Rough Draft.

Education, what has always thought to be a common right to all Americans, children and students has proved to be an extension of race class and wealth; something that of a luxury to those who can afford it. Poor communities have been oppressed they cannot get a substantial education and this is breeding a society within our society- a detached community. These people have continued to suffer for generations they have unfortunately maintained this, lack of power or rights in education. The issue at hand currently isn’t a problem can be fixed so easily as these problems have succeed the roots of generations. Parents, grandparents and great grandparents have gone through this cycle and system which brings us to now, a standard that is still far below the society’s standard yet for some reason is left to continue that way. “Money, the message seems to be, is crucial to rich districts but will be of little difference to the poor” (Kozol, 207) is what those with the money and resources to keep well preforming schools up will tell you. While we all sit here wondering where the sense in that idea is. If we were to take away money from wealthy schools would they willingly allow it? I think not, there would be a fight put. A rebuttal of the fittest because then you are punishing the rich at this point in time and the society we live in the wealthy feel a sense of entitlement they feel deserving of what they have even if it’s an overindulgence. Education is an ongoing battle in the U.S. Something meant to keep people in their perspective places in society and protect the wealthy in continuing their wealth and growth in power. The rich do little to help children in poor schools and communities. The districts with more money say that money is not the issue but when asked about the money they use to fund their systems they seem to believe that it is their standard because they are of course at a higher standard, believing that it should stay this way for economic and social status. Here is where one would see that standards clearly depend on money.

If these affluent communities with great schools could see that the problem in bad crime ridden communities starts with schools would they be more inclined to help change them? Probably not because this would also give them a chance at a change in social and economic status and thus take students in poor areas out of the "track" they have been put on and give them a shot at better opportunities in societies economic ladder. If we take students out of the track we have selected for them then competition would increase. Employment opportunities would then be available to them; opening up the idea or opportunity for these students in poor and oppressed neighborhoods to get out of them, or have to a choice at a better living situation, better job or a better life. In Pennsylvania 68% of inmates are high school dropouts and the money spent on one prisoner is significantly higher than that spent on one student per year. Now how does this add up?  It’s interesting to see that when you look at the flip side, communities who spend more on education also have lower crime rates and higher passing rates there’s a clear correlation here that I can see.


When schools are poorly funded they have fewer options on spending this means less options with teachers. Would one expect a highly qualified, passionate teacher to want to work for low wages at a school that might not have a working plumbing system or a peeling chalkboard or how about enough books for just 1/3^rd of their students? Well in all actuality these are realities in schools all over America. Teaching in closets, with no heating, no air condition, and computer classes with no computers or how about teaching a history class in 2014 with textbooks from the 1980's. Would you choose to send your child to this school? What if you had no choice? With the intention to teach students and drive them to success it seems a task to be impossible in these conditions. These poor schools are getting teachers who are only teaching because they are tenured and can't be fired, the Wikipedia definition of Teacher tenure is a policy that restricts the ability to fire teachers, requiring a "just cause" rationale for firing, making getting rid of uninterested or passionless  teachers a difficult task. . In Chicago more than one quarter of all teachers are subs, some children have several teachers in one school year. You have teachers in these schools who don’t want to teach they are showing up when they feel and some teachers sleeping in class, how can these students be held to any standard if we can’t get teachers to set standards worth keeping or teachers with standards of their own for that matter? “Let’s be real,” the student says. “Most of us ain't going to college... We could have used a class like this.” (Kozol,64) said a student in Du Sable High in one Chicago's poorest schools, attending a hands on auto class that hadn't been taught to change a tire for a whole semester and in regards to having no teacher for one whole semester. Truths like these make occupations like drug dealing and crime seem like really good options to students who are in situations like this. It brings a different light to the importance of the teacher, if our teachers cannot teach, excite and push these kids to see that they do have options in life they may leave believing there aren’t any; as many personal of their experiences,and injustices in their school and society have shown them. But we cannot hold our teachers to a higher standard until we are given the resources to do so. We need more money to pay better more qualified teachers to come into our cities where crime and poverty continue to handicap the society that lives in them. We need programs for students that build self-esteem and social skills to build strong students and citizens. We need support groups, programs and funding for teachers willing to work in low income communities and in schools with poor teaching conditions and with children that are traumatized and handicapped on a daily basis. We need strong result driven and passionate principals also to help keep teachers and students on track. Great teachers are the core of success for students in school, unfortunately there is a price for a great teacher and an entire school cannot benefit from a few good teachers.

