So, this semester has drawn to a close and the grade-related aspect of this blog is over. However, I want to do what I can to maintain it. After all, how many blogs are out there by British citizens either teaching or preparing to teach in the United States? Actually, given the number of blogs out there, probably quite a few. Still, this will be my own little addition to the whole. I’ve still got another year and a half of education before I venture out into the wild blue yonder that is the American classroom, so it’ll be interesting to see how much I change in the intervening time.
Over a few entries I’ll try to explain why exactly I want to teach here, rather than Britain and generally relate my attempts to get my head around how exactly the American education system works. Hopefully this will also result in an attempt to compare the two, so that anyone reading this will understand where I’m coming from as much as where I’m heading.
I can’t promise to be a very prolific writer, but I’ll do my best to keep this up. It should be interesting at the very least.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Self-Assessment
As this semester draws to a conclusion, I am inclined to consider what I have learned in the previous fifteen weeks in terms of myself, public education and teaching. Coming into this class I had put little or no thought into the former, while my opinions in regard the latter two have been to various extents both reinforced and challenged.
In terms of myself, I have realized more and more the extent to which my own unique culture will impact the kind of teacher I become. As an outsider I have always known that this will play a role in the classroom, however I always anticipated it would be a challenge to be overcome, rather than a positive force. I have learned that not appearing as part of “the system” can potentially impact upon my ability to relate to my future students.
Similarly, my work on the Community Inquiry Project has opened my eyes up to both the problems facing urban areas, but also the challenges faced by immigrants and English language learners. From something I had never really considered, to a factor at the forefront of my mind as I enter the teaching profession, it has had a major impact on me. I have learned that I want to do whatever I can to make a difference. To begin with, I would very much like to work in a school district with a substantial number of immigrants or children of immigrants, whether urban or suburban. After years of joking that I could barely speak English, so why bother trying to learn another language, I am putting serious thought into taking up lessons in one. Without this class and the research project, I would never have considered it. As it stands, I am currently torn between Spanish and Hindi given that most immigrants into New Jersey come from either Latin American countries or India.
In terms of public education and teaching, I have learned just how severe the problems faced by urban schools are, but also that all is not lost. The Schultz book, Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way, revealed that turning things around and empowering students is not something that only happens in feel-good movies. Nevertheless, I have a greater awareness of what I would face were I to find work in an urban school. The Fruchter text was certainly an eye-opener in terms of the challenges both schools and individual teachers face, while LaRue’s Unequal Childhoods made me realize the extent to which students face vastly different problems. It is one thing to say that all students are unique, but I think that this work hit home the point that each of my future students will face very different challenges that I will have the opportunity to guide them through while I am teaching them.
In fact, I have learned in far more stark terms than I have previously considered the importance of being a mentor as well as an educator is to the role of a teacher. It is something that I will take into any classroom – if I can not only give students knowledge, but also a sense of community and security, I will have done a pretty good job.
One of the initial things I pondered upon beginning this class was whether or not I would consider myself able to work in an urban environment. Given all the clichés and stereotypes that I encountered only in the form of television and movies (and, some time later, from discussing things with current urban teachers) I came into the class somewhat cynical about this. Four months later I do not think I can offer a solid rebuttal to my initial qualms, but I am certainly a lot more open-minded. Were I to find myself placed in an urban school for my student teaching, I would, perhaps, be more inclined to see a positive challenge than a cause for panic. That, I suppose, is a step in the right direction.
In terms of myself, I have realized more and more the extent to which my own unique culture will impact the kind of teacher I become. As an outsider I have always known that this will play a role in the classroom, however I always anticipated it would be a challenge to be overcome, rather than a positive force. I have learned that not appearing as part of “the system” can potentially impact upon my ability to relate to my future students.
Similarly, my work on the Community Inquiry Project has opened my eyes up to both the problems facing urban areas, but also the challenges faced by immigrants and English language learners. From something I had never really considered, to a factor at the forefront of my mind as I enter the teaching profession, it has had a major impact on me. I have learned that I want to do whatever I can to make a difference. To begin with, I would very much like to work in a school district with a substantial number of immigrants or children of immigrants, whether urban or suburban. After years of joking that I could barely speak English, so why bother trying to learn another language, I am putting serious thought into taking up lessons in one. Without this class and the research project, I would never have considered it. As it stands, I am currently torn between Spanish and Hindi given that most immigrants into New Jersey come from either Latin American countries or India.
In terms of public education and teaching, I have learned just how severe the problems faced by urban schools are, but also that all is not lost. The Schultz book, Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way, revealed that turning things around and empowering students is not something that only happens in feel-good movies. Nevertheless, I have a greater awareness of what I would face were I to find work in an urban school. The Fruchter text was certainly an eye-opener in terms of the challenges both schools and individual teachers face, while LaRue’s Unequal Childhoods made me realize the extent to which students face vastly different problems. It is one thing to say that all students are unique, but I think that this work hit home the point that each of my future students will face very different challenges that I will have the opportunity to guide them through while I am teaching them.
In fact, I have learned in far more stark terms than I have previously considered the importance of being a mentor as well as an educator is to the role of a teacher. It is something that I will take into any classroom – if I can not only give students knowledge, but also a sense of community and security, I will have done a pretty good job.
One of the initial things I pondered upon beginning this class was whether or not I would consider myself able to work in an urban environment. Given all the clichés and stereotypes that I encountered only in the form of television and movies (and, some time later, from discussing things with current urban teachers) I came into the class somewhat cynical about this. Four months later I do not think I can offer a solid rebuttal to my initial qualms, but I am certainly a lot more open-minded. Were I to find myself placed in an urban school for my student teaching, I would, perhaps, be more inclined to see a positive challenge than a cause for panic. That, I suppose, is a step in the right direction.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Abstract/What I Have Learned
Abstract
The purpose of this paper was to explore role of bilingual education in the lives of immigrant students and the children of immigrants in the American education system. Data were collected from numerous secondary sources, census data and an interview with the supervisor of a bilingual education program at an urban New Jersey school with a large Hispanic population. Researched revealed a deeper understanding history of bilingual education in the United States; the problems faced by bilingual education programs in the era of No Child Left Behind where a straight transition to English is preferred; and the specific problems that urban schools encountered. In conclusion, I have attempted to detail why, despite its expense and the difficulty to initiate it, Two-Way Bilingual Education would be the best method to ensure an equitable and effective education for all students in a changing America.
What I Have Learned From the Project
Without a doubt, the most important thing I have learned from working on the community inquiry project is the expansive nature of bilingual education programs. It never occurred to me that there could be quite so many different models. Yet this makes a lot of sense. Quite simply, different communities, with students of differing cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, require a different type of program.
The problems faced by LEP students in an urban area also proved eye-opening. One is given the impression that, once an immigrant masters the English language they can achieve anything in America. Yet here we see the poverty of their surroundings holding them back. During the interview I gave at Perth Amboy High, I heard of several exceptional students who had completed the bilingual education program who could not afford college, or whose legal status meant that they were not eligible for any kind of funding. Surely, I thought, by preventing these kids such an opportunity we are removing future doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs from ever gaining the skills they need to make the country a better place; all because their parents, not them, came to America the only way they could afford to, to give those very children such opportunities.
Something else that struck me was the opposition to bilingual education in the United States. I can appreciate that there is a need to save money – bilingual education in its maintenance forms being more expensive than transitional and ESL education – but the opposition at the state level over the past twenty years was surprising. Even the most liberal of states have passed laws either making English the only form of instruction, or allowing schools to opt out of bilingual education, even if they have a large number of immigrant students to accommodate. While it never made it into my final project for both length and thematic reasons, the vehemence of many towards immigrant English learners is shocking. More to the point, the anger at the fact that schools have to provide an education for illegal immigrants was shocking. Yes, it is expensive, but should these children be denied an education because of what was no doubt a very difficult decision made by their parents?
Perhaps my conclusion – that Two-Way Bilingual Education, in which all students are taught in two languages to guarantee proficiency in both groups and to foster a sense of togetherness within the school – is unrealistic and expensive. However, the aim of the project was to pose a solution to the problem of creating an equitable education for all students and there can be no doubt that this would be the best way to achieve this kind of equality of opportunity.
The purpose of this paper was to explore role of bilingual education in the lives of immigrant students and the children of immigrants in the American education system. Data were collected from numerous secondary sources, census data and an interview with the supervisor of a bilingual education program at an urban New Jersey school with a large Hispanic population. Researched revealed a deeper understanding history of bilingual education in the United States; the problems faced by bilingual education programs in the era of No Child Left Behind where a straight transition to English is preferred; and the specific problems that urban schools encountered. In conclusion, I have attempted to detail why, despite its expense and the difficulty to initiate it, Two-Way Bilingual Education would be the best method to ensure an equitable and effective education for all students in a changing America.
What I Have Learned From the Project
Without a doubt, the most important thing I have learned from working on the community inquiry project is the expansive nature of bilingual education programs. It never occurred to me that there could be quite so many different models. Yet this makes a lot of sense. Quite simply, different communities, with students of differing cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, require a different type of program.
The problems faced by LEP students in an urban area also proved eye-opening. One is given the impression that, once an immigrant masters the English language they can achieve anything in America. Yet here we see the poverty of their surroundings holding them back. During the interview I gave at Perth Amboy High, I heard of several exceptional students who had completed the bilingual education program who could not afford college, or whose legal status meant that they were not eligible for any kind of funding. Surely, I thought, by preventing these kids such an opportunity we are removing future doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs from ever gaining the skills they need to make the country a better place; all because their parents, not them, came to America the only way they could afford to, to give those very children such opportunities.
Something else that struck me was the opposition to bilingual education in the United States. I can appreciate that there is a need to save money – bilingual education in its maintenance forms being more expensive than transitional and ESL education – but the opposition at the state level over the past twenty years was surprising. Even the most liberal of states have passed laws either making English the only form of instruction, or allowing schools to opt out of bilingual education, even if they have a large number of immigrant students to accommodate. While it never made it into my final project for both length and thematic reasons, the vehemence of many towards immigrant English learners is shocking. More to the point, the anger at the fact that schools have to provide an education for illegal immigrants was shocking. Yes, it is expensive, but should these children be denied an education because of what was no doubt a very difficult decision made by their parents?
Perhaps my conclusion – that Two-Way Bilingual Education, in which all students are taught in two languages to guarantee proficiency in both groups and to foster a sense of togetherness within the school – is unrealistic and expensive. However, the aim of the project was to pose a solution to the problem of creating an equitable education for all students and there can be no doubt that this would be the best way to achieve this kind of equality of opportunity.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Summary of Findings
As I began the community inquiry project, I hoped to find out the extent to which the presence of immigrant students with their English-learning needs affected the resources available for the mainstream student population in urban schools. I quickly came to realize that this was not a valid question. Given the existence of specific funds for bilingual education programs granted by the state and federal governments, the focus of my research changed. Instead, I turned my attention to the way in which an equitable education can be guaranteed for all students in an urban school district with a large immigrant, non-English speaking population.
