addressing their needs. Over time, strong relationships should be formed, so that each student and her or his family have one person employed by or associated with the school district to whom they know they can turn, in full faith and trust, for help with a problem.
If inner city school districts were to offer these sorts of links to the families of students, right where they live, student attendance in cases of extended absence or truancy would greatly improve. If students knew that they had a teacher of excellence in each classroom, where something of subject area substance is learned every day, she or he would have enhanced motivation for attendance and academic diligence. As with the solution to so many problems, the key initiatives for addressing the needs of inner city students can be easily stated, in this case summarized as 1) excellent teaching and 2) effective family outreach. To achieve the necessary level of teaching excellence and family outreach services, economic and human capital will have to undergo major shifts so as to invest in the necessary training of people who interact face to face with each precious young life.
Such a shift will require great courage in the face of pressures from many people heavily invested in maintaining the status quo. But if the shift were made, we could at last meet our imperative to provide excellent education to all people, regardless of their economic standing or life circumstances. In effectively addressing the needs of inner city youth, we would have taken giant steps toward the attainment of democracy.
Aug 23, 2011
The Responsiblity of Teachers to Embrace History
Americans are a poorly educated people, if by educated we mean well-schooled in a liberal arts curriculum that includes knowledge of history, government, geography, economics, natural science, math, literature, and the fine arts. Knowledge of history is abysmal. This has consequences for the American body politic for every current issue that arises. So what about situations that abide in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Israel, or Syria? What historical events gave rise to the prevailing circumstances in those countries? What do we need to recall from history before determining the present course of United States policy in the context of those circumstances?
The reality is that we can recall very little, because we never learned very much. Within urban America, this absence of historical knowledge obscures understanding on the part of teachers who are thrust into situations that they are tempted to see strictly in contemporary terms, on the basis of what is right before their eyes, rather than from the vantage point of a history that always contributes powerfully to the present. Teachers of African American and other inner city young people would have a much more circumspect view of things if they had better knowledge of American history in general and the subset of African American history in particular.
Turmoil that characterizes a good deal of life at the urban core arose from distinct historical circumstances. Consider the following scenario. Most African Americans have roots to people who were brought from West and Central Africa as slaves. Slavery persisted until 1865, when involuntary servitude was made illegal by the 13th Amendment. After the Civil War, the United States embarked upon a hopeful period known as Reconstruction, which lasted until 1877. Reconstruction was an attempt led by people in the Republican Party to bring African Americans full powers of citizenship; in addition to the 13th Amendment, these leaders oversaw passage of the 14th Amendment bestowing the broad rights of citizenship to all adults, and the 15th Amendment bringing the right to vote to all males, regardless of race (the 19th Amendment would do the same for females in 1920).
But in the Compromise of 1877, Republicans backing Rutherford B. Hayes agreed to pull back federal troops from the South, in exchange for contested votes in Florida that otherwise might have gone to Democrat Samuel Tilden in the presidential election of 1876. Thus, there was no mechanism for enforcing rights of citizenship for African Americans in the South. The United States Supreme Court reinforced the misery with its >Plessy v. Ferguson< (1896) decision, opening the way for Black Codes and other measures in a system of segregation known as Jim Crow. Many African Americans could find no work except under crop sharing arrangements with plantation and other agricultural property owners, so that much of the South regressed to a state of life for African Americans that was reminiscent of the days of slavery, with additional nasty features of life such as lynching and roaming mobs such as the Ku Klux Klan.
Under these horrid conditions of life, thousands of African Americans began the Northern Migration from the South to the North, intensifying during a period from 1915 into the Great Depression years of the 1930s. Another great wave of African American migration northward ensued during the 1950s and 1960s, and in the 1970s Midwestern cities such as Des Moines and Minneapolis began to receive in-migrants from such northern cities as Detroit, Chicago, and Gary (Indiana). Migrants to the North had found work conditions better, but they were disappointed to find social and, especially, residential, discrimination that pointed them to certain communities, where they often settled alongside eastern Europeans, southern Europeans, and Jews, people whose residences were also limited under restricted housing covenants.
With the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, there was a notable exit by middle class whites and African Americans from the urban core toward the suburbs. Those left behind were often the poorest community members, who also had to make way for the arrivals from other northern and Midwestern cities who were seeking some relief from worsening conditions of life. They needed, though, the cheap rentals and some sense of cultural continuity offered by the areas of the city settled during the restricted covenant period. But the problems that often attend those mired in conditions of poverty abided and were made worse by the phenomenon of crack cocaine about 1980 and increased gang activity during the 1980s and 1990s.
White teachers dominated the public schools at the urban core. Having been accustomed to communities that had included many poor people with middle class values and aspirations, these teachers now had to confront the problems of people whose life circumstances were more clearly those of an underclass. These teachers were overwhelmed. The school systems in which they worked were overwhelmed. Neither has recovered to this day in 2011. Urban school systems have never responded to the needs of distinctly different populations that came to dominate the inner city by the 1980s.
