One of the things I noticed about the schools in the article was that the teachers and the school systems seem to have no or very low expectations of students in urban settings. I believe that is one of the problems in urban school systems and especially in this article. Teachers just do what they have to do to get the students through the school system. But if you believe in the students and try and teach them work ethics, students might do better, they might even rise above the teacher's expectations. Under the showing up section, they talk about rewarding inaction and uninvolvement, but why not expect more than just attendance? Under the 'make me' section, it says that students believe the staff and faculty run everything, but why not give the students some autonomy and let them make some decisions? Maybe students would care more if they had a reason to care.
In the section "noncooperation", the author discusses how schools do not try to improve communication among students. But I have seen peer-mediation groups be successful in urban schools. Also during my student teaching, they were using a program called "Second Step" which had a variety of student problems that might arise, and had examples that the students could act out. I used it when a problem arose in my class and it actually worked. It provided students an outlet, and they were able to express how they were feeling. It did work to solve problems.
One paragraph said, "Urban schools accept the notion that their job is to make students learn, not simply to do everything possible to encourage them to learn." Why are urban schools not encouraging students to learn? I have a lot of unanswered questions after reading this article and I feel really frustrated.
1 comment:
A radical teacher friend of mine had a poster that said: "If you aren't upset then you're not paying attention." At the time I thought it was an odd claim; now I see the wisdom in that slogan. As strongly as Haberman makes his case against urban schools, the truth below the surface generalities is upsetting. One way to avoid that condition is to deny the problem. Clearly you are too invested to do that … and so I take your frustration as a positive sign.
I suppose there is a developmental sequence to this: first we notice, then we become frustrated, next we look for explanations, and perhaps we then find ways to contribute to a remedy. Haberman's scenarios are far too big for one person. And yet with a coordinated effort, it seems very possible that his criticism may one day not apply for the school system in which YOU live and work. It's good to know that you are making steps in that direction.
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