I began by researching the history of bilingual education in the United States, from the initial opposition, through to the creation of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 during the civil rights era. I discovered that almost from its inception there had been opposition – the main brunt of the argument being over whether bilingual education should focus on transition (a complete move from the native language to English) or maintenance (ensuring that the student maintains their native language while gaining fluency in English). This argument culminated in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which removed any mention of bilingual education from federal law, making it a state issue while encouraging schools to focus on transition for assessment-related reasons.
Further research led to the discovery of the many different types of bilingual education – it seemed that no two programs were ever alike. Again, there was a transition vs. maintenance approach within the different programs.
Most of my data were collected from an interview with the supervisor of a bilingual education program at a New Jersey High School with a large Hispanic population. Turning my findings into a case study of this specific school (given the number of different types of bilingual education program this was my only course of action), I was able to discover the importance of maintaining a positive attitude towards students’ native cultures even when the program is transitional in nature, as well as the importance of models of success in the form of teachers within the program who are immigrants or children of immigrants themselves.
Utilizing census date I came to the conclusion that, with the immigrant population of the United States increasing rapidly (its Hispanic population even more so), effective bilingual education is essential to their success. The substantial undocumented population of immigrants can mean that many students do not get the education they need because of the fear on the part of parents about maintaining regular contact with the school, out of fear of arrest and deportation.
Ultimately, my findings suggest that in order to guarantee an effective education for all students, a bilingual education program is required that offers models of success, encourages of native culture and brings the English-speaking student population into the world of the LEP students.
I began by researching the history of bilingual education in the United States, from the initial opposition, through to the creation of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 during the civil rights era. I discovered that almost from its inception there had been opposition – the main brunt of the argument being over whether bilingual education should focus on transition (a complete move from the native language to English) or maintenance (ensuring that the student maintains their native language while gaining fluency in English). This argument culminated in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which removed any mention of bilingual education from federal law, making it a state issue while encouraging schools to focus on transition for assessment-related reasons.
Further research led to the discovery of the many different types of bilingual education – it seemed that no two programs were ever alike. Again, there was a transition vs. maintenance approach within the different programs.
Most of my data were collected from an interview with the supervisor of a bilingual education program at a New Jersey High School with a large Hispanic population. Turning my findings into a case study of this specific school (given the number of different types of bilingual education program this was my only course of action), I was able to discover the importance of maintaining a positive attitude towards students’ native cultures even when the program is transitional in nature, as well as the importance of models of success in the form of teachers within the program who are immigrants or children of immigrants themselves.
Utilizing census date I came to the conclusion that, with the immigrant population of the United States increasing rapidly (its Hispanic population even more so), effective bilingual education is essential to their success. The substantial undocumented population of immigrants can mean that many students do not get the education they need because of the fear on the part of parents about maintaining regular contact with the school, out of fear of arrest and deportation.
Ultimately, my findings suggest that in order to guarantee an effective education for all students, a bilingual education program is required that offers models of success, encourages of native culture and brings the English-speaking student population into the world of the LEP students.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Unequal Childhoods/Online Assignment
2. Turn to the NJRCL report and pay specific attention to the information provided about Essex County, and the concerns, challenges, and recommendations in the report. Review the eight families in Unequal Childhoods, and make connections between the NJRCL report and the realities these families might face if they lived in Essex County, NJ.
In Essex County, the self-sufficiency wage varies between $33,074 and $61,017, depending on the number of adults and children in the household. Many of the poorer families in Unequal Childhoods have only one parent at the head, with several children. Families such as the Taylors, Yanellis and Drivers all have a much lower income than would allow them to be self sufficient given the number of children they have. The Yanellis, while lucky enough to have healthy insurance, are still struggling with the expenses of healthcare. Clearly, Essex County is a more expensive area than where they currently reside. Neither the Taylors nor the Drivers would be able to find housing for the $650 a month they are currently spending on rent, the extra $400 (minimum) would be a substantial extra burden on their already slim earnings.
In an even worse situation are the Brindles and McAllisters, both of whom require public assistance and would be completely unable to live comfortably in Essex County and would, in fact, be regarded as below the poverty line. They are already struggling to afford food even with food stamps, so the minimum monthly cost of food - $639 – would prove devastating to them.
Only the middle class families, the Tallingers, Williams’, Marshalls and Handlons are above Essex County’s self sufficiency wage. However, with the extra expenses several of these middle class families have, most notably the Tallingers, the added expense of Essex County compared to their current residence would force even these comparably well off families to tighten their purse straps somewhat.
The NJRCL report, offers several suggestions in order to close the gap between incomes and the self-sufficiency wage that may be of help to some of the struggling families. The report argues that enhanced adult education services, including job training, would give many poorer families more options and the ability to earn higher wages. However, given the fact that many of the poor and working class families Unequal Childhoods are struggling to make ends meet in existing jobs, as well as raising their children, very few of them would be able to make the time for extra classes. One suggestion that would help a lot of the families would be to encourage low-wage jobs to introduce subsidized child care and paid family leave. This would give more options to parents, like CiCi Brindle, who are waiting until their youngest child is of school age before trying to find employment.
3. Look at the two reports from the LSNJ on living in poverty. What further information can you glean from the reports regarding the struggles the poor families in Unequal Childhoods might face if they lived in NJ?
As previously stated, the Brindles and the McAllisters would fall below the poverty line, the federal poverty wage being $17,600. Even with the public assistance they receive, the higher cost of living in New Jersey would make it almost impossible to get by. Both families being headed by single mothers, they fall into a large proportion of families below the poverty line. Their problems are compounded by the fact that, according to the LSNJ report Not Enough to Live On, “women and people of color need more education to achieve the same level of economic self-sufficiency as white males.” Quite simply, they have an extra barrier in order to climb out of poverty and become self-sufficient just because of their gender and race. As depressing as it may sound to those of us entering education in order to give children all backgrounds a chance to succeed, CiCi Brindle’s GED, and the high school diplomas of the Taylor, Driver McAllister mothers would, by these standards, do very little to aid them.
It is also important to note that according to Not Enough to Live On, the 2008 Federal poverty level for a family of more than two would be closer to $21,000. This would place the Taylors with their four children, who were already below the self-sufficiency wage, below the poverty level. Their lives would be that much harder if they lived in New Jersey with all the extra costs.
The availability of public transport in NJ’s cities may reduce the need of families like the Brindles from owning and maintaining a car, however it would still prove an additional cost when only one of their children is young enough to qualify for free rides. They would be effectively trapped in the city in which they live.
4. Finally, turn inward and think about who you are as a budding urban educator. In what ways is this information useful (or not) for you? In terms of better understanding a community? What do you need to learn, or what skills and dispositions (frames of mind) do you need to develop related to demographics and economics to be a successful urban educator?
Whether teaching in an urban environment or not, it is essential to gain a greater understanding of the community in which one is teaching. Knowing the problems that students’ families face on a daily basis is essential to ensuring that each and every one of them gains the best education that you can possibly give them. While each individual student is unique, each and every one of them is the product of the community in which they have been raised. As a teacher who will be an outsider within any community in the United States, I will have to do all that I can to gain a greater appreciation of the problems that face students and their families.
Knowing the demographics and economic background of an area will help me, as an educator, to develop the curriculum that speaks to the students. All too often, a white middle class ideology permeates the education system and it will be my job to make the material that I present easy to relate to for my students. This will involve putting any examples that textbooks, essay questions and journal topics into a context with which they are familiar. If I am not willing to understand and appreciate the lives of my students this will simply not be possible.
Similarly, I will need to develop the skills that allow me to reach out into the community, to communicate with the families of my students. It is clear from Unequal Childhoods that many poor and working class parents find it hard to relate to their children’s teachers. Doing all that I can to foster a relationship that would make such parents feel comfortable confronting me about issues their children are facing would be incredibly beneficial. It is one thing to develop an effective relationship with a student, but in order to do the same with parents is another matter entirely. It will require a greater open-mindedness; an awareness that I will encounter situations in homes with which I am completely unfamiliar. Understanding the unique aspects of the community in which I work will prevent me from being judgmental, as I hope to create a working relationship with families that will, in turn, aid my students’ achievement.
In Essex County, the self-sufficiency wage varies between $33,074 and $61,017, depending on the number of adults and children in the household. Many of the poorer families in Unequal Childhoods have only one parent at the head, with several children. Families such as the Taylors, Yanellis and Drivers all have a much lower income than would allow them to be self sufficient given the number of children they have. The Yanellis, while lucky enough to have healthy insurance, are still struggling with the expenses of healthcare. Clearly, Essex County is a more expensive area than where they currently reside. Neither the Taylors nor the Drivers would be able to find housing for the $650 a month they are currently spending on rent, the extra $400 (minimum) would be a substantial extra burden on their already slim earnings.
In an even worse situation are the Brindles and McAllisters, both of whom require public assistance and would be completely unable to live comfortably in Essex County and would, in fact, be regarded as below the poverty line. They are already struggling to afford food even with food stamps, so the minimum monthly cost of food - $639 – would prove devastating to them.
Only the middle class families, the Tallingers, Williams’, Marshalls and Handlons are above Essex County’s self sufficiency wage. However, with the extra expenses several of these middle class families have, most notably the Tallingers, the added expense of Essex County compared to their current residence would force even these comparably well off families to tighten their purse straps somewhat.
The NJRCL report, offers several suggestions in order to close the gap between incomes and the self-sufficiency wage that may be of help to some of the struggling families. The report argues that enhanced adult education services, including job training, would give many poorer families more options and the ability to earn higher wages. However, given the fact that many of the poor and working class families Unequal Childhoods are struggling to make ends meet in existing jobs, as well as raising their children, very few of them would be able to make the time for extra classes. One suggestion that would help a lot of the families would be to encourage low-wage jobs to introduce subsidized child care and paid family leave. This would give more options to parents, like CiCi Brindle, who are waiting until their youngest child is of school age before trying to find employment.
3. Look at the two reports from the LSNJ on living in poverty. What further information can you glean from the reports regarding the struggles the poor families in Unequal Childhoods might face if they lived in NJ?
As previously stated, the Brindles and the McAllisters would fall below the poverty line, the federal poverty wage being $17,600. Even with the public assistance they receive, the higher cost of living in New Jersey would make it almost impossible to get by. Both families being headed by single mothers, they fall into a large proportion of families below the poverty line. Their problems are compounded by the fact that, according to the LSNJ report Not Enough to Live On, “women and people of color need more education to achieve the same level of economic self-sufficiency as white males.” Quite simply, they have an extra barrier in order to climb out of poverty and become self-sufficient just because of their gender and race. As depressing as it may sound to those of us entering education in order to give children all backgrounds a chance to succeed, CiCi Brindle’s GED, and the high school diplomas of the Taylor, Driver McAllister mothers would, by these standards, do very little to aid them.