Until teachers of inner city students get a better grip on the history that has created the conditions of the present, and develop means of addressing those conditions, they will be hard-pressed properly to educate the children for whom they have responsibility.
The reality is that we can recall very little, because we never learned very much. Within urban America, this absence of historical knowledge obscures understanding on the part of teachers who are thrust into situations that they are tempted to see strictly in contemporary terms, on the basis of what is right before their eyes, rather than from the vantage point of a history that always contributes powerfully to the present. Teachers of African American and other inner city young people would have a much more circumspect view of things if they had better knowledge of American history in general and the subset of African American history in particular.
Turmoil that characterizes a good deal of life at the urban core arose from distinct historical circumstances. Consider the following scenario. Most African Americans have roots to people who were brought from West and Central Africa as slaves. Slavery persisted until 1865, when involuntary servitude was made illegal by the 13th Amendment. After the Civil War, the United States embarked upon a hopeful period known as Reconstruction, which lasted until 1877. Reconstruction was an attempt led by people in the Republican Party to bring African Americans full powers of citizenship; in addition to the 13th Amendment, these leaders oversaw passage of the 14th Amendment bestowing the broad rights of citizenship to all adults, and the 15th Amendment bringing the right to vote to all males, regardless of race (the 19th Amendment would do the same for females in 1920).
But in the Compromise of 1877, Republicans backing Rutherford B. Hayes agreed to pull back federal troops from the South, in exchange for contested votes in Florida that otherwise might have gone to Democrat Samuel Tilden in the presidential election of 1876. Thus, there was no mechanism for enforcing rights of citizenship for African Americans in the South. The United States Supreme Court reinforced the misery with its >Plessy v. Ferguson< (1896) decision, opening the way for Black Codes and other measures in a system of segregation known as Jim Crow. Many African Americans could find no work except under crop sharing arrangements with plantation and other agricultural property owners, so that much of the South regressed to a state of life for African Americans that was reminiscent of the days of slavery, with additional nasty features of life such as lynching and roaming mobs such as the Ku Klux Klan.
Under these horrid conditions of life, thousands of African Americans began the Northern Migration from the South to the North, intensifying during a period from 1915 into the Great Depression years of the 1930s. Another great wave of African American migration northward ensued during the 1950s and 1960s, and in the 1970s Midwestern cities such as Des Moines and Minneapolis began to receive in-migrants from such northern cities as Detroit, Chicago, and Gary (Indiana). Migrants to the North had found work conditions better, but they were disappointed to find social and, especially, residential, discrimination that pointed them to certain communities, where they often settled alongside eastern Europeans, southern Europeans, and Jews, people whose residences were also limited under restricted housing covenants.
With the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, there was a notable exit by middle class whites and African Americans from the urban core toward the suburbs. Those left behind were often the poorest community members, who also had to make way for the arrivals from other northern and Midwestern cities who were seeking some relief from worsening conditions of life. They needed, though, the cheap rentals and some sense of cultural continuity offered by the areas of the city settled during the restricted covenant period. But the problems that often attend those mired in conditions of poverty abided and were made worse by the phenomenon of crack cocaine about 1980 and increased gang activity during the 1980s and 1990s.
White teachers dominated the public schools at the urban core. Having been accustomed to communities that had included many poor people with middle class values and aspirations, these teachers now had to confront the problems of people whose life circumstances were more clearly those of an underclass. These teachers were overwhelmed. The school systems in which they worked were overwhelmed. Neither has recovered to this day in 2011. Urban school systems have never responded to the needs of distinctly different populations that came to dominate the inner city by the 1980s.
Until teachers of inner city students get a better grip on the history that has created the conditions of the present, and develop means of addressing those conditions, they will be hard-pressed properly to educate the children for whom they have responsibility.
It takes a Village, But Where Are the Villagers?
Remember Adrianna, a composite character from a previous article, constructed from a type that I have known in a number of cases in the course of my many years teaching inner city young people. She was born with an IQ of 125, tending toward gifted, and she began school all smiles. Throughout her K-2 years she demonstrated such a precociousness that teachers and her mother (Bertha) discussed jumping Adrianna ahead to Grade 4; they decided, instead, that she would participate in the “Gifted and Talented” program while continuing her socialization process with people her own age.
Bertha died when Adrianna was in Grade 5, and this set off a series of events whereby this highly intelligent girl and formerly avid student became a high school dropout, connected to the life of the street, pregnant by age 16. She had sought help from counselors and teachers, but little help had been forthcoming. Her family circumstances had certainly impeded her along a once promising path, but her village (community members and school staff) had also been inadequately responsive.
