Look at Urban School Realities

Re “American Education: Still Separate, Still Unequal,” Opinion, Feb. 2: Although I agree with Arthur Levine that an unfair gap exists between urban and suburban schools, the longer I teach the more convinced I am that educational reform will take more than simply improving urban schools by providing better facilities and teachers. I’ve worked in a number of urban schools that have state-of-the-art classrooms and technology, but still the students are struggling and test scores remain low. And even the most qualified teacher can be ineffective when faced with the chronic absenteeism and discipline problems that plague many urban classrooms.

We need to accept several harsh realities if we want to reform our educational system. We need to recognize that not all students are equal. Not everybody should go to college, and it is tragic to educate all students as if they are “college prep.” We need to accept that reforming schools is primarily a matter of reforming a culture of belief. Why are there more choices for suburban students? Because many middle-class families value education and attending college is an assumption. In contrast, students in many urban schools perceive education negatively. I have seen some of my highest-achieving minority students chastised by their peers for becoming “whitewashed.”

Levine claims that change will happen only through a civil rights movement in which “the goal is to establish a quality education as the right of every child.” Education can be a right, however, only if it is also a value.

Stephanie

Sullivan-Binckes

Cypress

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I am a teacher at a very-low-performing, minority middle school in Ontario. I have been teaching and living in this neighborhood for 15 years. Many of the students I have had are incredibly bright and enthusiastic and represent many cultures: Hispanic, black, Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Tongan, Myanmar. The staff I work with is hard-working and dedicated. And yes, we see many students whose skills are very low and who perform very poorly on the SAT 9 tests. The problems that I see in education are only partly addressed by Levine. I see a more pervasive problem.

Many of the at-risk students have a hollowness around their eyes and a defeated demeanor as they come into class every day. I think there is one thing we could do to address this. We need to get rid of homework. Hundreds of students are “failing” their classes because they do not do their homework. This sets up an energy in the classroom that works precisely against what we are aiming for: a positive energy and enthusiasm for learning. I talk with my students about why many don’t do their homework. They frequently visit family members far away, they help their parents in their jobs (fixing cars, running restaurants, motels). They baby-sit for their mom while she is working. They make dinner, change the babies’ diapers and can’t find space on the kitchen table for their papers.

We could lengthen the school day and help with the projects that are assigned. We could hit it hard during the day and keep the standards high, but, at night, when families are tired and need to be together, we need to give them the night off. It is not fair to keep punishing the students because we think our world is still functioning as it did in the 1950s, when Mom and Dad could be there and help. It is not realistic, and it defeats the kids before they get a chance to even find out how smart they really are.

Maxine McCleery-Bowden

Ontario