It is also important to note that according to Not Enough to Live On, the 2008 Federal poverty level for a family of more than two would be closer to $21,000. This would place the Taylors with their four children, who were already below the self-sufficiency wage, below the poverty level. Their lives would be that much harder if they lived in New Jersey with all the extra costs.
The availability of public transport in NJ’s cities may reduce the need of families like the Brindles from owning and maintaining a car, however it would still prove an additional cost when only one of their children is young enough to qualify for free rides. They would be effectively trapped in the city in which they live.
4. Finally, turn inward and think about who you are as a budding urban educator. In what ways is this information useful (or not) for you? In terms of better understanding a community? What do you need to learn, or what skills and dispositions (frames of mind) do you need to develop related to demographics and economics to be a successful urban educator?
Whether teaching in an urban environment or not, it is essential to gain a greater understanding of the community in which one is teaching. Knowing the problems that students’ families face on a daily basis is essential to ensuring that each and every one of them gains the best education that you can possibly give them. While each individual student is unique, each and every one of them is the product of the community in which they have been raised. As a teacher who will be an outsider within any community in the United States, I will have to do all that I can to gain a greater appreciation of the problems that face students and their families.
Knowing the demographics and economic background of an area will help me, as an educator, to develop the curriculum that speaks to the students. All too often, a white middle class ideology permeates the education system and it will be my job to make the material that I present easy to relate to for my students. This will involve putting any examples that textbooks, essay questions and journal topics into a context with which they are familiar. If I am not willing to understand and appreciate the lives of my students this will simply not be possible.
Similarly, I will need to develop the skills that allow me to reach out into the community, to communicate with the families of my students. It is clear from Unequal Childhoods that many poor and working class parents find it hard to relate to their children’s teachers. Doing all that I can to foster a relationship that would make such parents feel comfortable confronting me about issues their children are facing would be incredibly beneficial. It is one thing to develop an effective relationship with a student, but in order to do the same with parents is another matter entirely. It will require a greater open-mindedness; an awareness that I will encounter situations in homes with which I am completely unfamiliar. Understanding the unique aspects of the community in which I work will prevent me from being judgmental, as I hope to create a working relationship with families that will, in turn, aid my students’ achievement.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Project Update
So far, my investigations have given me a while new insight into bilingual education in the United States, as well as the unique problems faced by urban schools with a large number of immigrant or first-generation American students. I admit, that entering my research I knew very little about bilingual education, beyond the existence of ESL and its attempts to integrate new students into English-speaking classrooms.
My initial readings have taught me much about the history of bilingual education, from the Education Act of 1968 (and its subsequent amendments in the 1970s), as well as the important Supreme Court case Lau v. Nichols in 1974, in which Chinese-speaking, American-born students argued that they were not being given an equitable education because of their inability to speak English.
It has since become clear to me that there are a seemingly infinitesimal number of different types of bilingual education programs in effect in the United States, some that focus entirely on transition from the native language to English, before dropping the students into the mainstream classroom. Others see maintenance as a priority, allowing the students to retain their native language through dual-language education. More still, focus on transition but hope to encourage a positive attitude towards the students’ native language and culture.
Gaining the opportunity to interview a supervisor of the bilingual education program at an urban New Jersey school with a large Latino population, it became obvious that my project would become very much a case study of that school’s program. Its primary purpose was transition but with a focus on culture maintenance, so I would have to use other types of bilingual education to compare and contrast with that of this school.
The interview proved incredibly enlightening as to how this individual program worked, with almost 20% of the teachers working within it, aiding almost 400 students – one fifth of the student population. The problems faced by the school are those we see facing so many urban schools: students who have to work jobs outside of school to get by; parents who are missing or also engaged in work so that they are not able to help their children no matter how much they want to; younger siblings to look after school; an inability to relate to the very “middle class” format of tests because of their background (I was reminded of the video shown about the young child starting school in Camden and how his own experiences of poverty made it hard to relate to the idea of three meals a day).
Coupled with this are the unique problems caused by a lack of language proficiency, coming from a very different educational background or, perhaps, having no prior education at all. Similarly the problems faced by the (unknown) number of students who are not in the country legally and who, no matter how successful they may become in high school, cannot get funding for college and are, therefore, left with so much potential that can remain unfulfilled.
Yet, I found a program that was able to reach out to these students. During the interview, several students came into the office to speak with the supervisor – some who had left the program the previous year, yet had retained a close link to those who ran it. These are people who care about the students and want to do everything they can to help them succeed no matter what problems they face.
As I begin to pull all of my data together into the final project, I get a sense that I will have gone from little or no understanding of bilingual education in the United States, to a deeper appreciation of how it has come into existence and continues to work for students of all backgrounds and in different schools.
My initial readings have taught me much about the history of bilingual education, from the Education Act of 1968 (and its subsequent amendments in the 1970s), as well as the important Supreme Court case Lau v. Nichols in 1974, in which Chinese-speaking, American-born students argued that they were not being given an equitable education because of their inability to speak English.
It has since become clear to me that there are a seemingly infinitesimal number of different types of bilingual education programs in effect in the United States, some that focus entirely on transition from the native language to English, before dropping the students into the mainstream classroom. Others see maintenance as a priority, allowing the students to retain their native language through dual-language education. More still, focus on transition but hope to encourage a positive attitude towards the students’ native language and culture.
Gaining the opportunity to interview a supervisor of the bilingual education program at an urban New Jersey school with a large Latino population, it became obvious that my project would become very much a case study of that school’s program. Its primary purpose was transition but with a focus on culture maintenance, so I would have to use other types of bilingual education to compare and contrast with that of this school.
The interview proved incredibly enlightening as to how this individual program worked, with almost 20% of the teachers working within it, aiding almost 400 students – one fifth of the student population. The problems faced by the school are those we see facing so many urban schools: students who have to work jobs outside of school to get by; parents who are missing or also engaged in work so that they are not able to help their children no matter how much they want to; younger siblings to look after school; an inability to relate to the very “middle class” format of tests because of their background (I was reminded of the video shown about the young child starting school in Camden and how his own experiences of poverty made it hard to relate to the idea of three meals a day).
Coupled with this are the unique problems caused by a lack of language proficiency, coming from a very different educational background or, perhaps, having no prior education at all. Similarly the problems faced by the (unknown) number of students who are not in the country legally and who, no matter how successful they may become in high school, cannot get funding for college and are, therefore, left with so much potential that can remain unfulfilled.
Yet, I found a program that was able to reach out to these students. During the interview, several students came into the office to speak with the supervisor – some who had left the program the previous year, yet had retained a close link to those who ran it. These are people who care about the students and want to do everything they can to help them succeed no matter what problems they face.
As I begin to pull all of my data together into the final project, I get a sense that I will have gone from little or no understanding of bilingual education in the United States, to a deeper appreciation of how it has come into existence and continues to work for students of all backgrounds and in different schools.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Inquiry Project Introduction
Immigration policy has always created many problems for the United States, from regulating the influx of those from other nations, to questions regarding the status of those already here. In recent decades, however, the education of the children of immigrants has posed increasing problems for both the government and school districts. According to the Pew Research Center, by 2050 one in five Americans will be an immigrant (Pew Research Center, 2008). An increasing number of schools will have to change to accommodate the particular needs of students who either come from another country, or have parents who made the journey. Right now, there are many urban school districts across the United States that are already dealing with the issues related to the education of the foreign-born who may be able to offer lessons to the rest of the country as the face of the nation changes.
One of the primary issues regarding the education of foreign-born students is supplying those who have Limited English Proficiency (LEP) or use English as a Second Language (ESL) with the facilities required to bring them up to the standards of their native-born peers. Improved English-speaking abilities are undoubtedly required for academic success in the United States. While suburban school districts with a large immigrant population may have access to the resources that aid these students, the apparently limited resources available to urban schools may prove a barrier to the effective transition of limited-English speaking students.
Of course, schools do not have to make up all of these costs out of their own pockets. The federal government has been required to supply funds for bilingual education since the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 and its subsequent amendments. Similarly, there is state funding available for LEP students. However, it is up to schools, based on their own individual needs, to decide how these funds can be proportioned. The question becomes a matter of where should these resources be spent to ensure the best education for all students.
This piece is going to look into the use of resources for foreign-born students and the children of immigrants in an urban school district in New Jersey that has an overwhelming number of students who fit into this category. According to the New Jersey Department of Education, Perth Amboy City school district had “approximately 1,300 LEP students in the Bilingual Program in grades K-12” in 2007. (NJDoE, 2008) This is a substantial program that handles a large number of immigrant as well as first generation American students who do not speak English as a first language. Coupled with the ESL program that the schools in the district also offer, they amount to a substantial amount of expenditure. Being an Abbott District, the school receives a large portion of its funding from the state to aid the education of students with special needs, including many of those in the bilingual education program.
My project will look at how these funds are allocated per student, as well as physical resources such as technology and available teaching staff. Through data analysis and a series of interviews with people involved in the bilingual education program, it will look at the extent to which the extra resources required to educate immigrants in urban schools have proven effective, and whether the extra focus that these students require can result in problems for the native-born minority.
Ultimately, my research aims to discover the best ways to ensure an equitable solution to the education of all students in American public schools, no matter their origins. The inevitable increase in immigration will mean that a large number of starting teachers will find themselves in a classroom with many LEP and ESL students as they progress in their careers. It will be essential for them to find a way to utilize the resources that they are given to ensure that both immigrants and native-born students are able to find success in changing schools within a changing nation.
One of the primary issues regarding the education of foreign-born students is supplying those who have Limited English Proficiency (LEP) or use English as a Second Language (ESL) with the facilities required to bring them up to the standards of their native-born peers. Improved English-speaking abilities are undoubtedly required for academic success in the United States. While suburban school districts with a large immigrant population may have access to the resources that aid these students, the apparently limited resources available to urban schools may prove a barrier to the effective transition of limited-English speaking students.
Of course, schools do not have to make up all of these costs out of their own pockets. The federal government has been required to supply funds for bilingual education since the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 and its subsequent amendments. Similarly, there is state funding available for LEP students. However, it is up to schools, based on their own individual needs, to decide how these funds can be proportioned. The question becomes a matter of where should these resources be spent to ensure the best education for all students.
This piece is going to look into the use of resources for foreign-born students and the children of immigrants in an urban school district in New Jersey that has an overwhelming number of students who fit into this category. According to the New Jersey Department of Education, Perth Amboy City school district had “approximately 1,300 LEP students in the Bilingual Program in grades K-12” in 2007. (NJDoE, 2008) This is a substantial program that handles a large number of immigrant as well as first generation American students who do not speak English as a first language. Coupled with the ESL program that the schools in the district also offer, they amount to a substantial amount of expenditure. Being an Abbott District, the school receives a large portion of its funding from the state to aid the education of students with special needs, including many of those in the bilingual education program.
