Just as I was catching up with these posts, I read an interesting article about why schools are failing poor students and students of color, in the issue of Race, Poverty, and the Environment that just arrived, called "The Drive to Oust the Middle Class from Inner City Public Schools," by Margot Pepper, who I believe is an elementary school teacher in Berkeley, CA.   

Another article, "Education as Enforcement:  Militarization and Corporatization of Schools," by Kenneth J. Saltman, is also very relevant to this discussion.  There are also articles on multi-service immigrant community organizations, day labor education programs, popular education, and using youth media in education, that deserve a look.

The journal is one I recently subscribed to and have found much of it worthwhile and extremely interesting, by the way.   It comes out of Oakland, CA, published by the Urban Habitat Program and the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, twice a year.  While it is pretty radical and powerfully partisan, it is very well written and produced and I think well worth checking out.  The current issue focuses mainly on education, the one before on bringing community and labor groups together, and others on various immigration and immigrant issues.    There's often a powerful article relating to adult literacy and also workforce development.  You can see the current issue at <www.urbanhabitat.org>.

Laurie



Laurie Sheridan, Workforce Development Coordinator
World Education/SABES Central Resource Center
44 Farnsworth St.
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 482-9485 
lsheridan at worlded.org
 
SABES:  Training Leaders in Adult Basic Education 



>>> Andrea Wilder <andreawilder at comcast.net> 11/25/2007 9:11 PM >>>

Liz--

It is even later, Sunday.  The conditions you describe are awful.   
Schools must respond to real circumstances, but often they don't have  
the money, either.  Somewhere there is a saying about looking upstream  
to find out why there are so many bodies in the river.  Adult educators  
are in a UNIQUE position--from their own classrooms they can come to  
some conclusions about  why the bodies got in the river.  I think we  
should make a new graphic, one that is a circle, in which the people at  
the end of the line--adult educators--circle back to put their  
knowledge into the school system.  We usually think in a linear fashion  
about these problems, so the accumulated knowledge isn't used.

Andrea

On Nov 25, 2007, at 8:43 PM, Andrea Wilder wrote:


> Hi Liz,

>

> It is late (for me) Sunday, so I will just say that we should  

> interview the drop-outs to see why they have dropped out. Also--kids  

> know school is important,, it is a cultural norm;  often pleasing the  

> parents is in there too.  No one wants to fail.

>

> Andrea

>

> On Nov 25, 2007, at 6:29 PM, Liz Hawkins wrote:

>

>> I think one of the problems with public education is that we often  

>> assume kids are fundamentally different from adults.  We assume that  

>> kids should and will go to school and try to succeed because they are  

>> required to do so and need to do so in order to get along in life;  

>> whereas adults presumably seek out education by choice.  However,  

>> making education compulsory for kids does not change the fact that  

>> students (of any age) will choose what they want to learn and how  

>> hard they will work to learn it based on a variety of factors.  

>>

>> Andre brought up the cultural/social issues that exist, and I  

>> certainly agree.  Students who see school as a place which offends  

>> and threatens their cultural ideals will struggle there.  When I  

>> taught in the public school system in S. Atlanta, I frequently had  

>> high school students (or even younger) who really needed to work (not  

>> in the future, but right then) in order to help support their  

>> families.  Although  I tried to be sensitive to these students'  

>> needs, I found myself insisting that education should be a priority,  

>> and in doing so without offering them any real solutions to their  

>> present dilemmas, alienating them.  At school, they are told they  

>> must succeed in school in order to have a hope for a better, more  

>> economically comfortable life, but that does not make sense to a  

>> child who knows she might not get to eat this weekend, that her  

>> little brother may not have shoes to wear this winter, or that her  

>> own baby will have no one to look after it if she goes to school  

>> every day and does all her homework instead of finding ways to make  

>> money.  Certainly these situations are not fair, but they are real,  

>> and if we want to improve education, we need to address these  

>> problems in the community as well.

>>

>> Dana mentioned the focus on testing as a fundamental problem in  

>> school systems, and this too is absolutely true, but the testing  

>> issue is representative of the same underlying issue--students fail  

>> to see a lack of relevance between what they are being told to learn  

>> and what they need to survive.  They do not understand (and neither  

>> do many teachers) why being able to pass a standardized test is  

>> important, and yet being able to pass the test is the primary  

>> incentive they are presented with as motivation to learn the  

>> material.  Having taught 9th and 10th graders, I know that there are  

>> many teachers who strive to make these connections and show their  

>> students how getting an education is truly, really, immediately and  

>> in the long-term, beneficial.  I was one of them, but honestly, more  

>> often than not I had a hard time seeing the relevance myself. 