So we say that it takes a village, but where were the villagers in the case of Adrianna? Where are the villagers in the cases of so many young people of the inner city? Why do so few people have the sense of social responsibility that would be necessary if we were ever truly to live by the “it takes a village” ethos? The answer lies largely in the fact that in the United States we live by the conceit that we are rugged individualists who can pull ourselves up by the bootstraps when we run into trouble. If we need help, we are supposed to look mainly to family for help. We say, in fact, that family is all-important in bringing a child up the right way, and in tending to the needs of the young person while she or he is still at home. We have a social welfare system, but by comparison to the corresponding programs of Europe and scattered other countries of the world, our welfare initiatives are attenuated and offered grudgingly.
Our public school educators fall back on the family responsibility argument when students do not excel academically, or when problems of family and community bear down so hard on the life of a precious young person that staying in school becomes difficult. Especially when confronted with the failure of so many children of color, children from dysfunctional families, and children from economically challenged homes, those who dwell within the education establishment are wont to say, “But the children bring so many problems into the school that are not of the school’s making.”
What would be our response if, when we went to the doctor, she or he told us that, sorry, we had smoked too much, exercised too little, eaten the wrong foods, or just plain been born with an unlucky body? What if attorneys told us that, sorry, we just shouldn’t have committed the crime? If we are all rugged individualists who can depend on ourselves for help, or if our families should have been expected to deter us from medical and legal problems, these arguments would be entirely justified. But we go seeking the help of such professionals confident that they will assist us, without falling back on the argument that they can’t do anything for us until we or our families take more responsibility for our own predicaments.
And so it should be for people who claim to be educational professionals. If students come to school burdened by problems that stem from ineffective families and individual failings, then that is the nature of the particular clients in question. True professionals create programs that truly help the student get back on track. Any teacher worthy of the name will find a way to nurture the challenged student toward grade level performance in math and reading, and will impart a solid knowledge base to that student across a liberal arts curriculum that includes also natural science, history, government, geography, economics, literature, and the fine arts. Because if that student comes to school the victim of a familial or social disease, the educator who effects the cure stops the disease in its tracks, so that that young person goes on to prosper, nurturing in turn her or his own children, ending the cycle of poverty, becoming an asset rather than a burden to the village.
So abandoning the conceit of the rugged individualist and taking up the role of villager in the long run benefits the village itself. When families struggle, conscientious villagers come around. They take over, offering food for the body, the brain, and the soul. They make sure that the children of the family go forward to live happy and useful lives. And in so doing the responsible villager knows that while engaged in an act of altruism, the villager herself or himself receives multiple benefits, as well.
And thus we would all live higher quality lives if more effective public educators were to emerge. Most especially, we would reap benefit upon benefit if each teacher embraced the role of true professional and did everything that she or he needs to do to make sure that each student is the recipient of an excellent education.
Bertha died when Adrianna was in Grade 5, and this set off a series of events whereby this highly intelligent girl and formerly avid student became a high school dropout, connected to the life of the street, pregnant by age 16. She had sought help from counselors and teachers, but little help had been forthcoming. Her family circumstances had certainly impeded her along a once promising path, but her village (community members and school staff) had also been inadequately responsive.
So we say that it takes a village, but where were the villagers in the case of Adrianna? Where are the villagers in the cases of so many young people of the inner city? Why do so few people have the sense of social responsibility that would be necessary if we were ever truly to live by the “it takes a village” ethos? The answer lies largely in the fact that in the United States we live by the conceit that we are rugged individualists who can pull ourselves up by the bootstraps when we run into trouble. If we need help, we are supposed to look mainly to family for help. We say, in fact, that family is all-important in bringing a child up the right way, and in tending to the needs of the young person while she or he is still at home. We have a social welfare system, but by comparison to the corresponding programs of Europe and scattered other countries of the world, our welfare initiatives are attenuated and offered grudgingly.
Our public school educators fall back on the family responsibility argument when students do not excel academically, or when problems of family and community bear down so hard on the life of a precious young person that staying in school becomes difficult. Especially when confronted with the failure of so many children of color, children from dysfunctional families, and children from economically challenged homes, those who dwell within the education establishment are wont to say, “But the children bring so many problems into the school that are not of the school’s making.”
What would be our response if, when we went to the doctor, she or he told us that, sorry, we had smoked too much, exercised too little, eaten the wrong foods, or just plain been born with an unlucky body? What if attorneys told us that, sorry, we just shouldn’t have committed the crime? If we are all rugged individualists who can depend on ourselves for help, or if our families should have been expected to deter us from medical and legal problems, these arguments would be entirely justified. But we go seeking the help of such professionals confident that they will assist us, without falling back on the argument that they can’t do anything for us until we or our families take more responsibility for our own predicaments.