My project will look at how these funds are allocated per student, as well as physical resources such as technology and available teaching staff. Through data analysis and a series of interviews with people involved in the bilingual education program, it will look at the extent to which the extra resources required to educate immigrants in urban schools have proven effective, and whether the extra focus that these students require can result in problems for the native-born minority.
Ultimately, my research aims to discover the best ways to ensure an equitable solution to the education of all students in American public schools, no matter their origins. The inevitable increase in immigration will mean that a large number of starting teachers will find themselves in a classroom with many LEP and ESL students as they progress in their careers. It will be essential for them to find a way to utilize the resources that they are given to ensure that both immigrants and native-born students are able to find success in changing schools within a changing nation.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Inquiry Project Topic
The focus of my inquiry project will be the education of immigrants or the children of immigrants and the impact that it has on the economy of the urban school district. This will focus primarily on the distribution of educational resources within a school system that has at least half of its student population are foreign-born or children of foreign-born parents. This includes looking at the funds that go into ESL and bilingual education and other related requirements for those new to the United States that may otherwise go towards classroom spending and extracurricular activities for all students. Given its status as a high-immigrant urban school district, much of my focus will be on Perth Amboy City. Here, a large number of students are from the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico, or have parents from these countries. I will attempt to discover the extent to which the scarce resources of an urban school district are able to cope with producing an effective education for both immigrants and native-born students.
My project will initially look at the data provided by the New Jersey Schools Report Card. This will give me numbers related to students whose first language is not English, as well as information regarding cost-per-pupil in comparison to the state of New Jersey as a whole. This, along with other pertinent information will allow me to compare to other school districts that are wealthier but have a large immigrant population, as well as urban and suburban districts with very few immigrants or children of immigrants within the student population. The Report Card will prove to be a reliable source of information when it comes to the matter of numbers.
The rest of my data will come from interviews with teachers and administrators at a Perth Amboy school. I am in the process of getting permission and arranging dates for these interviews. Interviewees will include at least one teacher, as well as the head of the bilingual education program at the school. From them I will be able to gain a greater insight into what the program entails, where it gets its funding from and the impact this has on funding for programs for the native-born students at the school.
NJ Schools Report Card information for Perth Amboy can be found at:
http://education.state.nj.us/rc/rc08/dataselect.php?c=23;d=4090;s=050;lt=CD;st=CD&datasection=all
Interview Questions
Questions I hope to ask during the course of interviews will include the following. Questions will vary from interviewee to interviewee.
- What do you see as the first need that must be met for immigrant students and do you feel your district meets it?
- What kind of programs does your school provide to accommodate those newly entered into the country?
- Do you have a bilingual education program at the school and how many students are enrolled in it?
- What do you feel are the successes and limitations of any of these programs?
- What kind of afterschool care is provided for immigrant students specifically and all students in general?
- Do you have any feeling that anything is inappropriately funded?
- The NJ Schools Report Card gives average cost per pupil for all students. What would you estimate would it cost the district per non-US student vs. per-US student?
- Is there any sense that non-immigrant students are being left out in away because of the focus on immigrant students?
- What is the relationship between immigrant and non-immigrant students like in general? What about between bilingual students with greater English proficiency?
My project will initially look at the data provided by the New Jersey Schools Report Card. This will give me numbers related to students whose first language is not English, as well as information regarding cost-per-pupil in comparison to the state of New Jersey as a whole. This, along with other pertinent information will allow me to compare to other school districts that are wealthier but have a large immigrant population, as well as urban and suburban districts with very few immigrants or children of immigrants within the student population. The Report Card will prove to be a reliable source of information when it comes to the matter of numbers.
The rest of my data will come from interviews with teachers and administrators at a Perth Amboy school. I am in the process of getting permission and arranging dates for these interviews. Interviewees will include at least one teacher, as well as the head of the bilingual education program at the school. From them I will be able to gain a greater insight into what the program entails, where it gets its funding from and the impact this has on funding for programs for the native-born students at the school.
NJ Schools Report Card information for Perth Amboy can be found at:
http://education.state.nj.us/rc/rc08/dataselect.php?c=23;d=4090;s=050;lt=CD;st=CD&datasection=all
Interview Questions
Questions I hope to ask during the course of interviews will include the following. Questions will vary from interviewee to interviewee.
- What do you see as the first need that must be met for immigrant students and do you feel your district meets it?
- What kind of programs does your school provide to accommodate those newly entered into the country?
- Do you have a bilingual education program at the school and how many students are enrolled in it?
- What do you feel are the successes and limitations of any of these programs?
- What kind of afterschool care is provided for immigrant students specifically and all students in general?
- Do you have any feeling that anything is inappropriately funded?
- The NJ Schools Report Card gives average cost per pupil for all students. What would you estimate would it cost the district per non-US student vs. per-US student?
- Is there any sense that non-immigrant students are being left out in away because of the focus on immigrant students?
- What is the relationship between immigrant and non-immigrant students like in general? What about between bilingual students with greater English proficiency?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography
Conger, D. (2005). Within-School Segregation in an Urban School District. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. 27 (3) 225-244. Retrieved March, 12 2009, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3699570
Article looks into segregation in elementary school classrooms in New York City. It is one of the first pieces to actively look into the effect of segregation between native-born and foreign-born students, as well as between ethnic groups. The author looks at data that covers a five year period between 1996 and 2001 to compare interschool segregation and within-school segregation. Finds that within-school segregation is high for foreign-born students, mainly due to their special educational needs, and proposes further studies into the effect that this exclusion may have on the students’ development.
Haskins, R., Greenberg, M. & Fremstad, S. (2004). Federal Policy for Immigrant Children: Room for Common Ground? The Future of Children. 14 (2) A publication of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and The Brookings Institution. Retrieved March, 12 2009, from http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2004/summer_demographics_haskins.aspx
Policy brief looks into several ways that the well-being of immigrant children in the United States can be improved, specifically in the areas of public benefits, education, and economic mobility. Looks into a variety of federal and state programs and analyzes their strengths and weaknesses in terms of improving the education opportunities for immigrant children. Authors argue that both underperforming and better-performing schools need improved funding for English-language education and better quality preschool programs.
Perreira, K. M., Harris, K. M., & Lee, D. (2006). Making It in America: High School Completion by Immigrant and Native Youth. Demography, 43 (3) 511-536. Retrieved March, 12 2009, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4137246
Article compares the drop-out rate between three groups of students – recent immigrants, children of immigrants, and native-born Americans (in this case defined as third- and higher- generation Americans) by ethnicity. Authors analyze several theories to explain the lack of success of recent immigrants and later generations when compared to the results of U.S.-born children with foreign-born parents. Uses extensive research to posit their own theories for these results. Argues for better support systems for foreign-born students and greater effort to “reconnect” later generations with academic achievement.
van Hook, J. (2002). Immigration and African American Educational Opportunity: The Transformation of Minority Schools. Sociology of Education, 75 (2) 169-189. Retrieved March, 12 2009, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3090290
Article investigates whether the presence of non-English speaking immigrant students affects the education of African-Americans in the same schools. Acknowledges the limited amount of existing data on the subject, and concludes that there are few parts of the country where African-American and foreign-born students are educated together. In areas where this is the case, the possibility remains that there could be a negative effect due to a redistribution of resources to comply with government regulations for the education of non-English proficient students.
Schwartz, A. E. & Stiefel, L. (2004). Immigrants and the Distribution of Resources within an Urban School District. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 26 (4) 303-327. Retrieved March, 12 2009, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3699510
Investigation into whether schools that have more immigrant students get fewer resources than those that cater to mainly native-born students because of the costs of immigrants’ special educational needs or discrimination against immigrants. The article includes a thorough analysis of the numbers of foreign-born students in New York City elementary schools and the resources that are spent on them. It also differentiates between in-classroom and non-classroom spending in order to analyze the effect that immigrant needs have on each.
This piece is quick to make note of discrepancies in resource allocation caused by larger schools and by the variation in the amount of non-English proficient students in each school but argue that their hypotheses remain unchanged by these. Similarly, the authors note that there are differences between the results for foreign-born students based on their country of origin. This brings up stark differences between the needs of different groups of immigrants – some are more likely to require ESL education than others in one case, while test score results also seem to be based on country of origin.
Concludes that there is a slight negative discrepancy in schools that cater to foreign-born, but it is often made up for by the presence of more experienced teachers. These differences are predominantly found in non-classroom spending – ESL education and other requirements take up money that would normally go to counseling services, among others – while there is little difference in classroom spending.
The article is interesting in that it touches on differences between immigrant groups in terms of needs, resources and test scores. However, there is little discussion on the impact of these varying resources on native-born students. Similarly, more details on the differences between differing countries of origin of foreign-born students would have been enlightening, but that could be a whole article in and of itself.
Conger, D. (2005). Within-School Segregation in an Urban School District. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. 27 (3) 225-244. Retrieved March, 12 2009, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3699570
Article looks into segregation in elementary school classrooms in New York City. It is one of the first pieces to actively look into the effect of segregation between native-born and foreign-born students, as well as between ethnic groups. The author looks at data that covers a five year period between 1996 and 2001 to compare interschool segregation and within-school segregation. Finds that within-school segregation is high for foreign-born students, mainly due to their special educational needs, and proposes further studies into the effect that this exclusion may have on the students’ development.
Haskins, R., Greenberg, M. & Fremstad, S. (2004). Federal Policy for Immigrant Children: Room for Common Ground? The Future of Children. 14 (2) A publication of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and The Brookings Institution. Retrieved March, 12 2009, from http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2004/summer_demographics_haskins.aspx
Policy brief looks into several ways that the well-being of immigrant children in the United States can be improved, specifically in the areas of public benefits, education, and economic mobility. Looks into a variety of federal and state programs and analyzes their strengths and weaknesses in terms of improving the education opportunities for immigrant children. Authors argue that both underperforming and better-performing schools need improved funding for English-language education and better quality preschool programs.
Perreira, K. M., Harris, K. M., & Lee, D. (2006). Making It in America: High School Completion by Immigrant and Native Youth. Demography, 43 (3) 511-536. Retrieved March, 12 2009, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4137246
Article compares the drop-out rate between three groups of students – recent immigrants, children of immigrants, and native-born Americans (in this case defined as third- and higher- generation Americans) by ethnicity. Authors analyze several theories to explain the lack of success of recent immigrants and later generations when compared to the results of U.S.-born children with foreign-born parents. Uses extensive research to posit their own theories for these results. Argues for better support systems for foreign-born students and greater effort to “reconnect” later generations with academic achievement.
van Hook, J. (2002). Immigration and African American Educational Opportunity: The Transformation of Minority Schools. Sociology of Education, 75 (2) 169-189. Retrieved March, 12 2009, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3090290
Article investigates whether the presence of non-English speaking immigrant students affects the education of African-Americans in the same schools. Acknowledges the limited amount of existing data on the subject, and concludes that there are few parts of the country where African-American and foreign-born students are educated together. In areas where this is the case, the possibility remains that there could be a negative effect due to a redistribution of resources to comply with government regulations for the education of non-English proficient students.