>>

>> So the issue remains that public school at present is not relevant to  

>> everyone.  I think that technical education programs,  

>> accelerated/dual enrollment programs, and magnet schools are all  

>> steps in the right direction toward making sure there are different  

>> types  of education available to meet different people's needs, but  

>> we need to do more.  If we can figure out what people really need and  

>> try to give it to them, perhaps parents and communities will again  

>> rally behind the educational system, providing local support and  

>> encouraging political changes at the state and national levels as  

>> well.  Rather than continuing to treat the symptoms of a poor  

>> educational system by prescribing medications (such as No Child Left  

>> Behind), many of which themselves have heinous side effects, we need  

>> to pull out the scalpel and operate on the core issues.

>>

>> -Liz

>>

>>

>> Dana Donohue <dana.donohue at gmail.com> wrote:Hi Andre and Andrea.

>>> Although I have never been a school teacher, I currently work on a  

>>> reading research project in several elementary schools in Atlanta. I  

>>> was curious about your statement, Andrea, that we still need to come  

>>> to an agreement about what the problems in the schools are. Excuse  

>>> my naivety, but is there still no consensus? Here are some of the  

>>> major problems that I have seen and have discussed with teachers.  

>>> First (and probably foremost), the focus on testing creates a lot of  

>>> apprehension and fear that if they (the classes and/or schools)  

>>> perform poorly, more of their funding will be taken away. Second,  

>>> there appears to be a lot of variability in the skills and expertise  

>>> between both schools and teachers. I'm guessing that this, too, may  

>>> stem from the funding issue. Lastly, I think that especially in the  

>>> poorer areas, there lacks that important bond between the schools  

>>> and the parents. These bonds may encourage children to stay engaged  

>>> in the learning process. I suppose that a good place to start to fix  

>>> these problems would be a push by educators to overhaul or do away  

>>> with No Child Left Behind. Of course, I'm not a teacher and so I am  

>>> curious about what teachers think about how to fix the myriad of  

>>> issues that hinder children's education.

>>>  

>>> Dana

>>>

>>>  

>>> On 11/24/07, Andrea Wilder <andreawilder at comcast.net> wrote: Andre--

>>>>

>>>> I understand what you are saying.  I wrote what I did because I  

>>>> think

>>>> there is enough experience and brain power on this list serv and  

>>>> others

>>>> to light up a good-sized city.  Where I live, school boards get

>>>> elected. They are supposed to be the link between the school and us,

>>>> and they are answerable to us--us meaning the people who elected  

>>>> them.

>>>> Here, the "us" are the extremely knowledgeable members of this list

>>>> serv.  We know the consequences of school failure.  This is useful

>>>> knowledge, not only for the dropouts, but what may be behind the  

>>>> drop

>>>> outs.  I am convinced that groups of people with this knowledge, in  

>>>> our

>>>>  communities, can make a difference.   I used to be a school  

>>>> teacher,

>>>> too.  We first must come to some agreements as to what the problems

>>>> are, then prioritize and find out where to start.

>>>>

>>>> Andrea

>>>>

>>>> On Nov 24, 2007, at 12:25 PM, Andre Whitmore wrote:

>>>>

>>>> > Andrea

>>>> > I am a former school teacher and I believe that the school system

>>>> > in and of itself is the reason why so many students fail. The

>>>> > schooling process is designed to ensure that students are  

>>>> socialized

>>>> > to acquire an American cultural identity, which for many of the

>>>> > students is an unrealistic goal for them. It has become increasing

>>>> > difficult for students to envisionhow they can actively  

>>>> participate

>>>> > and succeed in this culture. Jobs, occupations, and success are no

>>>> > longer consistent with education. The educational requirements  

>>>> have

>>>> > become too demanding and do not offer any guarantee for a job.  

>>>> Many

>>>> > minority students have observed how their family members and  

>>>> people in

>>>> > the community have sought education that leads to poverty still.  

>>>> The

>>>> > schooling process should offer students the opportunity ability to

>>>> > become socialized in their culture so that they can associate real

>>>> > significance to their education. furthermore, American culture

>>>> > singifies free market and free enterprise opportunities, but the

>>>>  > schooling process does not place emphasis on this aspect. Most  

>>>> public

>>>> > schools teach students to become apoorly trained labor force that

>>>> > remains dependent on the corporate structure. Simply put, students

>>>> > will continue to resist public education until education in this

>>>> > country receives a make-over.

>>>> > Andre

>>>> > ----- Original Message ----

>>>> > From: Andrea Wilder < andreawilder at comcast.net>

>>>> > To: Women and Literacy Discussion List The Poverty Race

>>>> > <povertyracewomen at nifl.gov>

>>>> > Sent: Friday, November 23, 2007 10:29:06 PM

>>>> > Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 1429] Changing schools

>>>> >

>>>> > Hi everyone,

>>>> >

>>>> > I think it is really important to find out which types of  

>>>> students in

>>>> > our local schools aren't doing well and to change local school  

>>>> behavior

>>>> > so all students can succeed.

>>>> >

>>>> > Andrea

>>>> >

>>>> > ----------------------------------------------------

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>>>> >

>>>> >

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>>>

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