And so it should be for people who claim to be educational professionals. If students come to school burdened by problems that stem from ineffective families and individual failings, then that is the nature of the particular clients in question. True professionals create programs that truly help the student get back on track. Any teacher worthy of the name will find a way to nurture the challenged student toward grade level performance in math and reading, and will impart a solid knowledge base to that student across a liberal arts curriculum that includes also natural science, history, government, geography, economics, literature, and the fine arts. Because if that student comes to school the victim of a familial or social disease, the educator who effects the cure stops the disease in its tracks, so that that young person goes on to prosper, nurturing in turn her or his own children, ending the cycle of poverty, becoming an asset rather than a burden to the village.
So abandoning the conceit of the rugged individualist and taking up the role of villager in the long run benefits the village itself. When families struggle, conscientious villagers come around. They take over, offering food for the body, the brain, and the soul. They make sure that the children of the family go forward to live happy and useful lives. And in so doing the responsible villager knows that while engaged in an act of altruism, the villager herself or himself receives multiple benefits, as well.
And thus we would all live higher quality lives if more effective public educators were to emerge. Most especially, we would reap benefit upon benefit if each teacher embraced the role of true professional and did everything that she or he needs to do to make sure that each student is the recipient of an excellent education.
An Education Disrupted, a Life Wasted
Call her Adrianna. She is a composite character, constructed from a type that I have known in a number of cases in the course of my many years teaching inner city young people. Adrianna was born with an IQ of 125, well above average, tending toward gifted. She began school all smiles, just loving the routine, reveling in her mastery of the alphabet, radiant when she began to put those letters together to make words, triumphant when the words came together as sentences, paragraphs, whole stories, and then the magic world of reading became hers for exploration. And then there were those magic numbers. She learned rapidly, faster than most people in her kindergarten class, to count to ten, then to 100, then by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.
And this pattern continued through Grade 2, by which time Adrianna had fully mastered addition and subtraction, long grasped the concept of regrouping, and gone forward to learn from older friends and relatives the fundamentals of multiplication and division. And she was delighting in reading children’s classics such as “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” and “From Tiger to Anansi.” Adrianna also ran across the tale, “The People Could Fly,” which had a powerful effect on her and led her to look for books that told about slavery and the fate of her people in the many decades thereafter. There was discussion of perhaps moving Adrianna on to Grade 4, but her mother decided along with the school staff that she would participate in the “Gifted and Talented” program while continuing her socialization process with people her own age.
Adrianna’s mother, Bertha, was a good woman who toiled as a clerk in a discount store for eight hours four days a week. She had a hard time getting fulltime work, so she accessed the social service system for help; food stamps became especially important, and her children all had free lunch through the public schools. Over the years there were times when she had to fall back on welfare (AFDC, then TANF), but she avoided that whenever she could. In addition to Adrianna, Bertha had two other children, a son name Houston, who was a year and a half younger than Adrianna; and a daughter, Patricia, who was two years older. Adrianna and Patricia had the same father; Bertha gave birth to Houston by another man. Neither male had ever established a presence. Houston’s dad looked in for awhile, and Patricia had a faint memory of having seen her dad. But Adrianna had never known her father at all.
Bertha died unexpectedly from complications of diabetes and kidney failure when Adrianna was in Grade 5. Houston’s dad was located, and although he soon moved to another city, Houston’s paternal grandmother took responsibility for the young boy. Adrianna and Patricia moved in with their maternal grandmother, Caroline. Caroline was a sweet woman who loved the girls, but she struggled with emphysema, and her parenting skills had atrophied over the years. She had no control over Patricia, who by this time was in Grade 7, just 13 years old, but in her budding beauty susceptible to the attentions of boys three and four years older. Patricia became pregnant halfway through her Grade 8 year. She stayed in school until she had nearly completed Grade 10, but by then her baby needed more and more of her attention. She got a job at a fast food restaurant, but the work was just part-time and Caroline struggled when she had to tend to the baby alone. Other family members, cousins and aunties, helped, but Patricia found herself staying at home a lot, too.
Meanwhile, Adrianna held on desperately to the solace of school. She continued her precocious academic path through Grade 7, consistently appearing on the “A” honor roll, reading voraciously, and helping others in her class when algebraic equations were first introduced. But in Grade 8, Patricia called upon Adrianna more and more to help take care of the baby. Caroline was sick a lot, in and out of the hospital, so that Adrianna missed a lot of those Grade 7 school days to take care of her grandmother. Adrianna found keeping up with her homework difficult, but she managed to make “B’s” and “C’s,” and she was hoping to get back on a better track as she entered Grade 9 for high school.
But things got worse. Family responsibilities mounted. At school Adrianna tried to get help sorting through the difficulties of her life, but she found counselors occupied with other matters and teachers unable to give her the help that she needed keeping up with geometry and biology. Adrianna never showed up for regular high school classes in Grade 10. She tried an alternative high school for awhile, but then she gave up there, too. She continued to read, finding her way to the plays of August Wilson and the poetry of Maya Angelou, but this was her only intellectual outlet. She also found her way to the street, to the wrong kinds of friends, to reefer and then harder drugs. She was flattered when a young man drew close and seemed to offer pleasure when so much real fun had gone out of life. But all that attention got her was her own baby, at a time when she was only 16 years of age.