Schwartz, A. E. & Stiefel, L. (2004). Immigrants and the Distribution of Resources within an Urban School District. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 26 (4) 303-327. Retrieved March, 12 2009, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3699510
Investigation into whether schools that have more immigrant students get fewer resources than those that cater to mainly native-born students because of the costs of immigrants’ special educational needs or discrimination against immigrants. The article includes a thorough analysis of the numbers of foreign-born students in New York City elementary schools and the resources that are spent on them. It also differentiates between in-classroom and non-classroom spending in order to analyze the effect that immigrant needs have on each.
This piece is quick to make note of discrepancies in resource allocation caused by larger schools and by the variation in the amount of non-English proficient students in each school but argue that their hypotheses remain unchanged by these. Similarly, the authors note that there are differences between the results for foreign-born students based on their country of origin. This brings up stark differences between the needs of different groups of immigrants – some are more likely to require ESL education than others in one case, while test score results also seem to be based on country of origin.
Concludes that there is a slight negative discrepancy in schools that cater to foreign-born, but it is often made up for by the presence of more experienced teachers. These differences are predominantly found in non-classroom spending – ESL education and other requirements take up money that would normally go to counseling services, among others – while there is little difference in classroom spending.
The article is interesting in that it touches on differences between immigrant groups in terms of needs, resources and test scores. However, there is little discussion on the impact of these varying resources on native-born students. Similarly, more details on the differences between differing countries of origin of foreign-born students would have been enlightening, but that could be a whole article in and of itself.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Culture and Community
The is no doubt that one’s race, class, gender, sexuality, language, and religion play an important role in defining one’s culture. In fact, it seems to me that they are, once one’s nationality and country of upbringing is taken into account, the defining aspects of what culture is. I grew up in a small, almost predominantly white mining town in South Wales, struggling with the closure of the coat pits during the Thatcher years. There was a decidedly insular working class mindset. Being the 1980s and 90s, religion was in decline but the role of the Anglican Church in my upbringing was important – even if I took nothing in and considered myself agnostic, church was still a weekly event and, as such, played a part in making a sense of guilt one of the main things that motivates me in life.
I am thankful for incredibly liberal parents, but coming from this kind of culture, there is no doubt it affected my views of race, gender and sexuality, among other things. During my entire pre-college academic career I encountered very few people who were not white. There was one black student in my high school for the whole time I was there, only two Asian students (and they were brothers) and a few Indian or Pakistani students. Going to a partially church-funded state school (having a state religion in Britain means that these kinds of schools are common place) I only encountered people of the same religious background, apart from one Muslim girl whose parents had petitioned the board of governors for her placement because of the school’s excellent reputation. Her faith was never an issue as I never really considered the relevance of anything other than Anglicanism until the final years of high school in which I really started to question religion as a whole.
College ultimately made me a lot more open-minded. Finally I was able to at least try to break free of the Valleys culture that had dominated the first 18 years of my life. I met people of different races, religions and sexualities and made close friends. Perhaps it was in spite of the culture I was brought up in; perhaps it was an indicator that one makes one’s own culture through continual experience. Culture, then, is something that is always shifting to accommodate changes that you encounter. Those that don’t experience that kind of alteration are the bigots and those resistant to change.
In what ways has my culture shaped how I view myself? Even before I came to the United States I viewed myself as an outsider. Whether because I was more of a “book-learning type” in a masculine environment of rugby and soccer; or because, for the longest time, I was happier with my head in a comic book or listening to heavy metal than looking for girls. Living in a more multi-cultural part of the world, my own background cannot help but make me feel guilty every step of the way. Am I saying the right thing to people who are different? What if I offend someone unknowingly? It often seems as though my culture has given me a magnified sense of liberal guilt now that I am now longer surrounded purely by white, working and lower-middle class Anglicans.
Seeing these people struggle through the post-Thatcher years, and suffering bullying at the hands of those trapped by poverty inspired by decades of only knowing one kind of work – a kind that had now been taken away, I knew that I had to get out and to succeed. Subconsciously at the time, this inspired me as a learner. I would watch American television shows and movies and knew that was where I wanted to be and the way to do it would be to succeed academically. It was in rebellion against my culture that I embraced education. I was never interested in practical things like math and science but literature and history always fascinated me – especially if it was American. It seemed to be the opposite of the insular Valleys culture I knew so well and getting there inspired me to do well as a learner.
Of course, now I have made it I have no doubt that my past, the culture that has defined me all these years, will play a large role in how I run a classroom. While my college years expanded my worldview, that all-white upbringing I received earlier in my life may make it harder to connect with students of a different race. Experience will no doubt prove that these worries are futile. Nevertheless, I will bring a unique perspective to an American classroom. My being a cultural outsider will allow me to relate to immigrants and the children of immigrants – while our cultures may differ we will both be sharing similar experiences that can be brought into the classroom. I will be able to use my own cultural background to open up white, American-born students to the wider world, showing that even someone of the same race who speaks the same language can be very different. My culture could act as a lens through which I, as a teacher, will be able to guide my students through their education in a unique way.
I am thankful for incredibly liberal parents, but coming from this kind of culture, there is no doubt it affected my views of race, gender and sexuality, among other things. During my entire pre-college academic career I encountered very few people who were not white. There was one black student in my high school for the whole time I was there, only two Asian students (and they were brothers) and a few Indian or Pakistani students. Going to a partially church-funded state school (having a state religion in Britain means that these kinds of schools are common place) I only encountered people of the same religious background, apart from one Muslim girl whose parents had petitioned the board of governors for her placement because of the school’s excellent reputation. Her faith was never an issue as I never really considered the relevance of anything other than Anglicanism until the final years of high school in which I really started to question religion as a whole.
College ultimately made me a lot more open-minded. Finally I was able to at least try to break free of the Valleys culture that had dominated the first 18 years of my life. I met people of different races, religions and sexualities and made close friends. Perhaps it was in spite of the culture I was brought up in; perhaps it was an indicator that one makes one’s own culture through continual experience. Culture, then, is something that is always shifting to accommodate changes that you encounter. Those that don’t experience that kind of alteration are the bigots and those resistant to change.
In what ways has my culture shaped how I view myself? Even before I came to the United States I viewed myself as an outsider. Whether because I was more of a “book-learning type” in a masculine environment of rugby and soccer; or because, for the longest time, I was happier with my head in a comic book or listening to heavy metal than looking for girls. Living in a more multi-cultural part of the world, my own background cannot help but make me feel guilty every step of the way. Am I saying the right thing to people who are different? What if I offend someone unknowingly? It often seems as though my culture has given me a magnified sense of liberal guilt now that I am now longer surrounded purely by white, working and lower-middle class Anglicans.
Seeing these people struggle through the post-Thatcher years, and suffering bullying at the hands of those trapped by poverty inspired by decades of only knowing one kind of work – a kind that had now been taken away, I knew that I had to get out and to succeed. Subconsciously at the time, this inspired me as a learner. I would watch American television shows and movies and knew that was where I wanted to be and the way to do it would be to succeed academically. It was in rebellion against my culture that I embraced education. I was never interested in practical things like math and science but literature and history always fascinated me – especially if it was American. It seemed to be the opposite of the insular Valleys culture I knew so well and getting there inspired me to do well as a learner.
Of course, now I have made it I have no doubt that my past, the culture that has defined me all these years, will play a large role in how I run a classroom. While my college years expanded my worldview, that all-white upbringing I received earlier in my life may make it harder to connect with students of a different race. Experience will no doubt prove that these worries are futile. Nevertheless, I will bring a unique perspective to an American classroom. My being a cultural outsider will allow me to relate to immigrants and the children of immigrants – while our cultures may differ we will both be sharing similar experiences that can be brought into the classroom. I will be able to use my own cultural background to open up white, American-born students to the wider world, showing that even someone of the same race who speaks the same language can be very different. My culture could act as a lens through which I, as a teacher, will be able to guide my students through their education in a unique way.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
What are some of the questions you would like to explore for your final project? Why do they intrigue you?
With the final project draws nearer, I feel the biggest topic I would like to tackle relates to non-Americans working in urban schools. Are there any major examples of it taking place? What were the successes and failures that these educators encountered? To what extent were their backgrounds a hindrance or a help in teaching inner city students?
As a British citizen coming to the United States to teach, it is clearly that my cultural background will play a major role in the way I develop as a teacher. This would be the case no matter what kind of school I taught in. In an urban environment, where my being white and middle-class would already impact on the way I teach, I can’t help but wonder how my being from an entirely different county would also play a role. For sure, Britain has a lot more in common with America that a lot of other nations, but differences do exist and they could play a role.
Ultimately, I want to learn more about how foreign educators have been able to develop relationships with students in inner city areas, and how their background has been able to make an impact on the lives of these students; quite simply, were they able to impart aspects of their culture into the school environment in order to alter the way the students were able to learn and grow.
Of course, there are a lot of countries out there from which teachers can come. How would students react to a teacher from Western Europe compared to from the Middle East, Latin America, Africa etc.? Does the background of the teacher play a role in how students react to them?
These are all aspects of the one overarching theme that I want to tackle. Given my position as a non-American trying to make a career in the United States, it is an issue that spends a lot of time on my mind.
Edit: As existing research in this area proves to be limited, I have begun to look into the position of immigrant students in urban American schools. To what extent are they able to integrate with native-born students? Does segregation based on differences between being native- and foreign-born exist? What difficulties do they bring for educators in already difficult positions of improving the performance of students in urban schools? What impact on school resources do these immigrants have? Does this impact, if it exists, hinder or benefit the education of native-born students? Similarly, are there patterns in regards to the country of origin of immigrant students and whether they are educated in urban schools? How does country of origin impact their success in tests, in comparison to the native-born?
As America becomes an even-more diverse country than it already is, I am aware the impact of immigration will play a huge role in my career as an educator. Whether I teach in an urban or suburban school district, I will encounter an increasing amount of foreign-born students. Being able to more fully understand the impact that their presence has on school resources and the education of existing, native-born students will make me more open-minded when I teach immigrants.
Knowing the different resources that students from different regions require will allow me to improve my ability to ensure that all students receive the best possible education I can give them.
As a British citizen coming to the United States to teach, it is clearly that my cultural background will play a major role in the way I develop as a teacher. This would be the case no matter what kind of school I taught in. In an urban environment, where my being white and middle-class would already impact on the way I teach, I can’t help but wonder how my being from an entirely different county would also play a role. For sure, Britain has a lot more in common with America that a lot of other nations, but differences do exist and they could play a role.