The failing of a school not only results in an uneducated person but also creates a sort of society within a society. There is a different belief system, different defense mechanism a different critical thinking and common sense. Imagine this, waking up in house with garbage dumped in your backyard between a sewage plant and a pharmaceutical plant, walking to school in streets reeking of sewage arriving to school a classroom with no air conditioning in sweltering heat. Then imagine in this classroom you are stuffed with so many other students you have to sit on the floor then at that you have no book and the person who walked into class before you got the last paper and pencil... sounds like a joke? No its reality. How would you feel, how would you react? How does ones mental state change? This is the day to day life for some of our students our children.. Tell me that this would not drive you mad, angry and upset at the life you were given. In most instances, not all these are not the only hardships our children and students are facing. They have parents either non educated or drug addicted or barely present maybe dead. Along with education stresses they have life stresses. These people did not all move to these neighborhoods and decide to live a life of struggle and defeat on their own but what I am saying is that they being “breaded” in a sense to stay this way, conform to it and in turn continue the cycle. To make matters worse there is a whole population that believes “this is what they have become, that this is what they are. (Kozol, 232)And they don’t believe that better school or social changes will affect it very much.” So now I show you a society within a society. Two separate worlds, two separate ways of thinking. What we have pushed aside on these people and continued to give them has made them a product of what time and circumstances have made them. I go back to my point that schools that perform well produce great passing rates, college attendance and thus lower crime rates. It starts with school foundation if these people century ago received the same education as those in affluent communities then they would be the same, relatively speaking. But years and years of oppression has not only created a failing community but a failing education and a failing person. “If you degrade people’s self-respect on a daily basis, over centuries, you are bound to produce monsters....” (Kozol, 233). For young women in these poor communities leaves little to aim for. Many of the young women are conceiving in high school, some one child some two children with no high school diploma or still in high school. “There’s not much for me in a public school.' The truth is, that a pretty honest answer. A diploma from a ghetto high school doesn’t count for much in the United States today.”(Kozol, 36) We have given these communities nothing yet called this the land of the free and told them they can live the American dream. Its instilling a sort of hate against the world it explains why the ideals in these poor neighborhoods are the way they are. Its created a type of “victim thinking” which I feel is connected to the fact that a lot of the families in these neighborhoods feel entitled to things like Subsidies and welfare and government assistance after years and years of being broken down by the society that's trying to help you one would feel entitled to all it has to give. Schools are the beginning of a failing community. If we cannot instill a structured learning basis and show students that we have the power and resources to do so we cannot expect them to enter the world thinking otherwise. We in essence have created a world with in a world.

In my attempt to solve our problem of inequality in education I have found that the big answer to most problems in our school systems are the people who run them and their willingness to change it. We don’t stop quite there now it’s a battle between federal, state and district lastly, funds. Now when I say the people who run our systems I do also speak on programs for our families and parents living in these conditions, it is true you cannot help those who don’t want help and the sad truth is along with the people who want the help in oppressive communities there are also those who do not want help, for a number of reasons, some do not know of change, some not mentally or physically capable (drugs, incarceration etc.) and there are those who have “accepted this role in society”. As stated “What’s really sad, “she notes “is that so many kids come from places that look as bad as our schools-and we have nothing better to offer them.” (Kozol, 121) I feel strongly about programs for these communities to rebuild centuries of dysfunctional living and schooling, in a sense we need to recreate thinking and a reality. This is a big task. It would require a lot of money and a lot more talented, patient people. The world today is not that giving or caring especially with the way the economical standings are changing. The gap between wealthy and poor is furthering and furthering the wealthy will do whatever money can do to continue keeping the gap wide and the poor will continue to do what it can to “catch up” or attempt to compete for the American Dream while being bullied and pushed down. Our teachers can only be held accountable for what they are able to teach and accomplish during school hours and in our after school programs. How do we fix life that's already been tainted? We need to create foundations that work and are consistent. America has proved that the standard is not equal and the stakes of our children s futures is dependent on adults, so we need to help build strong parents with strong values and support systems. A lot of these communities need more outreach. We need to change and update the teachers union so that the good teachers can have more of a say and hopefully either push out the bad teachers or create a sort of post degree training for teachers who are not competent. We also need to offer compensation for well preforming teachers. Teachers are an important part of your life from 5years old to18 years old. In some cases we see our teachers more than our parents, if children are required to pass a proficiency test our teachers should be required to also. As for money I don’t know how we could manage getting more money for our schools we have continued cutting art classes and sports, I for example went to a middle school with only one year of sports and music; it was then cut due to funding two things I loved. I don’t see our student doing better academically with these cuts maybe money and class types needs to be readdressed. In Waiting for Superman it was stated that students went from B grades to D grades in middle school 6-8^th grades. I can attest to this as a student. I was a great student up until middle school then suddenly my grades started slipping. I remember going from interested to not interested. This is an age of change for students and I wasn’t offered after-school help or programs until my senior year I think schools would benefit from early year programs, track programs that actually help students. Nobody likes to fail, nobody wants to fail but what are you to do if it’s the only option given to you. I have listed a lot of options to fixing our education I don’t know that my options will make the change that we need to get back on track but we need to start somewhere.