Adrianna never finished high school, her family failed her, but if it takes a village, then her village had also failed her--- the people of her community and her school. She still had that 125 IQ, but it was hard to view her circumstances in any other way than in the context of a wasted life.
And this pattern continued through Grade 2, by which time Adrianna had fully mastered addition and subtraction, long grasped the concept of regrouping, and gone forward to learn from older friends and relatives the fundamentals of multiplication and division. And she was delighting in reading children’s classics such as “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” and “From Tiger to Anansi.” Adrianna also ran across the tale, “The People Could Fly,” which had a powerful effect on her and led her to look for books that told about slavery and the fate of her people in the many decades thereafter. There was discussion of perhaps moving Adrianna on to Grade 4, but her mother decided along with the school staff that she would participate in the “Gifted and Talented” program while continuing her socialization process with people her own age.
Adrianna’s mother, Bertha, was a good woman who toiled as a clerk in a discount store for eight hours four days a week. She had a hard time getting fulltime work, so she accessed the social service system for help; food stamps became especially important, and her children all had free lunch through the public schools. Over the years there were times when she had to fall back on welfare (AFDC, then TANF), but she avoided that whenever she could. In addition to Adrianna, Bertha had two other children, a son name Houston, who was a year and a half younger than Adrianna; and a daughter, Patricia, who was two years older. Adrianna and Patricia had the same father; Bertha gave birth to Houston by another man. Neither male had ever established a presence. Houston’s dad looked in for awhile, and Patricia had a faint memory of having seen her dad. But Adrianna had never known her father at all.
Bertha died unexpectedly from complications of diabetes and kidney failure when Adrianna was in Grade 5. Houston’s dad was located, and although he soon moved to another city, Houston’s paternal grandmother took responsibility for the young boy. Adrianna and Patricia moved in with their maternal grandmother, Caroline. Caroline was a sweet woman who loved the girls, but she struggled with emphysema, and her parenting skills had atrophied over the years. She had no control over Patricia, who by this time was in Grade 7, just 13 years old, but in her budding beauty susceptible to the attentions of boys three and four years older. Patricia became pregnant halfway through her Grade 8 year. She stayed in school until she had nearly completed Grade 10, but by then her baby needed more and more of her attention. She got a job at a fast food restaurant, but the work was just part-time and Caroline struggled when she had to tend to the baby alone. Other family members, cousins and aunties, helped, but Patricia found herself staying at home a lot, too.
Meanwhile, Adrianna held on desperately to the solace of school. She continued her precocious academic path through Grade 7, consistently appearing on the “A” honor roll, reading voraciously, and helping others in her class when algebraic equations were first introduced. But in Grade 8, Patricia called upon Adrianna more and more to help take care of the baby. Caroline was sick a lot, in and out of the hospital, so that Adrianna missed a lot of those Grade 7 school days to take care of her grandmother. Adrianna found keeping up with her homework difficult, but she managed to make “B’s” and “C’s,” and she was hoping to get back on a better track as she entered Grade 9 for high school.
But things got worse. Family responsibilities mounted. At school Adrianna tried to get help sorting through the difficulties of her life, but she found counselors occupied with other matters and teachers unable to give her the help that she needed keeping up with geometry and biology. Adrianna never showed up for regular high school classes in Grade 10. She tried an alternative high school for awhile, but then she gave up there, too. She continued to read, finding her way to the plays of August Wilson and the poetry of Maya Angelou, but this was her only intellectual outlet. She also found her way to the street, to the wrong kinds of friends, to reefer and then harder drugs. She was flattered when a young man drew close and seemed to offer pleasure when so much real fun had gone out of life. But all that attention got her was her own baby, at a time when she was only 16 years of age.
Adrianna never finished high school, her family failed her, but if it takes a village, then her village had also failed her--- the people of her community and her school. She still had that 125 IQ, but it was hard to view her circumstances in any other way than in the context of a wasted life.
Aug 22, 2011
Preparing Inner City Students for the ACT
As we contemplate getting more students from the inner city ready for college, we must face the difficulties of that task and do what we need to do to overcome them. We need a much better math program in our urban schools. By the end of Grade 3, all students should have mastered the four basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) using multiple digits and correctly opting for the appropriate operation in word problems. This means of course that mastery of multiplication tables 0-9 should take place no later than the Grade 3 year--- an assumption that we lamentably cannot make in the public schools at the present time.
In the course of the Grade 4-7 years, students should master fractions, decimals, percents, ratios, proportions, simple probability, and data presentation with charts, tables and graphs. In Grade 8 students should master algebra I, and by Grade 11 students should have added algebra II, geometry, and at least some trigonometry; it would be helpful by that point for students to have the opportunity to take calculus. By this time, students should have also been given a proper science sequence that culminates with rigorous biology and chemistry courses, and ideally with the opportunity to take physics.