Ultimately, I want to learn more about how foreign educators have been able to develop relationships with students in inner city areas, and how their background has been able to make an impact on the lives of these students; quite simply, were they able to impart aspects of their culture into the school environment in order to alter the way the students were able to learn and grow.
Of course, there are a lot of countries out there from which teachers can come. How would students react to a teacher from Western Europe compared to from the Middle East, Latin America, Africa etc.? Does the background of the teacher play a role in how students react to them?
These are all aspects of the one overarching theme that I want to tackle. Given my position as a non-American trying to make a career in the United States, it is an issue that spends a lot of time on my mind.
Edit: As existing research in this area proves to be limited, I have begun to look into the position of immigrant students in urban American schools. To what extent are they able to integrate with native-born students? Does segregation based on differences between being native- and foreign-born exist? What difficulties do they bring for educators in already difficult positions of improving the performance of students in urban schools? What impact on school resources do these immigrants have? Does this impact, if it exists, hinder or benefit the education of native-born students? Similarly, are there patterns in regards to the country of origin of immigrant students and whether they are educated in urban schools? How does country of origin impact their success in tests, in comparison to the native-born?
As America becomes an even-more diverse country than it already is, I am aware the impact of immigration will play a huge role in my career as an educator. Whether I teach in an urban or suburban school district, I will encounter an increasing amount of foreign-born students. Being able to more fully understand the impact that their presence has on school resources and the education of existing, native-born students will make me more open-minded when I teach immigrants.
Knowing the different resources that students from different regions require will allow me to improve my ability to ensure that all students receive the best possible education I can give them.
The Election of Barack Obama and Urban Education
A lot of focus since the recent inauguration of President Barack Obama has been on how he’s going to “fix” the economy. Indeed, within the new bill to stimulate the economy, a substantial amount of money has been put into education and, more specifically to aid students being educated in urban communities. While it doesn’t go into specifics of the areas in which the money is going (urban, suburban or rural), the bill does include $13,000,000,000 for Title 1 aid, $1,066,000,000 for school improvement and money for teacher and principal recruitment and retention in high-need schools and subjects.
Still, I can’t help but think that beyond the financial assistance, the election of Obama may have a massive impact on children of color being educated in America right now. In the days after the results came in, I found myself reading a lot of articles in which African American parents talked of how having Obama in the White House opened up the possibilities for their children.
In the Huntsville Times, a mother Erica Harbin talked about the impact on her son. “At home, we were thinking Anthony could be the president, too ... When we got the results, we said, 'You really can be.' Anthony can be whatever he wants to be.'” The world isn’t going to change overnight; it’s not an end to racism as so many news channel pundits inanely stated in the days after November 4th. Yet after centuries of winning small victories at a time, Obama being the first African American President means that, simply, he won’t be the last.
A lot is hinging on what he is able to do in these next four years. Major mistakes could hold back future black presidents – I think about how the general antipathy towards Margaret Thatcher in Britain has prevented more women from becoming Prime Minister in the decades since (it certainly explains why so many Brits gave their support to Obama over Hillary Clinton during the primaries).
Jeffrey Pascal, an African American student also quoted in the Huntsville Times article also makes an interesting point: “It's changed the view children have on life ... Now, instead of wanting to be Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, they say, ‘I want to be president of the United States.’.” President Obama has created a new kind of role model for many children: a role model for whom academic achievement was a major contributing factor. As Pascal optimistically notes, it has the potential to spur a lot of children on in their education. Even the Presidency of the United States is no longer out of reach.
For educators, too, it is important. Children’s author Linda Meyer also has something to say on the matter: “The fact that we have someone other than an old white man standing behind the Seal of the President will provide powerful reinforcement to the lessons teachers and parents try to instill in their children ... For decades, we've used parables, fairy tales and stories to use as examples of how there is more that unites people of different ethnicities and religions than divides them. However, using a real person, especially someone who is now the most powerful person on the planet, as an example of diversity is a hundred times more potent than any fairy tale or story.”
Ultimately, I can't begin to predict how this election will affect my career as a teacher – whether I work in an urban environment or not – but certainly any teaching of the government and history of the people will see a dramatic shift. The impact this election will have on American children of all races will be felt for years to come. As an historian, I have noticed how many people gave their children the name “George Washington” in the years following the Revolution and his presidency. I can’t help but wonder how many students I will come to teach with the first and middle names “Barack Obama” in the next few decades.
Still, I can’t help but think that beyond the financial assistance, the election of Obama may have a massive impact on children of color being educated in America right now. In the days after the results came in, I found myself reading a lot of articles in which African American parents talked of how having Obama in the White House opened up the possibilities for their children.
In the Huntsville Times, a mother Erica Harbin talked about the impact on her son. “At home, we were thinking Anthony could be the president, too ... When we got the results, we said, 'You really can be.' Anthony can be whatever he wants to be.'” The world isn’t going to change overnight; it’s not an end to racism as so many news channel pundits inanely stated in the days after November 4th. Yet after centuries of winning small victories at a time, Obama being the first African American President means that, simply, he won’t be the last.
A lot is hinging on what he is able to do in these next four years. Major mistakes could hold back future black presidents – I think about how the general antipathy towards Margaret Thatcher in Britain has prevented more women from becoming Prime Minister in the decades since (it certainly explains why so many Brits gave their support to Obama over Hillary Clinton during the primaries).
Jeffrey Pascal, an African American student also quoted in the Huntsville Times article also makes an interesting point: “It's changed the view children have on life ... Now, instead of wanting to be Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, they say, ‘I want to be president of the United States.’.” President Obama has created a new kind of role model for many children: a role model for whom academic achievement was a major contributing factor. As Pascal optimistically notes, it has the potential to spur a lot of children on in their education. Even the Presidency of the United States is no longer out of reach.
For educators, too, it is important. Children’s author Linda Meyer also has something to say on the matter: “The fact that we have someone other than an old white man standing behind the Seal of the President will provide powerful reinforcement to the lessons teachers and parents try to instill in their children ... For decades, we've used parables, fairy tales and stories to use as examples of how there is more that unites people of different ethnicities and religions than divides them. However, using a real person, especially someone who is now the most powerful person on the planet, as an example of diversity is a hundred times more potent than any fairy tale or story.”
Ultimately, I can't begin to predict how this election will affect my career as a teacher – whether I work in an urban environment or not – but certainly any teaching of the government and history of the people will see a dramatic shift. The impact this election will have on American children of all races will be felt for years to come. As an historian, I have noticed how many people gave their children the name “George Washington” in the years following the Revolution and his presidency. I can’t help but wonder how many students I will come to teach with the first and middle names “Barack Obama” in the next few decades.
Monday, February 9, 2009
What are the major influences that shape schools, those in urban centers in particular?
Schools are shaped by numerous external factors. Quite simply without these factors schools would be nothing more than identical four walls and a roof in which identical teachers throw ideas at identical classrooms of students. It goes without saying that this is not the case. Whether a school is urban, suburban, or rural certain aspects come together to form a unique environment.
Both Fruchter (2006) as well as Anderson and Summerfield (2004) view history as an important factor. Of course, “history” is something of a large umbrella under which a lot of ideas can fall. Anderson and Summerfield look at a deeper history of education in the United States and critique the myth of rural schools as superior to the later urban and suburban models. It is easy to understand how an idea that urban schools are in some way inferior to other historical models can impact upon the way these schools are shaped.
Fruchter’s discussion of the history of desegregation (and its ultimate failure) reveals what I feel is a greater historical impact upon what makes urban schools the way they are. I read once (and I wish I could remember the source) that while many countries (be it Britain, Canada, France etc.) are “societies with racism”, the United States is a “racist society.” Now, I don’t necessarily agree with that statement (after all, Britain has yet to elect a non-white Prime Minister – the U.S. is ahead of us in that respect), but the racism inherent within the society has played a major role in the way urban schools have come to be: That fear that “they” were coming into the neighborhood, forcing white Americans into the suburbs and businesses out of urban centers, was something that was easily exploited by state and local governments. In doing so, they create schools that were lacking in the diversity that existed when these urban communities consisted of African American, as well as Jewish, Irish and Latino families. A barrier between communities is built that impacts upon the education in urban areas.
Of course, the history goes far deeper than that. In the Randall Robinson quote that Fruchter uses, “You drive [a people of their history] for 246 years and follow that with 100 years of de jure discrimination,” you are going to create a psychically damaged culture. Indeed, culture is one of the most important factors in shaping schools. It defines the community in which it exists. Fruchter is quick to acknowledge that there is a distinct culture within African American communities, a result of a shared history. Students and teachers from these communities come together in the school environment to create something very different to that which may exist in rural and suburban schools.
Indeed, what can be more important in the shaping of a school than the students themselves? The lives the lead outside can either be brought into the school to inform its development, or be forcibly left outside. Schools need to reflect (and respect) the culture of its students and perhaps it is those that don’t that have created the problems that are seen as existing in urban schools. Fruchter discusses the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu and the fact that a dominant culture will use schools to impose its cultural mores on other communities that exist within its sphere of influence. This struck a chord with me. For years in British schools, Welsh history, language and culture was ignored in favor of English history in an attempt to undermine and anglicize those living in Wales. It is only since the 1980s that a school curriculum that incorporates both has come into Welsh schools. It has given Welsh students that have come of age in that time an opportunity to embrace their background and culture – an opportunity their parents and grandparents may not have had. The Welsh language that was beginning to die out throughout the 20th century has suddenly begun to reemerge. These schools came to appreciate the culture of its students – something that perhaps needs to be done in urban American schools.
As with the Welsh examples, for the longest time in American schools it seems as though white American history that has been given primary importance in the curriculum. Thus, students of color living in urban areas have had their culture ignored in their educations. How can this not shape schools in these areas? It can’t help but create in these students a sense that schools and their culture are mutually exclusive, that they just don’t mesh in any real way. A move to make the curriculum reflect the communities and cultures of urban areas could, in turn, reshape these schools.
Of course, the curriculum is defined from on high by the government. As much as history and community, government actions on the local, state and federal level play a large role (for better or worse) in shaping schools in urban areas. Often, government seems to have very little understanding of urban schools and their needs.
After all, it is the government that decides on what kind of funding goes to schools in urban, suburban and rural areas and that decides the curriculum and standards that students must achieve. It was government action, as Fruchter notes, that both pushed through desegregation of schools while giving mortgages to white families in order to move out of urban areas. Every decision, large or small, on the national or local level, that affects schools will ultimately shape them.
Thus, the school environment in shaped by a clash between history, culture, community and government. And it is a clash. The story of Robby Wideman’s (Wideman, 1984; Fruchter pp30-35) rebellion against the school board and its ultimately disastrous aftermath indicates the conflict between the cultural and educational needs of urban communities and white society’s idea of what education in these communities should be. I can’t help but feel that bringing these disparate ideas into line will somehow create a schooling system that works for both the communities, the students, the teachers and the country as a whole.
