Week 5

Week 5 - Kozol - Chap. 6&7, Spring - Chap. 1&2, Folder 5

Quote #1
"There is a new emboldenment among the relatively privileged to isolate their children as completely as they can from more than token numbers of the children of minorities."  (Kozol, p. 135)
I find this statement to be a bit simplistic.  I do think that there are definitely those who are covered by this statement... but I wonder if there are more out there like me.  I switched my daughter's school to give her the chance at a better education than what was being offered at her local elementary school.   She was bored and losing interest at school, this was leading to what her teacher believed was a "behavior" problem.  I know it was a typical little girl getting chatty when she wasn't kept busy.  I wanted her to be challenged.  The fact that she moved to a school that was predominately rich and white, that was the drawback - she is first generation Mexican on her Dad's side.  I was not thrilled with the idea that she was the only fairly poor & minority child in her class.  I supported her by keeping an open dialogue with her and allowing her the ultimate choice on where she went to school.  We kept her there until she reached a grade where the public school had classes that were more challenging.  I can see the need to fight for the school in your district and to join the PTA and try to be an agent of change.  What do you do as a parent when change is happening too slowly?  I am a parent first, always. I am not offended by the comment and am not wishing to appear defensive, I just think this statement is simplistic because it counts out all of us out there that just want a balanced experience - fair, integrated, nurturing and challenging.  In the absence of that... what do you choose for your child if you know you have a choice?

Quote #2
"Worried about conflicts between the rich and the poor, education was believed to be the key in giving everyone an equal opportunity to gain wealth.  Equality of opportunity refers to everyone having the same chance to pursue wealth. It does not mean that everyone will have equal status or income, but just an equal chance to economically succeed." (Spring, p. 6)
Oh, if this were reality!  However, we would have had very little to talk about in class had this dream been realized.  Like our government, it was a good idea in concept - a bit harder to pull off in practice.  I feel that we have done things to fix our schools and they are sometimes well-intentioned, but often disastrous. Also, this quote is from Horace Mann.  At the time this was said, I can assume that he is referring to rich & poor white males.  Sort of like the "all men are created equal" dilemma.  Men - not being man, but human is our assumption and not just meaning of European descent.  We have to come further to address racism in our country before we can attack classism and really make progress fixing the schools.

Quote #3
"The practice of tracking in secondary schools illustrates this possibility and provides evidence of how schools, even as they voice commitment to equality and excellence, organize and deliver curriculum in ways that advance neither." (Folder 5, Oakes, p. 421)
The belief that tracking students is beneficial to all children is sad.  The belief is that it frees up the "smart" kids to learn and it relaxes the lower level kids so that they don't feel inferior to the "smart" kids.  The fact that the upper track is typically white and the lower tracks are typically minority, makes this an even more disgusting supposition.  Segregating the kids in this way provide neither equality or excellence as the article says.  Past that, I am not sure why it is legal currently under NCLB.  In our Special Education class, At-Risk youth is considered to need supports (as they should be supported) and segregating children away from the others is against the inclusion policies in-place, no?  It feels like tracking bears little difference from having a "Special Ed. Room," like they did when I was a kid.  Students of all backgrounds and abilities can learn together and learn from each other.  I was happy to read in the other article in Folder 5 that CT had officially discouraged tracking.  Good for us!  I wonder how many schools are still doing it in CT, though.