Then there is the matter of preparing students to take those parts of the ACT that require verbal skills (writing and reading). Reading is perhaps the most difficult area for which to prepare students in inner city schools for success on the ACT. To illustrate the fundamental problem, consider the following portion of a passage from a practice ACT, an excerpt from Joseph Conrad’s short story, “Gaspar Ruiz: A Romantic Tale”:
Gaspar Ruiz had an acquiescent soul. But it was now stirred to revolt by his dislike to die the death of a traitor…
Lieutenant Santierra, little more than a boy at the time, and unused as yet to the sanguinary imbecilities of a state of war, had lingered nearby…
“My strength is as nothing against a mounted man with a lasso,” Gaspar Ruiz protested eagerly. “He dragged me behind his horse for half a mile.”
At this excellent reason, the sergeant only laughed contemptuously. The young officer hurried away after the Commandante. Presently, the adjutant of the castle came by. He was a truculent, raw-boned man in a ragged uniform. His spluttering voice issued out of a flat yellow face…”Drive the scoundrels in there.”
My experience has been that just this portion, representing only about 25% of the passage from Conrad’s work included in the ACT practice reading exam, is replete with vocabulary items that most inner city high school students do not know. Very often words that middle class people might take for granted are not readily
understood by youth from challenged urban environments. Thus, the words,
"revolt," "lieutenant," "mounted," "lasso," "sergeant," "Commandante,"
"spluttering," and "scoundrels" are not to be assumed as fully understood by high school students of the inner city. Then there are those words that are definitely
so problematic as to distract or confuse even the best contextual readers among students from challenged inner city communities: "acquiescent," "sanguinary,"
"imbecilities," "contemptuously," "adjutant", and "truculent." This means that there are a total of 13 words in this passage alone that might cause some difficulty, with at least 6 of these likely to cause a serious impediment to comprehension.
Some of this is undoubtedly true for students in public schools of the United States, whatever their socioeconomic descriptors. But increasingly middle class and upper class families hire private tutors who train students specifically for enhanced performance on the ACT. This would include explicit vocabulary instruction, reading comprehension strategies, and test-taking skills. Students from challenged inner city environments seldom get this kind of training.
The matter of vocabulary presents a particularly tangible way of getting at the disparities in equal educational opportunity that exist according to social class and community of residence. The inner city environment, often dominated by ebonics, in fact features a lively, metaphorical, emotionally expressive way of communication. This manner of communication can rise to heights of brilliant poetry. But it is not the vernacular of the middle class culture that dominates employment environments, whether in business, academia, or the professions. And it is not the vocabulary emphasized on the ACT, nor should it be. The ACT serves as an accurate indicator of success in colleges and universities, which in turn offer preparation for work, citizenship, and culture as dominated in the general society by the middle and upper classes.
If we wish to make of our society a genuine democracy, we must recognize the responsibility that educators have in giving students a good, well-rounded liberal arts education throughout the K-12 years. All students, whatever their socioeconomic descriptors, deserve an education that imparts to them the knowledge base to succeed on the ACT, including the level of vocabulary that students must master to succeed on that exam and in the classrooms of colleges and universities.
In the course of the Grade 4-7 years, students should master fractions, decimals, percents, ratios, proportions, simple probability, and data presentation with charts, tables and graphs. In Grade 8 students should master algebra I, and by Grade 11 students should have added algebra II, geometry, and at least some trigonometry; it would be helpful by that point for students to have the opportunity to take calculus. By this time, students should have also been given a proper science sequence that culminates with rigorous biology and chemistry courses, and ideally with the opportunity to take physics.
Then there is the matter of preparing students to take those parts of the ACT that require verbal skills (writing and reading). Reading is perhaps the most difficult area for which to prepare students in inner city schools for success on the ACT. To illustrate the fundamental problem, consider the following portion of a passage from a practice ACT, an excerpt from Joseph Conrad’s short story, “Gaspar Ruiz: A Romantic Tale”:
Gaspar Ruiz had an acquiescent soul. But it was now stirred to revolt by his dislike to die the death of a traitor…
Lieutenant Santierra, little more than a boy at the time, and unused as yet to the sanguinary imbecilities of a state of war, had lingered nearby…
“My strength is as nothing against a mounted man with a lasso,” Gaspar Ruiz protested eagerly. “He dragged me behind his horse for half a mile.”
At this excellent reason, the sergeant only laughed contemptuously. The young officer hurried away after the Commandante. Presently, the adjutant of the castle came by. He was a truculent, raw-boned man in a ragged uniform. His spluttering voice issued out of a flat yellow face…”Drive the scoundrels in there.”