Both Fruchter (2006) as well as Anderson and Summerfield (2004) view history as an important factor. Of course, “history” is something of a large umbrella under which a lot of ideas can fall. Anderson and Summerfield look at a deeper history of education in the United States and critique the myth of rural schools as superior to the later urban and suburban models. It is easy to understand how an idea that urban schools are in some way inferior to other historical models can impact upon the way these schools are shaped.
Fruchter’s discussion of the history of desegregation (and its ultimate failure) reveals what I feel is a greater historical impact upon what makes urban schools the way they are. I read once (and I wish I could remember the source) that while many countries (be it Britain, Canada, France etc.) are “societies with racism”, the United States is a “racist society.” Now, I don’t necessarily agree with that statement (after all, Britain has yet to elect a non-white Prime Minister – the U.S. is ahead of us in that respect), but the racism inherent within the society has played a major role in the way urban schools have come to be: That fear that “they” were coming into the neighborhood, forcing white Americans into the suburbs and businesses out of urban centers, was something that was easily exploited by state and local governments. In doing so, they create schools that were lacking in the diversity that existed when these urban communities consisted of African American, as well as Jewish, Irish and Latino families. A barrier between communities is built that impacts upon the education in urban areas.
Of course, the history goes far deeper than that. In the Randall Robinson quote that Fruchter uses, “You drive [a people of their history] for 246 years and follow that with 100 years of de jure discrimination,” you are going to create a psychically damaged culture. Indeed, culture is one of the most important factors in shaping schools. It defines the community in which it exists. Fruchter is quick to acknowledge that there is a distinct culture within African American communities, a result of a shared history. Students and teachers from these communities come together in the school environment to create something very different to that which may exist in rural and suburban schools.
Indeed, what can be more important in the shaping of a school than the students themselves? The lives the lead outside can either be brought into the school to inform its development, or be forcibly left outside. Schools need to reflect (and respect) the culture of its students and perhaps it is those that don’t that have created the problems that are seen as existing in urban schools. Fruchter discusses the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu and the fact that a dominant culture will use schools to impose its cultural mores on other communities that exist within its sphere of influence. This struck a chord with me. For years in British schools, Welsh history, language and culture was ignored in favor of English history in an attempt to undermine and anglicize those living in Wales. It is only since the 1980s that a school curriculum that incorporates both has come into Welsh schools. It has given Welsh students that have come of age in that time an opportunity to embrace their background and culture – an opportunity their parents and grandparents may not have had. The Welsh language that was beginning to die out throughout the 20th century has suddenly begun to reemerge. These schools came to appreciate the culture of its students – something that perhaps needs to be done in urban American schools.
As with the Welsh examples, for the longest time in American schools it seems as though white American history that has been given primary importance in the curriculum. Thus, students of color living in urban areas have had their culture ignored in their educations. How can this not shape schools in these areas? It can’t help but create in these students a sense that schools and their culture are mutually exclusive, that they just don’t mesh in any real way. A move to make the curriculum reflect the communities and cultures of urban areas could, in turn, reshape these schools.
Of course, the curriculum is defined from on high by the government. As much as history and community, government actions on the local, state and federal level play a large role (for better or worse) in shaping schools in urban areas. Often, government seems to have very little understanding of urban schools and their needs.
After all, it is the government that decides on what kind of funding goes to schools in urban, suburban and rural areas and that decides the curriculum and standards that students must achieve. It was government action, as Fruchter notes, that both pushed through desegregation of schools while giving mortgages to white families in order to move out of urban areas. Every decision, large or small, on the national or local level, that affects schools will ultimately shape them.
Thus, the school environment in shaped by a clash between history, culture, community and government. And it is a clash. The story of Robby Wideman’s (Wideman, 1984; Fruchter pp30-35) rebellion against the school board and its ultimately disastrous aftermath indicates the conflict between the cultural and educational needs of urban communities and white society’s idea of what education in these communities should be. I can’t help but feel that bringing these disparate ideas into line will somehow create a schooling system that works for both the communities, the students, the teachers and the country as a whole.
Monday, February 2, 2009
How The Media/Popular Culture Portrays Schools - Some Examples
MOVIES
Urban: Sister Act 2: The setting is generic inner city, bordering on cliché, with mainly minority families. The community is exemplified by one parent who would prefer her child focus on academics just to make money and not follow her musical dreams. The teachers, being nuns, lack the creativity or edge to get through the students and need to bring in someone who can think outside the box. The students seem to follow the idea of urban high school kids, who don’t show respect, or lack the proper motivation but, deep down have that spark just needs to be Whoopi’d out of them. (Link)
Suburban: The Breakfast Club: What we see of the community is in the form of the main cast’s parents who are the adult stereotypes of what these kids could become and who expect them to follow in that direction. The teachers are similarly sparse, exemplified if the form of the principal who is a generic simple-minded authoritarian who just wants well-behaved and adjusted students. The students that we see are revealed to be more than stereotypes. They are individuals who are forced to struggle with other people’s ideas of who they are and what they should be. (Link)
Rural: Napoleon Dynamite: The community is modern and yet oddly backwards – so typically “rural.” The lone Hispanic family appears to stand out amidst the whiteness of everyone else in the movie. Teachers are merely a background presence, figures that need to be there but don’t play an important role. For the students, conforming to what would be considered “suburban” standards (the geeks, the loners, the popular kids) is prominent over anything that would be considered stereotypically rural. Conforming to these standards appears to be the norm, but at its heart the movie celebrates oddness. (Link)
TELEVISION
Urban: Teachers: A British “dramedy” about teachers at a school in the English city of Bristol. The community is seen as a mix of working and middle class. The school that is the setting is often seen falling apart with the students rearranging the name on the sign into various profane anagrams, or even stealing the letters entirely. The teachers are young and just as immature as some of the students, trying to hide their dedication to their job under a mask of “cool.” The students (as well as the teachers) are diverse, and are portrayed as either bright and exasperated with the teachers or difficult and the cause of much stress to the teachers who struggle to get through to them. (Link)
Suburban: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Obviously, the supernatural element may raise a few eyebrows, but the “high school is hell” theme of the first three seasons is rather appropriate. The community is typical suburban with a dark (very dark!) underbelly – yet it is oblivious to the very real problems faced by the kids. It is a great metaphor for parents who just want their kids to get through school, not caring about the social, interpersonal and academic problems they may face. The teachers are either a faceless mass that the students must put up with (and are horrified to learn are, in fact, real people when, in one episode, adults start acting like teenagers) or fuzzy liberals (which, we’re led to believe, leads to you getting eaten) or strict authoritarians (ditto). Similar to The Breakfast Club, the students are seen as more than just stereotypes who must juggle academic success with difficult relationships, growing pangs and, in this case, the undead. (Link)
Rural: South Park: A very odd choice but I find it is a great depiction of a not particularly diverse rural community (and what other show could address it such as way as to have the only African-America student be called “Token”?). Parents and teachers are shown as backwards and bizarre and prone to being overly reactionary. The students, while obviously unrealistically precocious and knowledgeable (it is a cartoon after all), are generally more open-minded and open to challenge than they are given credit for. They suffer the same foibles as adults yet see things with more clarity. The episodes about the racist town flag and the gay scoutmaster are wonderful examples of this. (Link)
SONGS
Urban: Eminem’s ‘The Way I Am’ briefly discusses and criticizes the shock of the media at shootings at suburban schools by stating that such violence has been plaguing urban schools for years and has been ignored until it happened to middle-class white children. Communities come across as overwhelmed by problems that everyone else in America has only just begun to pay any real attention to. Reading between the lines, students and teachers have been similarly ignored by society, cast to its fringes. (Link)
Suburban: Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall, Part II’ is a song that springs to mind when considering generic rigid schooling and the attempts to turn children into functioning members of society, but really creating mindless automatons to push buttons in the working world. Teachers are seen as authoritarians, while students are rebelling against such an institution (although a large choir singing the chorus does not exactly strike me as them being individuals, but this is just a personal complaint). (Link)
Rural: Jeannie C. Riley’s ‘Harper Valley PTA’ is the most prominent song about rural schools that I can think of. The community portrayed is stereotypically rural – overly moralistic yet deeply hypocritical. Teachers do not play a role in the song (although one can imagine that they may fall under the same category as the important members of the community), while it appears as though students are left in the background as the PTA clearly cares more about issues of morality than the education of children. (Link)
NEWS
Urban: A recent report about a Brooklyn elementary school student Kemoy Gourzang who found, and returned, a wallet containing $500 struck me as a great example. The fact that what would normally be a small, insignificant story made the news runs counter to the theme of the piece. The teachers interviewed were proud, to be sure, but amazed that the boy acted the way that he did. His actions ring out because they clash with the stereotype of Brooklyn as an urban community. Other students, the boy said, would have kept the money. Of course, this is the typical bravado of a ten year olds that would be found in any school. (Link)
Suburban: An article from the Manhattan Institute discusses the problems facing suburban schools and how they are just as bad as, if not worse than, those faced in urban schools. The communities are considered safer and “more wholesome” and are clinging onto an illusion about what goes on within the confines of their schools. Teachers don’t factor into the article suggesting that they are as oblivious as the community or are unable to do anything. Students are presented as, quite frankly, debauched, drug-abusing and no different to their peers at urban high schools. (Link)
Rural: Over the past few years, when one hears of rural schools one thinks of the debate over teaching evolution in the classroom. The communities are often portrayed as backwards, clinging to religion and resistant to commonly accepted scientific ideas. In many of these cases, the teachers are seen as opposed to such measures and become martyrs to the cause of rationalism. In all of this, the students are almost always cast to the side of the debate as if their education isn’t as important as the issues being debated. (Link) (Link) (Link)
Urban: Sister Act 2: The setting is generic inner city, bordering on cliché, with mainly minority families. The community is exemplified by one parent who would prefer her child focus on academics just to make money and not follow her musical dreams. The teachers, being nuns, lack the creativity or edge to get through the students and need to bring in someone who can think outside the box. The students seem to follow the idea of urban high school kids, who don’t show respect, or lack the proper motivation but, deep down have that spark just needs to be Whoopi’d out of them. (Link)
Suburban: The Breakfast Club: What we see of the community is in the form of the main cast’s parents who are the adult stereotypes of what these kids could become and who expect them to follow in that direction. The teachers are similarly sparse, exemplified if the form of the principal who is a generic simple-minded authoritarian who just wants well-behaved and adjusted students. The students that we see are revealed to be more than stereotypes. They are individuals who are forced to struggle with other people’s ideas of who they are and what they should be. (Link)
Rural: Napoleon Dynamite: The community is modern and yet oddly backwards – so typically “rural.” The lone Hispanic family appears to stand out amidst the whiteness of everyone else in the movie. Teachers are merely a background presence, figures that need to be there but don’t play an important role. For the students, conforming to what would be considered “suburban” standards (the geeks, the loners, the popular kids) is prominent over anything that would be considered stereotypically rural. Conforming to these standards appears to be the norm, but at its heart the movie celebrates oddness. (Link)
TELEVISION
Urban: Teachers: A British “dramedy” about teachers at a school in the English city of Bristol. The community is seen as a mix of working and middle class. The school that is the setting is often seen falling apart with the students rearranging the name on the sign into various profane anagrams, or even stealing the letters entirely. The teachers are young and just as immature as some of the students, trying to hide their dedication to their job under a mask of “cool.” The students (as well as the teachers) are diverse, and are portrayed as either bright and exasperated with the teachers or difficult and the cause of much stress to the teachers who struggle to get through to them. (Link)
Suburban: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Obviously, the supernatural element may raise a few eyebrows, but the “high school is hell” theme of the first three seasons is rather appropriate. The community is typical suburban with a dark (very dark!) underbelly – yet it is oblivious to the very real problems faced by the kids. It is a great metaphor for parents who just want their kids to get through school, not caring about the social, interpersonal and academic problems they may face. The teachers are either a faceless mass that the students must put up with (and are horrified to learn are, in fact, real people when, in one episode, adults start acting like teenagers) or fuzzy liberals (which, we’re led to believe, leads to you getting eaten) or strict authoritarians (ditto). Similar to The Breakfast Club, the students are seen as more than just stereotypes who must juggle academic success with difficult relationships, growing pangs and, in this case, the undead. (Link)
Rural: South Park: A very odd choice but I find it is a great depiction of a not particularly diverse rural community (and what other show could address it such as way as to have the only African-America student be called “Token”?). Parents and teachers are shown as backwards and bizarre and prone to being overly reactionary. The students, while obviously unrealistically precocious and knowledgeable (it is a cartoon after all), are generally more open-minded and open to challenge than they are given credit for. They suffer the same foibles as adults yet see things with more clarity. The episodes about the racist town flag and the gay scoutmaster are wonderful examples of this. (Link)
SONGS
Urban: Eminem’s ‘The Way I Am’ briefly discusses and criticizes the shock of the media at shootings at suburban schools by stating that such violence has been plaguing urban schools for years and has been ignored until it happened to middle-class white children. Communities come across as overwhelmed by problems that everyone else in America has only just begun to pay any real attention to. Reading between the lines, students and teachers have been similarly ignored by society, cast to its fringes. (Link)
Suburban: Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall, Part II’ is a song that springs to mind when considering generic rigid schooling and the attempts to turn children into functioning members of society, but really creating mindless automatons to push buttons in the working world. Teachers are seen as authoritarians, while students are rebelling against such an institution (although a large choir singing the chorus does not exactly strike me as them being individuals, but this is just a personal complaint). (Link)
Rural: Jeannie C. Riley’s ‘Harper Valley PTA’ is the most prominent song about rural schools that I can think of. The community portrayed is stereotypically rural – overly moralistic yet deeply hypocritical. Teachers do not play a role in the song (although one can imagine that they may fall under the same category as the important members of the community), while it appears as though students are left in the background as the PTA clearly cares more about issues of morality than the education of children. (Link)
NEWS
Urban: A recent report about a Brooklyn elementary school student Kemoy Gourzang who found, and returned, a wallet containing $500 struck me as a great example. The fact that what would normally be a small, insignificant story made the news runs counter to the theme of the piece. The teachers interviewed were proud, to be sure, but amazed that the boy acted the way that he did. His actions ring out because they clash with the stereotype of Brooklyn as an urban community. Other students, the boy said, would have kept the money. Of course, this is the typical bravado of a ten year olds that would be found in any school. (Link)
Suburban: An article from the Manhattan Institute discusses the problems facing suburban schools and how they are just as bad as, if not worse than, those faced in urban schools. The communities are considered safer and “more wholesome” and are clinging onto an illusion about what goes on within the confines of their schools. Teachers don’t factor into the article suggesting that they are as oblivious as the community or are unable to do anything. Students are presented as, quite frankly, debauched, drug-abusing and no different to their peers at urban high schools. (Link)
Rural: Over the past few years, when one hears of rural schools one thinks of the debate over teaching evolution in the classroom. The communities are often portrayed as backwards, clinging to religion and resistant to commonly accepted scientific ideas. In many of these cases, the teachers are seen as opposed to such measures and become martyrs to the cause of rationalism. In all of this, the students are almost always cast to the side of the debate as if their education isn’t as important as the issues being debated. (Link) (Link) (Link)
Urban Education - Frames of Reference
Approaching the idea of urban education in the United States, I feel that my attitudes are shaped as much by my national background as much as my class and race. As a British citizen becoming a teacher in America, my beliefs and prejudices have been formed in a different context to many others on a similar journey as my own. As Britain is a more class-based (or at least class conscious) society than the United States, it is my belief that when discussing urban issues, of which poverty is a primary factor, the prevailing importance of race strikes me as difficult to connect with. Certainly there are urban centers in the United Kingdom where the vast majority of the inhabitants are of ethnic minorities, but it is in my nature to view poverty in terms of class. Coming to the America where “urban” is practically a synonym for “black and/or Hispanic” my beliefs are shaped not by personal experience but by exposure to the media as well as conversations with teachers I have met who work in urban areas.When I cast my mind to the idea of urban centers, I think of areas stricken with poverty and a lack of necessary amenities; parts of a city or town that has been neglected by local and national governments as a lost cause, where gang- and drug-related problems are rife. In Britain, this does not necessarily have racial connotations given that it has been, until recent decades, a far less diverse country when compared to the United States. Here, working class and often single parent families are crowded together in badly maintained tower blocks, a reminder of decisions made in the 1950s and 60s to fit as many of societies “rejects” into as little space as possible.
The schools, in turn, suffer from the same neglect that the areas themselves do. Damaged lockers, graffiti-covered bathrooms, metal detectors at entrances to protect the children from each other as much as outside dangers. Indeed, my own picture of such schools shows an environment that is not the safe haven from the problems of the urban area that these students call home. In a recent conversation with someone who works in an urban school in New Jersey, I was told of how classes had to be cancelled the day of the presidential election. The school had been designated as a voting location and they could not risk having doors unlocked allowing all members of the public into the school because of the dangers it my have posed. Another teacher has told me of how, on her first day working at an urban school, the body of a woman was found hanging from a tree in the yard. The police, she was informed, believed that it was a prostitute who had been murdered by a client or her pimp. Between these real life examples and the clichés one develops from exposure to the media, it is easy to see how certain stereotypes can seep into one’s idea of what a school in an urban area is like.
Due to a lack or misappropriation of funding these schools may lack the necessary equipment that middle class and suburban schools take for granted, rendering many newer, innovative teaching methods that require technology impossible. The teachers in such an environment must, therefore, be highly stressed. Looking at what popular culture has shown me, these teachers tend to come in one of two varieties: the resident of the area who has succeeded and wants to put some good back into the community; and the white, middle-class teacher who wants to lift the students up while learning important life lessons from them.
Again, if popular culture is to be believed, the students are a mix of apathetic, angry, cynical and inspired. For every one who is able to overcome the poverty that surrounds them and make it to college, there are so many others who will fall through the cracks no matter how hard the teachers try. No doubt, many feel that the problems they suffer outside the school are far more important than what they may learn in the classroom. As much of an exaggeration as it may seem, their out-of-school life may be such a struggle that education can seem irrelevant. This is the barrier which the teachers in these kinds of schools must break down in order to succeed. My girlfriend’s aunt is a teacher at a high school in Perth Amboy and, as such, I have been exposed to stories about how students, if they turn up, will be ill-prepared or do not care, because they genuinely do not see the point of education given their environment. The average feel-good movie will show that one special teacher break through these attitudes, but my own cynicism casts a shadow over my ability to believe that any one teacher or school can achieve this.
Conversations with urban educators since I have moved to the United States have yet to shake my belief in these stereotypes or forced me to reevaluate what I have come to accept as fact. It would require further exposure to urban schools, teachers and students in order to see the intricacies that clearly exist outside of movies, television and the news. Without such a challenge to my beliefs, they will undoubtedly impact on my interactions with my future colleagues and students.
While I currently have no intention of working in an inner city environment, it is not something that can be ruled out. I have always believed that only once an educator who comes from a more middle class, suburban background has experience and confidence in the classroom that they should take up the challenge of working outside their comfort zone. A teacher without this confidence could be potentially damaging to the education of the students if they do not feel as though they can connect in any meaningful way. Right now I don’t believe that I will enter the profession with this confidence and that it is something I will have to develop with time.
That said, even in middle-class classrooms, one will find underprivileged students whose lives are not that far apart from those growing up in an urban environment. Drugs and gangs are increasingly becoming a problem in suburban schools. Indeed, perhaps incorrect beliefs about suburban schools are just as problematic as the stereotypes that surround urban schools.
In any case, as a cultural outsider I would have less in common with students with such a background than even a middle class, white American teacher. I firmly believe that this will have more of an impact on my interaction with them than any beliefs I may have, although the clash between the stereotypes I may hold about them and those that they may hold about me has the potential to create a certain level of disconnect within the classroom. Several questions emerge from this consideration. Would I be quicker to consider some students a “lost cause” in an inner city school than I would a student in a suburban school? Conversely, would I spend more time trying to get to know the students and their outside problems, and less focusing on teaching, in order to get through to them? Would this necessarily be a bad thing? After all, one cannot ignore the importance of knowing one’s students as individuals as well as students in order to foster an atmosphere of trust in the classroom. If I was to find myself more likely to do this in an urban school, then perhaps the kind of classroom I run would prove better for the students.
However, there is some fear that other teachers would have negative attitudes about my identity as a cultural outsider and therefore my ability to successfully educate these students. My interactions with them would also be affected by the stereotypes that I will have cast them into as much as those I have about the students. However, because of my beliefs regarding the environment and the students, I feel that it would potentially foster a closer relationship with colleagues than in a more affluent school. Being out of my element, and having stereotypes that need to be challenged, I have no doubt that I would latch on to veteran teachers and perhaps be less inclined to attempt to tread my own path early in my career. The extent to which this would be of benefit or prove to be a hindrance to my classroom performance is something I feel incapable of answering this early into my training.
In a perfect world there would be no difference between the type of professional I would be in a suburban school and its urban equivalent. However, allowing what could be considered negative beliefs about the environment and the people has the potential to make me a very different teacher. That said, differences would occur were I to teach in a British school over an American one, or a private school over a public one. Stereotypes and possibly erroneous and misinformed beliefs are likely to emerge in any of the cases.
Ultimately, any assumptions I hold could prove to be problematic as I attempt to forge my own identity as a professional educator. Both becoming fully engaged in this Inner City Education class and exposing myself to an urban environment will be integral to overcoming incorrect beliefs, while allowing me to come to terms with aspects that are based in truth. Right now I have difficulty imagining myself working in an urban environment. My biggest hope is that by the end of this experience I will be able to say that maybe I could.
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