My experience has been that just this portion, representing only about 25% of the passage from Conrad’s work included in the ACT practice reading exam, is replete with vocabulary items that most inner city high school students do not know. Very often words that middle class people might take for granted are not readily
understood by youth from challenged urban environments. Thus, the words,
"revolt," "lieutenant," "mounted," "lasso," "sergeant," "Commandante,"
"spluttering," and "scoundrels" are not to be assumed as fully understood by high school students of the inner city. Then there are those words that are definitely
so problematic as to distract or confuse even the best contextual readers among students from challenged inner city communities: "acquiescent," "sanguinary,"
"imbecilities," "contemptuously," "adjutant", and "truculent." This means that there are a total of 13 words in this passage alone that might cause some difficulty, with at least 6 of these likely to cause a serious impediment to comprehension.
Some of this is undoubtedly true for students in public schools of the United States, whatever their socioeconomic descriptors. But increasingly middle class and upper class families hire private tutors who train students specifically for enhanced performance on the ACT. This would include explicit vocabulary instruction, reading comprehension strategies, and test-taking skills. Students from challenged inner city environments seldom get this kind of training.
The matter of vocabulary presents a particularly tangible way of getting at the disparities in equal educational opportunity that exist according to social class and community of residence. The inner city environment, often dominated by ebonics, in fact features a lively, metaphorical, emotionally expressive way of communication. This manner of communication can rise to heights of brilliant poetry. But it is not the vernacular of the middle class culture that dominates employment environments, whether in business, academia, or the professions. And it is not the vocabulary emphasized on the ACT, nor should it be. The ACT serves as an accurate indicator of success in colleges and universities, which in turn offer preparation for work, citizenship, and culture as dominated in the general society by the middle and upper classes.
If we wish to make of our society a genuine democracy, we must recognize the responsibility that educators have in giving students a good, well-rounded liberal arts education throughout the K-12 years. All students, whatever their socioeconomic descriptors, deserve an education that imparts to them the knowledge base to succeed on the ACT, including the level of vocabulary that students must master to succeed on that exam and in the classrooms of colleges and universities.
Young Shakespeareans of North Minneapolis
On the North Side of Minneapolis there assembled this summer a foursome of students whose life descriptors would not typically make one think of the Shakespearean enthusiast. All will be Grade 9 students during academic year 2011-2012.
There is, for example, Raul. Raul enrolled in the New Salem Educational Initiative late in his Grade 6 year. At the time he was failing math and generally floundering in his subjects at school. His family is from Ecuador and speaks Spanish at home. Raul came immediately under my supervision in a minimum of one two-hour academic session every week, moving through a logically sequenced program of skill development in math and reading. Within two months Raul had pulled his math grade up to a “C-,” was doing better in each subject at school, and was manifesting no anger management problems. By his Grade 8 year, Raul was consistently making the “B” honor roll and in math was making “B’s” and eventually “A’s.” In the meantime, on the way to and from each weekly session (I provide transportation to all of my students) Raul was continuing to ask me questions aplenty in his insatiable curiosity and intense pursuit of knowledge. One day a question about Shakespeare resulted in my guiding him toward >Hamlet<, >King Lear<, and >A Midsummer Night’s Dream<; before academic year’s end he had read the two tragedies in their entire Elizabethan versions and awaited a chance that would soon come with the comedy.
Consider also the case of Maria, another native Spanish speaker, in this case from El Salvador. Maria had enrolled in the New Salem Educational Initiative as a Grade 5 student during 2007-2008. At the time she was functioning two grade levels below that of school enrollment in math, two years below standard in reading. By her Grade 7 year, Maria had pulled fully up to grade level in both key skill areas and had embarked on a college track course of study. She responded with alacrity to a wide ranging program in the liberal arts, always listening with great intensity to my comments on the worlds of history, government, literature, natural science, and the fine arts. Shakespeare also came into her consciousness, and she began aggressive college-level vocabulary instruction in anticipation of the day when she would take on something as challenging as the Bard.
Then there is Samantha, a native of Nigeria whose first language is Yoruba. She was a respectful but rather indifferent student when she first enrolled in the Initiative during her Grade 5 year of 2007-2008. She was functioning one grade level below that of school enrollment in both math and reading. By academic year’s end, Samantha was functioning at grade level in both key skill areas. By Grade 7 Samantha had reached a take-off point of high ambition, moving through advanced vocabulary lists and reading material, exploring diverse material from across the liberal arts curriculum. Her ears also perked up when our conversation turned to Shakespeare; she had relatives studying in Great Britain, and the Bard’s name rang a bell.
And there is Marianna, the most remarkable of all of these fabulous students. She began studying in the New Salem Educational Initiative when she was in Grade 3, floundering in school and failing to show grade level results in either math or reading. By her Grade 5 year she was securely at grade level, taking an elevated interest in all subjects, including classical literature; she began at that point to read selections from Shakespearean plays such as >Romeo and Juliet<. With her longtime tenure in the Initiative, by Grade 6 Marianna was moving well along in a course of college preparatory study of the sort one would expect of upper middle class children at private schools
But none of these students is even middle class. They all come from impoverished families, including two cases of serious familial dysfunction. But they all responded to an aggressive program of skill development, enthusiastic teaching, ambitious academic goals, and the close relationship that their teacher in the Initiative was forging with their families. During this summer 2011-2012, I led these students in a reading of >A Midsummer Night’s Dream<. We discussed every verbal nuance, the many references to classical mythology, and the chief thematic elements. Then we traveled to the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, Minnesota, to see a splendid performance of the play.
At the play, these inner city students laughed as hard as if they were seeing a teen gross-out comedy. They were more attentive than many of the adults in attendance. They talked excitedly on our way back to Minneapolis and expressed a strong desire to return the following summer to see >Hamlet< and >Two Gentlemen of Verona<. These Shakespeareans of inner city Minneapolis should remind us all that students of any economic background and any life circumstance can succeed when we treat them seriously as students, provide the instruction that underscores that seriousness, and establish elevated goals along a path that they traverse in logical sequence toward the academic summit.
There is, for example, Raul. Raul enrolled in the New Salem Educational Initiative late in his Grade 6 year. At the time he was failing math and generally floundering in his subjects at school. His family is from Ecuador and speaks Spanish at home. Raul came immediately under my supervision in a minimum of one two-hour academic session every week, moving through a logically sequenced program of skill development in math and reading. Within two months Raul had pulled his math grade up to a “C-,” was doing better in each subject at school, and was manifesting no anger management problems. By his Grade 8 year, Raul was consistently making the “B” honor roll and in math was making “B’s” and eventually “A’s.” In the meantime, on the way to and from each weekly session (I provide transportation to all of my students) Raul was continuing to ask me questions aplenty in his insatiable curiosity and intense pursuit of knowledge. One day a question about Shakespeare resulted in my guiding him toward >Hamlet<, >King Lear<, and >A Midsummer Night’s Dream<; before academic year’s end he had read the two tragedies in their entire Elizabethan versions and awaited a chance that would soon come with the comedy.
Consider also the case of Maria, another native Spanish speaker, in this case from El Salvador. Maria had enrolled in the New Salem Educational Initiative as a Grade 5 student during 2007-2008. At the time she was functioning two grade levels below that of school enrollment in math, two years below standard in reading. By her Grade 7 year, Maria had pulled fully up to grade level in both key skill areas and had embarked on a college track course of study. She responded with alacrity to a wide ranging program in the liberal arts, always listening with great intensity to my comments on the worlds of history, government, literature, natural science, and the fine arts. Shakespeare also came into her consciousness, and she began aggressive college-level vocabulary instruction in anticipation of the day when she would take on something as challenging as the Bard.
Then there is Samantha, a native of Nigeria whose first language is Yoruba. She was a respectful but rather indifferent student when she first enrolled in the Initiative during her Grade 5 year of 2007-2008. She was functioning one grade level below that of school enrollment in both math and reading. By academic year’s end, Samantha was functioning at grade level in both key skill areas. By Grade 7 Samantha had reached a take-off point of high ambition, moving through advanced vocabulary lists and reading material, exploring diverse material from across the liberal arts curriculum. Her ears also perked up when our conversation turned to Shakespeare; she had relatives studying in Great Britain, and the Bard’s name rang a bell.
And there is Marianna, the most remarkable of all of these fabulous students. She began studying in the New Salem Educational Initiative when she was in Grade 3, floundering in school and failing to show grade level results in either math or reading. By her Grade 5 year she was securely at grade level, taking an elevated interest in all subjects, including classical literature; she began at that point to read selections from Shakespearean plays such as >Romeo and Juliet<. With her longtime tenure in the Initiative, by Grade 6 Marianna was moving well along in a course of college preparatory study of the sort one would expect of upper middle class children at private schools
But none of these students is even middle class. They all come from impoverished families, including two cases of serious familial dysfunction. But they all responded to an aggressive program of skill development, enthusiastic teaching, ambitious academic goals, and the close relationship that their teacher in the Initiative was forging with their families. During this summer 2011-2012, I led these students in a reading of >A Midsummer Night’s Dream<. We discussed every verbal nuance, the many references to classical mythology, and the chief thematic elements. Then we traveled to the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, Minnesota, to see a splendid performance of the play.
At the play, these inner city students laughed as hard as if they were seeing a teen gross-out comedy. They were more attentive than many of the adults in attendance. They talked excitedly on our way back to Minneapolis and expressed a strong desire to return the following summer to see >Hamlet< and >Two Gentlemen of Verona<. These Shakespeareans of inner city Minneapolis should remind us all that students of any economic background and any life circumstance can succeed when we treat them seriously as students, provide the instruction that underscores that seriousness, and establish elevated goals along a path that they traverse in logical sequence toward the academic summit.
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